The first Soviet prisoners of war arrived in Auschwitz in July and August 1941. At the beginning of September 1941, about 600 POWs were delivered to Auschwitz. Together with 250 sick Polish prisoners, they were murdered in the basement of block 11 with the use of Zyklon B. This was the first instance of the mass killing of people with gas at Auschwitz. In October 1941, the SS imprisoned about 10,000 POWs in a fenced‑off part of Auschwitz I. The main occupation of the POWs was building a new camp in the fields of the village of Brzezinka (Birkenau), whose residents had been expelled. Their death rate was high—about 60 men died each day. The causes of death were executions, beating, harassment, excessive labor, starvation and sickness. In March 1942, about 600 of the POWs who were still alive were transferred to the new Birkenau BI b camp. In the autumn the majority of them were transferred to camps in the depths of the Reich.

According to estimates, about 15,000 Soviet POWs were deported to Auschwitz by the Germans. About 3,000 were murdered immediately after their arrival, about 12,000 were registered in the camp, of whom at least 11,000 perished.

(Mini dictionary of terms from the history of Auschwitz)