Auschwitz 1940-1945 [antikvár]

as Hitler's Army bad penetrated into the Oswi^cim (Auschwitz) territory, Polish since the Plast kings of Poland, several special commisions inspected it thoroughly. Their task was to find a suitable place for establishing a concentration camp at Zasole, one of the sub-u.i'bs of Auschwitz. The initiative for the establishment of the camp originated in the Office of the High Command of and Police in Wroclaw. SS-Gruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski stood at the head of the Office, while Gestapo inspector SS-Oherfiihrer Arpad Wigand was his suibordinate officer. Wigand suggested that the necessity of performing mass ainrest among the Poles in Silesia and in occupied Poland (Which the Germans then called General Gouvernment-GG) made the existence of such a camp imperative. Rudolf Hösß, then manager of the camp at Sachsenhausen, took part in one of the inspections. In April 1940 the order to establish the concentration camp at Auschwitz was issued. Rudolf Höss was nominated the camp commandant. The Nazis sent the first transport of Poles to "Konzentrationslager Auschwitz" on June 14 1940.