1941: The first experiments with Zyklon B gas are conducted on 600 Soviet POWs on September 3rd.
1942: Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz are established.
1944: Jewish crematoria workers in Birkenau stage an armed uprising on October 7, blowing up Crematorium IV. Hundreds escape but are soon captured and put to death.
1945: Liquidation of Birkenau begins in January with the burning of documents and destruction of gas chambers, crematoria and barracks. All prisoners who can walk, approximately 58,000, are sent on arduous ‘death marches’. About 15,000 die during this ‘evacuation’. On January 27 the Red Army liberates Oświęcim, where roughly 7,000 prisoners too weak to move have been abandoned to their fate. In the months after the war the Auschwitz barracks are used as an NKVD prison.
Post-war: The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is established. In 1979 UNESCO includes Auschwitz I and II on its list of World Heritage sites. In the same year it is visited by Pope John Paul II. His successor, German Pope Benedict XVI visits in 2006. On December 18th, 2009 thieves steal the infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign from above the main entrance gate; the sign is replaced by a replica, while the original is found in pieces in the woods in northern PL. It is now the subject of renovation work.
