From an empire in the East to an icon of memory
The word Auschwitz conjures up images of destruction and mass murder. Yet the origins of the camp lie elsewhere. In search of ‘space to live’ the Nazis sought new colonies in the East. That's how they ended up in Poland. Raw materials made the region around the Polish town of Auschwitz interesting for German industry. The German company IG Farben built a giant chemical plant. An ideal city with residential areas, parks and transport was to rise around the complex. But soon the company engaged forced labourers. The Nazis made concentration camp prisoners available to the company. Using photos, maps and objects, this lecture shows the Complex genesis of the Auschwitz camp complex and how it was to become an empire in the East. The rampant killing machinery, however, makes Auschwitz today the icon of remembrance and commemoration of the Holocaust.