Ten Facts About Auschwitz

• On May 20, 1940, the first prisoners arrived at Auschwitz.
• Auschwitz-Birkenau covered 500 acres.
• Auschwitz was in operation for five years.
• Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, nearly 1,095,000 were Jews, 426,000 were from Hungary, the most of any country.
• A total of 232,000 children, most Jews, were sent to Auschwitz.
• A total of 1.1 million prisoners, or about 85 percent of people sent to Auschwitz, were murdered in the camp including 960,000 were Jews, 74,000 non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Roma, and 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.
• On January 27, 1945, 7,000 prisoners were liberated by the Soviet Red Army.
• Victims left behind 110,000 pairs of shoes.
• Each barracks, designed for 700 prisoners, held 1,200.
• A total of 673 members of the camp staff were charged with war crimes.

Sources: Natasha Frost, “Horrors of Auschwitz: The Numbers Behind WWII's Deadliest Concentrtion Camp,” History, (January 23, 2020).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Auschwitz,” Holocaust Encyclopedia.