This area of Birkenau is called “The Ramp.” It was an unloading area for prisoners built in March, 1944 to facilitate the anticipated transport of several hundred thousand Jews from Hungary. Both before and after its construction, all arriving prisoners were separated into three groups. •One group went directly to the gas chambers where more than 20,000 people could be gassed and cremated each day.
•A second group was used as slave labor at industrial factories. At the Auschwitz complex, 405,000 prisoners were recorded as laborers between 1940 and 1945. •A third group was used for medical experimentation at the hands of doctors such as Josef Mengele. Experiments were conducted without consent and usually without any anesthesia.