The SS, or Schutzstaffel, built the first concentration camp, referred to as the main camp or stammlager, on the outskirts of the Polish Industrial town of Oświęcim in May and June of 1940. Located in a former Austrian military barrack from the nineteenth century, the camp was last used by the Polish Army. Later, the first members included Polish hostages, resistance fighters, and members of the Polish intelligentsia, who were scheduled to be killed. Eventually, people from all over Europe were deported to Auschwitz I because of politics or race. In October 1941, more than 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war were deported to Auschwitz I from Wehrmacht POW camps and stayed there until March 1942. After the Soviet POW’s left in March 1942, the SS set up a women’s concentration camp in Blocks one through ten of the main camp. Most of the women were Jews from Slovakia. By, 1943, the number of inmates had grown to 20,000 people, and by 1944, the main camp included 28 two-story barracks, compared to the sixteen one-story buildings it had started with.
In the camp, there was a seat of main offices of the political department and prisoner of labor department, a location for the SS garrison administration, and main supply stores, workshops, and other SS companies. The inmates were forced into labor in the SS-operated production facilities, agricultural activities, and experiment stations. By October 1944, Auschwitz I housed several thousand women prisoners who produced artillery-shell fuses at the Union-Werke factory in the newer blocks of the camp.
Auschwitz 