Oświęcim

Related Category: Polish Political Geography

(ôshvyĕN´chēm), Ger. Auschwitz, town (1992 est. pop. 45,100), Małopolskie prov., SE Poland. It is a railway junction and industrial center producing chemicals, leather, and agricultural implements. There are coal deposits in the vicinity. In World War II the Germans organized a concentration camp system there, consisting of 3 main and 30 forced-labor camps. At the Brzezinka (Ger. Birkenau) extermination camp as many as 4,000,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were killed.