Mexico (Auschwitz concentration camp)

In the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, Mexico refers to the partially expanded camp extension B III. In total, four construction phases were planned for the construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, of which BI and B II were built. The work on construction section B III was ended unfinished in April 1944 and construction section B IV was never realized. In the camp jargon of the construction phase B III was called "Mexico" because the housed there prisoners wore only colorful blankets from the Effektenlager Canada originated. According to the former Auschwitz inmate Hermann Langbein , this “colorful picture” in Auschwitz was associated with Mexico .

Use as a transit camp

After thousands of Jews deported from Hungary arrived in Auschwitz from June 1944 onwards , the people on the arriving transports were no longer selected immediately due to the high number , but instead were assigned to sections of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp that served as "transit camps". The men were taken to the former "Gypsy camp " B IIe and the women to camp sections B IIc and B III ("Mexico"). On average, there were 30,000 to 50,000 people in these “transit camps”.

In “Mexico” the women were housed in so-called Swiss barracks , which had neither lighting, equipment nor water supply. In each barrack there were 1000 women who had to sleep on the ground. They were not assigned to any work details. Most of the women were later murdered in the gas chambers or fell victim to the catastrophic camp conditions. Others were registered as prisoners in Auschwitz or made available to armaments factories as forced laborers via concentration camps in the German Reich . At the beginning of October 1944, the remaining 17,000 prisoners from "Mexico" were transferred to B IIc. A work detachment then dismantled the barracks in “Mexico” that were to be transported to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp .

literature

Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-52965-8 .
Wacław Długoborski , Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. Verlag Staatliches Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oswiecim 1999, ISBN 83-85047-76-X . Five volumes:
- I. Construction and structure of the camp.
- II. The prisoners - living conditions, work and death.
- III. Destruction.
- IV. Resistance.
- V. Epilog.
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (ed.): Auschwitz in the eyes of the SS. Oswiecim 1998, ISBN 83-85047-35-2 .
Hermann Langbein : People in Auschwitz. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin Vienna, Ullstein-Verlag, 1980, ISBN 3-54833014-2 .

Individual evidence

↑ Verena Walter: The construction of the camp in Birkenau . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. , Munich 2007, p. 106.
↑ ^a ^b Verena Walter: The camp sections B IIc and B III (“Mexico”) in Birkenau . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. , Munich 2007, p. 118.
↑ ^a ^b Irena Strzelecka, Piotr Setkiewicz: The camp section B IIc and B III ("Mexico") - transit camp . In: Aleksander Lasik: The organizational structure of KL Auschwitz. In: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume 1: Construction and structure of the camp , p. 115f.

[Walter106-1] Verena Walter: The construction of the camp in Birkenau . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. , Munich 2007, p. 106.

[Walter118-2] Verena Walter: The camp sections B IIc and B III (“Mexico”) in Birkenau . In: Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel (eds.): The place of terror. History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . Vol. 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. , Munich 2007, p. 118.

[Lasik115f-3] Irena Strzelecka, Piotr Setkiewicz: The camp section B IIc and B III ("Mexico") - transit camp . In: Aleksander Lasik: The organizational structure of KL Auschwitz. In: Wacław Długoborski, Franciszek Piper (eds.): Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studies on the history of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. , Oswiecim 1999, Volume 1: Construction and structure of the camp , p. 115f.