I was suprised when reading this article that Szewczyk was released after a year and half. I was no aware that anyone was ever released from Auschwitz. Auschwitz survivor Edmund Szewczyk dies - National
As I recall the original Auschwitz camp was a pre-war military camp for the Army of Poland. Initially the Nazi used it as a concentration camp for political prisoners and probably Polish officers. Later the Nazi built the death camp nearby at Birkenau (sp?) and other labor camps. At the original camp the Nazi experimented with gas chambers and refined the designs used at Birkenau where they were combined with the crematory. With all the murder going on it is surprising they released anybody. But the January 1942 time frame might be a clue. It is as if they were making room or freeing up resources to put the death machine into high gear. There is plenty online to research the Holocaust. The only limit seems to be anyone's tolerance for absorbing horrific detail.
It also had a near normal pow camp which many Brit soldiers were interned in. Large area...many camps and uses.
Never forget the very first batch of 600 people to be gassed with Zyklon B were Russian prisoners of war.
