Auschwitz Monowitz (also known as Monowice or Auschwitz III) was a sub -concentration camp or one of the three concentration camps of Auschwitz , created in Nazi Germany . It was established in 1942, in Poland .
Auschwitz as sub concentration camp
Monowitz was primarily a forced labor camp , albeit with a high degree of extermination. It housed about 12,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, and prisoners of war who generally obtained easier jobs. These prisoners worked in the synthetic rubber factory IG Farben, which collaborated with the SS . The factory was completely built and operated by the prisoners that housed the concentration camp, who received the strict dose of food, shelter and construction tools. A few months after it was established, the death of the prisoners by hunger or exhaustion was normal, with a steady stream of new workers. These jobs were supervised by a dozen SS Aufseherinnen guards. Monowitz was the only camp of Auschwitz to be bombed by the Allies . Since then the Buna factory has had a military objective. Due to these bombings in 1944, the Buna construction was not completed and not one gram of rubber was ever produced. Eventually Monowitz became the largest forced labor camp in Auschwitz . IG Farben invested more than 700 million Reichmarks (which by 1942 would be about $ 1.4 billion) in Monowitz.
Separation of Monowitz
In November 1943 the SS declared that the concentration camps Auschwitz II ( Birkenau ) and Auschwitz III ( Monowitz ) were to become separate concentration camps. The SS Hauptsturmführer ( Captain ) Heinrich Schwarz was appointed commander of Monowitz, from November 1943 to the 17 of January of 1945 . Auschwitz III had no gas chambers themselves, so we proceeded to transfer the prisoners could not continue working extermination camp Birkenau .
Field release
In January 1945 the Soviet troops entered Monowitz and released the remaining prisoners, largely those who were confined in the infirmary and those who no longer possessed the physical faculties to be involved in the death marches . Among them was the renowned writer Primo Levi . His contemporary Paul Steinberg, who was later criticized by Levi and Steinberg responded in Speak You Also, marched the same month off the field on death marches and was later released by the Americans in Buchenwald .
Heinrich Schwarz , former camp commander, had moved to the concentration camp of Natzweiler , where he was captured by the Allies and charges faced in a French court, he was sentenced to death and executed in the forest Seinward the 20 of March of 1947 .