Book Chapter
Piotr Setkiewicz, “The Exploitation of Labor and the Expansion of the Auschwitz Camp.” Auschwitz: History, Place and People. An Academic Guide to the Camp Complex. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2021, p. 151-166.
Educational Resources
- Map of the Auschwitz Interest Zone The so-called Interest Zone (Interessengebiet in German) was an area of approx. 40km2 encompassing Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau as well as several of the Auschwitz subcamps. The SS established the Interest Zone in early 1941 after expelling the local population. For further information, see: Mini Dictionary of Terms from the History of Auschwitz […]
Discussion Prompts
- To the companies that heavily profited off the cheap labour of Auschwitz prisoners, should they have been held more accountable for their actions?
- Consider and discuss the ways in which the Auschwitz camp followed an economical model. Such as ’employing’ prisoners in the sub-camps, selling the cheap prisoner labour to companies and the selling/stealing of prisoners personal belonging for economic profits.
Bibliography
Piper, Franciszek. Auschwitz Prisoner Labor: The Organization and Exploitation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp Prisoners as Laborers. Translated by William Brand. Oświęcim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2002.
Setkiewicz, Piotr. The Histories of Auschwitz: IG Farben Werk Camps 1941-1945. Oświęcim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2008.
Setkiewicz, Piotr, and Ulrich Herbert. “Häftlingsarbeit Im KZ Auschwitz III – Monowitz. Die Frage Nach Der Wirtschaftlichkeit Der Arbeit.” In Die Nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager: Entwicklung Und Struktur, 584–605. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 1998.
Wachsmann, Nikolaus. KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.
