Monowitz-Buna

 

Aerial photograph of Auschwitz III (Monowitz-Buna)

The site of Auschwitz III Monowitz-Buna as it is now

Monowitz subcamp was also known as Monowitz-Buna and Auschwitz III. It was established in October 1942 and evacuated in 1945. From 1943, the subcamp was commanded by SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Heinrich Schwarz. The subcamp held around 12,000 prisoners, most of whom were Jews, although there were also some criminals and political prisoners. They were used as skilled and unskilled labour at the nearby I G Farben chemical plant (which produced rubber and synthetic fuels), for which the SS charged the company three Reichsmarks per day for unskilled workers and four RM per day skilled workers. Where children were used as labour, the SS charged one and a half RM per day. Jewish workers at Monowitz had an average life expectancy of three to four months, reduced to just one month for those working at nearby mines. Those regarded as unfit for work were gassed at Birkenau.

Prisoners at work on the main factory site

Air raid shelter

Overturned three-man air raid shelter

Original fence posts bordering the old perimeter of the factory site

The subcamp on the north side of the I G Farben complex, near Klapiczka. It actually extends both sides of the road, so there is another part of it just out of picture at the top of this aerial Google Earth view

The part of the subcamp on the north side of the road to Klapiczka

On the south side of the road to Klapiczka. Notice the fence posts.




Surviving barrack at Monowitz

Former smithy building at Monowitz

Another view of the former smithy building at Monowitz

















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