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MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU FORMER GERMAN NAZI
CONCENTRATION AND EXTERMINATION CAMP

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Two Plaques. In memory of the residents of the Land of Oświęcim - Jews and Poles

15-10-2001

Two plaques commemorating the residents of the Land of Oświęcim have been unveiled on the Market Square in the City of Oświęcim. The first is dedicated to the Jewish citizens of Oświęcim - men, women, and children - who were murdered by the Nazis. The second commemorates the Poles who risked their lives to aid the prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.

The plaque dedicated to the Poles was funded by the local government and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, while the plaque dedicated to the murdered Jewish residents of Oświęcim was paid for out of voluntary donations to the Land of Oświęcim Society.

As a result of the division of the lands occupied by the Germans, the Land of Oświęcim was included within the borders of Third Reich Germany. Fourteen thousand people lived in Oświęcim at the time. More than half of them were Polish Jews, who were evicted from their homes and resettled in ghettos in 1941. Later, they were deported from the ghettos to death camps, mostly to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Almost all the Jews of Oświęcim perished during the occupation. Repressive measures also extended to the other residents of Oświęcim. Many of them were arrested or evicted from their homes and resettled. Their houses were demolished or taken over by Germans.

Despite the reign of terror that followed the founding by the Nazis of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, local residents risked their lives to render aid either on an individual basis or in cooperation with the organized resistance movement. Many local residents perished or passed through the hell of the camps.