The largest Auschwitz sub-camp, called Buna, was located here from 1942 to 1945. The Nazis
sent thousands of prisoners from various countries, the majority of
them Jewish, to Buna (there were approximately 10,000 prisoners in
this camp in 1944). A significant proportion of them died
because of arduous slave labor, starvation, savage mistreatment, and
executions. Those who were unable to go on working fell victim to
selection and were taken to their deaths in the Birkenau
concentration camp gas chambers.
In November 1943, the Buna sub-camp was
transformed into a separate administrative unit designated Auschwitz
III. It included other Auschwitz concentration camp sub-camps at
industrial plants.
On January 18, 1945, the camp administration
evacuated those prisoners who were able to march. They marched into
the depths of Germany. The ill and weaker prisoners were left in the
camp. Red Army soldiers liberated them on January 27, 1945.
