Location:

Oświęcim, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany

Original use:

Army barracks

Operational:

May 1940 – January 1945

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS); the NKVD (after WWII)

Commandants:

SS Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höess
(May 1940 - November 1943)

SS Obersturmbannführer Arthur Liebenschel
(November 1943 - May 1944)

SS Sturmbannführer Friedrich Hartjenstein
(November 1943 - May 1944)

SS Hauptsturmführer Josef Kremer
(May 1944 - November 1944)

SS Sturmbannführer Richard Baer
(May 1944 - January 1945)

Estimated deaths:

1,100,000; mainly Jews, Poles, Roma and Soviet

Liberated:

January 27, 1945 by Soviet troops

Location:

Occupied Poland, 47 miles north of the major city of Lvov

Original use:

Constructed by Germans in 1941 in connection with Aktion
Reinhard, specifically for the murder of Jews

Operational:

October 1941 – June 1943

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS)

Commandants:

SS Sturmbannführer Christian Wirth
(December 1941 – August 1942)

SS Obersturmführer Gottlieb Hering
(August 1942 – December 1942)

SS Unterscharführer Josef Oberhauser
(November 1941 – August 1942)

Estimated deaths:

600,000 Jews, Gypsies, Poles and Roma

Liberated:

Closed by Nazis in 1943 and converted to a farm to disguise the site and prevent locals from digging up human remains

Location:

Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle

Original use:

Originally established as the prisoner of war camp Stalag XI-C, in 1943 it became a concentration camp on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas

Operational:

April 1943 – April 1945

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS)

Commandants:

SS Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer
(December 1944 – April 1945)

SS Hauptscharführer Ernst Balz
(October 1944 – April 1945)

SS Unterscharführer Karl Egersdörfer
(April 1945)

Irma Grese [over female prisoners]
(March 1945 – April 1945)

Estimated deaths:

50,000 Jews, Czechs, Poles, anti-Nazi Christians, homosexuals, Roma and Gypsies

Liberated:

April 15, 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division

Location:

Etter Mountain near Weimar, Germany

Original use:

Constructed by Nazis in 1937

Operational:

July 1937 - April 1945

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS); the NKVD (after WWII)

Commandants:

SS Sturmbannführer Jacob Weiseborn
(1937)

SS Obersturmbannführer Karl Otto Koch
(1937 – 1942)

SS Standartenführer Hermann Pister
(1942 – 1945)

Head Supervisor [of women] (and wife of Karl Otto Koch) Ilse Koch
(1937 – 1941)

Estimated deaths:

56,545 Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes, religious and political prisoners, Roma and Gypsies, Jehova Witnesses, criminals, homosexuals and prisoners of war

Liberated:

April 11, 1945 by US 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, U.S. 6th Armored Division, US Third Army

Location:

Eastern Poland, 37.5 miles from Łódź, Poland’s second largest city

Original use:

Manorial estate

Operational:

December 1941 – July 1944

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS)

Commandants:

SS Hauptsturmführer Herbert Lange
(September 1939 – February 1942)

SS Hauptsturmführer Hans Bothmann
(March 1942 – April 1943)

SS Untersturmführer Walter Filer - deputy to Bothmann

SS Untersturmführer Alois Häfele - oversaw all activities

SS Hauptscharführer Albert Richter - division commander

SS Hauptscharführer Wilhelm Lenz - chief woods commando

SS Hauptscharführer Johann Runge - oversaw the crematoria operations

SS Unterscharführer Erich Kretschmer - deputy to Runge

SS Hauptscharführer Erwin Burstinger – in charge of keeping the gas vans fueled

SS Hauptscharführer Gustav Laabs - driver of the gas vans

SS Hauptscharführer Herman Gilow - driver of the gas vans

SS Unterscharführer Walter Burmeister - driver of the gas vans

SS Rottenführer Wilhelm Gürlich - deputy to Burmeister

Estimated deaths:

At least 153,000; mainly Poles and Jews from the Łódź ghetto and the surrounding area, along with Gypsies from Greater Poland and some Hungarian Jews, Czechs and Soviet prisoners of war

Liberated:

Camp destroyed and evacuated by Nazis in July 1944 as the Soviet Army approached; remaining prisoners transported to Auschwitz