Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

Construction on Auschwitz II (Birkenau) began in October 1941 to ease congestion at the main camp. It was designed to hold several categories of prisoners, and to function as an extermination camp in the context of Himmler's preparations for the Final Solution of the Jewish Question. From March to June of 1943, four new crematoria, Crematoria II, III, IV, and V, were completed and handed over to t…