Auschwitz was established in April 1940 by order of Heinrich Himmler. Originally a concentration camp, Auschwitz eventually expanded to consist of three camps. A death camp known as Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, was added in 1941. Paula, Silvia, and Sol were processed at Birkenau, but were not selected for death. A labor camp known as Auschwitz III, or Buna-Monowitz, was built in 1942 to provide cheap labor for prominent German industrial firms. As a whole, Auschwitz was the largest of all Nazi camps. In total, the Germans murdered more than 1.1 million people there, 90 percent of them Jews. Among these were Sol's mother, brothers, and sister, and Paula’s father.
