Auschwitz-concentration camp Auschwitz, located in Poland, was Nazi Germany's largest and most terrible concentration camp. It was established by order of Himmler on April 27, 1940. At first, it was small because it was a work camp for Polish and Soviet prisoners of war. It became a death camp in 1941. Auschwitz was divided into three areas: Auschwitz was the camp commander's headquarters and administrative offices. Auschwitz was called Birkenau and it was the death camp with forty gas chambers. Auschwitz was a slave labor camp (Funk and Wagnalls New encyclopedia). On the gate of Auschwitz was a sign in German which read, 'Arbeit macht frei', which means work