10 Amazing Facts You Might Not Know About Auschwitz

Auschwitz, located in Oswiecim, Poland, became active in 1940 and became one of the most notorious Nazi-led concentration and extermination camps. The complex consisted of 48 camps in total - the largest of which were Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz - and today it is known as the largest mass murder site in human history.

In mid-January 1945 Soviet soldiers stormed the compound - just days after the Nazis evacuated the site - and came across a terrifying scenario. There were still about 7, 000 prisoners alive in Auschwitz, and the troops also found appalling traces of the atrocities that were committed there. Below you can check out 10 amazing facts you may not know about Auschwitz:

1 - More people died in Auschwitz than the sum of British and US losses in World War II.

2 - During the 4.5 years of its existence, it is estimated that of the 1.3 million people sent to the concentration camp, 1.1 million perished. And of these, 1 million were Jewish men, women, and children.

3 Many of Joseph Mengele's scientific experiments at Auschwitz involved twin studies, and if one brother died, the Nazi physician immediately killed the other to conduct comparative necropsies.

4. Jewish boxer Salamo Arouch, who was a prisoner in Auschwitz, was forced to fight with other prisoners to survive. He participated in over 200 fights over 2 years, and the losers were sent to the gas chambers or shot. Salamo died at the age of 86 in Israel in 2009.

5 - A Schutzstaffel guard - the SS - fell in love with a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz and saved her life countless times while she was in concentration camp. The woman, in turn, testified in favor of the Nazi soldier when he was tried for his crimes after the war was over.

6 - During the Holocaust, to save her family, a Jewish woman named Stella Kübler-Isaacksohn exposed more than 3, 000 hidden Jews trying to escape the Gestapo. Even after the Nazis sent her parents and husband to Auschwitz in 1943, she continued acting as an informant until 1945.

7 - Polish soldier Witold Pilecki volunteered to be sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner to gather information, escape and then let the whole world know about the Holocaust and the atrocities committed in the concentration camp.

8 - During the Holocaust, about 60 million Reichmarks - or what today would amount to over $ 700 million - were generated at Auschwitz thanks to slave labor.

9 - There were about 170 Nazi women working in the concentration camp, and the most evil of them was Irma Grese. Known among the prisoners as “Belsen's Bitch, ” Irma paraded through Auschwitz wearing heavy boots, a whip, and a pistol. When she was arrested by the Allied soldiers, she had lamps made of human skin in her quarters. The Nazi was sentenced to the gallows at the age of 20 for her crimes.

Of the 7, 000 or so Nazis who worked in Auschwitz during World War II, only 750 were punished for their crimes.

* Posted on 24/08/2015