Auschwitz refers to a network of concentration and extermination camps established by Nazi Germany during World War II. The most infamous of these camps is Auschwitz-Birkenau, located near the town of Oświęcim in occupied Poland. Auschwitz served as a site for the mass murder of Jews, political prisoners, Romani people, and various other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.
The camp was established in 1940 and expanded in subsequent years, functioning primarily as a forced labor camp and an extermination camp. Auschwitz became a symbol of the Holocaust, where approximately 1.1 million people, predominantly Jews, were killed through gas chambers, starvation, forced labor, and other brutal means.
Today, the site is preserved as a museum and memorial, known as the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, dedicated to educating the public about the Holocaust and commemorating the victims of the atrocities committed there.