Death Toll Auschwitz.

There will never be an exact toll of those who were Murdered at Auschwitz, as records vary in depth and description. Many documents too were destroyed by the Nazi’s seeking to conceal their fixed solution to a Jewish Question. An immediate count of those records, though sparse, with additions from Witness sources, from Survivors and the Testimony gained during The Nuremeberg Trials, all provided a view of the Calamity which could not be corroborated. Both Eichmann and the Camp Kommandant Rudolf Hoess were in some form of agreement. Eichmann believed some 2,000,000 had been Murdered in Auschwitz, while Hoess gave a more liberal assessment of between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 Murdered. While the Russian estimate of some 4 Million gained a public acceptance, and a monument was placed to endorse this figure, it was somewhat frowned upon as mere Soviet propaganda, and less than an accurate assessment.

“..first and foremost perpetrator was Adpolf Hitler. ..without him it would have been inconceivable.” Raul Hilberg.

In 1961 Raul Hilberg decided himself in his book, The Destruction of European Jews, to use German railway timetable records to total the number of Nazi departures. These Transports were assessed for their Nazi consistency, rather than accounting for the arrivals of these ‘resettlement’ trains at the various Death Camps. For Auschwitz, Hilberg arrived at a figure of some 1,000,000 Jews having been Murdered within the Camp. This has been as accurate an assessment as has ever been, and was established by Hilberg before technology and further records were available.

Merely symbolic! A collection of some of the Ashes of Those Jews Murdered here within Auschwitz. This accounting of Hilberg’s, which is as close as we are ever likely to get to that Final assessment, still stands solidly today. It is highly unlikely, unless some tiemly intervention appears, courtesy of new found records compiled by Nazi officials, that we will ever know how many Jews, or others were Murdered at Auschwitz, let alone for the totality of The Final Solution. For me however, I would rather stick to the composite estimate of 6,000,000 Jews Murdered in The Holocaust, as defining Hitler’s assault upon the integrity of The Jewish People of Europe. For Auschwitz and Birkenau, the 1,100,000 figure composes a lasting Monument Always to Remember, Never to Forget.

“..Arrived ..Auschwitz ..July 2nd. or 3rd. 1944. ..about 200 men. ..women 70 or 80 seventy or eighty. ..rest I saw ..getting into ..a number of trucks. ..also a closed vehicle with ..sign of ..Red Cross. I saw them all go off. ..to ..gas chambers.” Georges Wellers.

As late as 1983, research into the Murder rate at Auschwitz, gathering information from Nazi ‘transport’ data, similar in many respects to Hilber’g’s analysis, was given a further assessment. Provided by the French Historian Georges Wellers, the account had demonstrated that approximately 1,613,000 people Died there. These were People who were Murdered by various means which included Gassing. We know from Testimony elsewhere this Gassing was done by Zyklon ‘B’, an insecticide found to be capable of Killing People, more cheaply than Bullets. Many within Auschwitz were ritually Tortured and Hanged.

How many chose their own way out, by running into the Electrified fence cannot be accounted for. So many must have been that discouraged, so brutalised, or maybe even knowledgeable of what was coming, chose to end it all, on their terms. Those others who were left to Starve did so or succumbed to the many Diseases prevalent when such abuses and excesses were endorsed. Of those Auschwitz Murdered, garnered from Weller’s Research, 1,350,000 were found to be the Jewish victims, 83,000 were Polish victims, some 20,000 were Gypsies and over 12,000 were Russian POW’s. Figures for those Jehovah’s Witnesses and Homosexuals Murdered have not been realistically confirmed or verified. We know too from this source that well over 150,000 Poles had been imprisoned within Auschwitz over the duration of the Camps existence.

Franciszek Piper, Director of Research at the Auschwitz Museum, published his own findings in 1989. Using captured Camp records, the register of prisoners, train time table of arrivals, and combining all of that with those lists existing of Nazi deprtations, Piper was able to establish that 90% of all those Murdered at Auschwitz were Jews. This represented some 1,100,000 Jewish Murdered, a figure recognised still to this day. His account also suggests that there were between 140,000 and 150,000 Poles who were victims and some 23,000 Gypsy souls who lost their lives.

According to the Polish American Congres, between 5 and 6 Million Polish citizens were killed during World War Two. Of this figure, 3,000,000 of whom were Polish Jews, they were killed during the period of The Holocaust so as ‘to further the Third Reich’s anti-Semitic policies.’ Their analysis shows that, of the 1,100,000 Jews deproted to Auschwitz, more than 90% of them perished, presenting some 1,000,000 Polish Jews to this study.

While it is always an essential in my study to ensure I am committed to the Remembrance of These Jews of Europe, it isncumbent upon me to ensure that is is never forgotten also, that many other people, many other nations suffered. Of the 3 Million Polish Citizens who died, there is anecdotal evidence which more than suggests, that nearly 2 Million of these Polish Citizens were Killed because of their ethnicity and again, Hitler’s hatred for other People’s. This same congress assessed that, of those other’s Transported to Auschwitz, there loss is accountable as:

Poles 150,000 with 75,000 (50% Murdered),

Gypsies 23,000 with 21,000 (91% Murdered),

Russian POW’s 15,000 with 15,000 (100% Murdered), and

Others, 25,000 with 15,000 (60% Murdered)

within Auschwitz and Birkenau’s confines.

“..I was in ..camp Birkenau ..part of ..Oswiecim Camp. ..a woman in ..last month of pregnancy. ..had to walk ten kilometres to ..place of work ..toiled ..whole day ..digging trenches. ..already ill and ..asked ..German ..for permission to rest. ..refused ..laughed at her and ..together with another SS man ..started beating her. ..situation of all ..women who ..were pregnant ..only during ..very last minutes were they permitted to stay away from work. ..newly born children ..if Jewish ..were immediately put to death.” Severina Shmaglevskaia.