Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9503100021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
April 27, 1940: Nazi police chief Heinrich Himmler orders construction of a concentration camp at Oswiecim, Poland.
May 20: First 30 prisoners arrive, German criminals who will exercise control over future inmates.
June 14: First 728 Polish political prisoners arrive.
September 1941: First test gassing with cyanide preparation Zyklon B; 850 Poles and Russian POWs killed.
October: Birkenau camp set up, about 2 miles from Auschwitz. Some 40 forced-labor camps will eventually be built.
January 1942: Extermination of Jews begins at Birkenau.
Spring 1943: Four new gas chambers become operative at Birkenau. The capacity of their attached crematoria amounts to 8,000 corpses per 24 hours.
August 1944: The Soviet Red Army approaching, SS commanders begin dismantling the camp, exterminating ``non-productive'' prisoners and evacuating those fit for work to concentration camps in Germany.
Oct. 7: Jewish prisoners working at Crematorium IV blow it up and riot; some 450 are killed.
Jan. 18: Evacuation begins. Some 7,000 sick and exhausted prisoners left at the camp without food or medical care.
Jan. 27: Soldiers of the 60th Army of the first Ukrainian Front enter Auschwitz, liberating 5,200 prisoners.
- Associated Press
by CNB