Everyday Anniversaries

We are all aware of the overall estimated statistics concerning the Holocaust. Revised figures suggest that between 4.5 - 6 million people were murdered during the Holocaust itself; approximately 1 million of these deaths took place at Auschwitz. Yet we cannot be entirely certain due to the fact that the Nazis stopped keeping such meticulous records of those arriving at the camps once the real industrialised killing properly commenced.
Because the figures are so uncertain, there is space for Holocaust deniers to launch into scathing attacks to try and prove that the whole thing did not happen - or, at least, happened without gas chambers, on a smaller scale - and the numbers are just 'made up'. Anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers in particular believe that such figures are part of nothing more than a large piece of Jewish propaganda.

The Nazis may not have kept as many detailed records in later years, and destroyed many important documents before the camps were liberated. They did, however, still leave vast amounts of paperwork, enough to tell us of events that happened on specific dates. These mostly include transports and where they came from, how many new arrivals there were, and how many were selected for immediate gassing. We also know many of the smaller details from Holocaust survivors that have bravely given their testmonies since.
In trying to raise awareness of the Holocaust and the everyday occurrences that took place, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum regularly post such figures on their Facebook page. For example, today's addition is as follows:

'On 5 December 1943, a transfer transport of 1,200 prisoners (including 34 Soviet POWs) arrived from the Flossenbürg camp. During the transport 258 prisoners died. 827 prisoners were registered in the camp and 81 prisoners were reassigned their previous Auschwitz numbers, since they had already been imprisoned in the camp and were transferred to Flossenbürg on 12 March 1943. The transport was to be sent to the gas chambers but was nevertheless sent to the quarantine camp (BIIa sector) in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Over there, the 80 weakest prisoners were left lying in the ice and snow of the lumberyard by order of the camp commander and cold water was subsequently poured on them. In the night, the prisoner attendants managed to bring 47 of those 80 into a barrack. 32 prisoners died, and one who laid under the bodies of others died in the morning when he was carried.'
These are morbid events to think about, but they are important nonetheless. To receive these regular updates, click 'Like' on the Museum's Facebook page. A link can be found in the 'Useful Links' section on the right-hand side of the blog.