The complex of Nazi German state concentration camps and center for the extermination of Jews, created during World War II on the outskirts of the city of Oświęcim annexed to the Third Reich together with this region of Poland. Initially it consisted only of the Auschwitz I camp, later also of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, and later Auschwitz III-Monowitz and almost 50 sub‑camps created on the territory of Upper Silesia, Western Małopolska, and Bohemia. They all constituted a centrally managed administrative whole.

Among its over 1,000,000 victims, about 900,000 were Jews murdered in the gas chambers immediately after arrival; the others were prisoners of different nationalities registered in the camp who died of starvation, diseases, hard labor, executions, and selection.

(Mini dictionary of terms from the history of Auschwitz)