AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

At this point, the camp took up only half the planned area. Its expansion was basically completed in the summer of 1943, although the last 4 of the 60 barracks were erected only a year later. The camp population rose gradually, from over 3.5 thousand in December 1942 to over 6 thousand in the latter half of the following year, and over 11 thousand, mostly Jews, in July 1944. This growth occurred despite significant mortality in the camp and numerous selections, both “general” and in the camp hospital. Factory management insisted on removing sick and exhausted prisoners from Monowice; the company, they argued, had not invested large amounts of money in building barracks to house prisoners incapable of labor.