The Germans established the Auschwitz concentration camp in the spring of 1940 for man prisoners. The first women were deported to the camp in March 1942. In total, more than 130,000 women prisoners were registered there during the

camp’s existence. The history of the first transports of women is discussed by Dr. Teresa Wontor-Cichy from the Research Center of the Auschwitz Museum.

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Online lesson about women in KL Auschwitz

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Voiceover: Sarah Edwards, Kate Weinrieb

Before the war, Oświęcim was a town inhabited mainly by Poles and Jews. During the Second World War it was annexed to Germany and the name of the town was changedto Auschwitz. At the end of 1939 the town had a population of over 12,500 people, about half of whom were Jews. Near Oświęcim there were several villages, which in December of 1939 were incorporated into the German administrative unitof Stadtbezirk Auschwitz. About 13,000 people lived in thesevillages.

Due to the establishment and expansion of the Auschwitz camp, several thousand Polish and Jewish residents of Oświęcim and nearby villages were forced to leave their homes. In the “On Auschwitz” podcast, we share fragments oftestimonies from witnesses and their relatives about these events.

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The podcast features material from the collections of:

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Archives:

- account by Zofia Przybyłowska

- account by Piotr Bielenin

- account by Marian Górnicki

- account by Sylwester Szałaśny

- account by Krystyna Szałaśny

- account by Sabina Rosenbach (transcribed, read by a narrator)

- account by Helena Mataniak (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Helena Hoła (written down, read by a narrator)

Museum of Remembrance of the Residents of the Oświęcim Region:

- account by Helena Grzesło

- account by Aleksander Karkoszka

- account by Józefa Handzlik

- account by Wanda Saternus

- account by Maria Gawron

- account by Janina Stawowy

- account by Wanda Patyna

- account by Henryk Kuczek

- account by Maria Jurczyk

- account by Tadeusz Firczyk

Jewish Museum in Oświęcim:

- account by Abraham and Jerzy Feiner

- account by Lola Bodner

The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw:

- account by Ewa Neiger (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Sylwia Bachner (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Anna Hönig (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Tauba Grünn (written down, read by a narrator)

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Voiceover: Therese McLaughlin, Mike Skagerlind

Among the many groups of people deported to the German camp Auschwitz, Slovakian Jews occupied a special place. They were brought to the camp at a time when it was undergoing fundamental, organizational and functional transformation. From a place of concentration and gradual destruction of prisoners through dramatic living conditions and hard labor to a center of mass extermination in gas chambers. Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, the head of the research center of the Auschwitz Museum, recounts the details of this process.

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On-line lesson about the deportations of Jews from Slovakia

=====Voiceover: Michael Takiff