All around the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. The camp was established by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The name of the city of Oswiecim was changed to Auschwitz which became the name of the camp as well.
Over the following years, the camp was expanded and consisted of three main parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. It also had over 40 sub-camps. The first prisoners who were imprisoned and died at the camp were Poles, then Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, and prisoners of other nationalities were incarcerated there. Beginning in 1942, the camp became the site of the greatest mass murder in the history of humanity, which was committed against the European Jews as part of Hitler's plan for the complete destruction of those people. The majority of the Jewish men, women and children deported to Auschwitz were sent to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers immediately after arrival. Towards the end of the war, in an effort to remove the traces of the crimes they had committed, the SS began dismantling and razing the gas chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, as well as burning documents. The Auschwitz Birkenau Holocaust Camp Memorial site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
