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Auschwitz was a complex of Nazi concentration camps during World War II, located in occupied Poland. The main camp, Auschwitz I, was established in 1940 and was the largest of the three main camps. The other two main camps were Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz.
Auschwitz I was approximately 40 square kilometers in size, with over 40 buildings, including barracks, administrative buildings, and gas chambers. Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which was established in 1941, was much larger, spanning over 200 square kilometers. It was designed to hold up to 200,000 prisoners and was the site of the majority of the mass murders committed during the Holocaust.
The camp was so large because it was intended to be a self-sufficient complex, able to hold and kill large numbers of prisoners. The Nazis also used the camp as a forced labor camp, where prisoners were forced to work in factories and on construction projects. The camp's large size also made it easier for the Nazis to conceal their activities from the outside world.
In his book "Night," Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, wrote that the prisoners would have run for the forest if they had known the true nature of the camp. This is because the prisoners were initially deceived by the Nazis, who promised them that they would be sent to work in labor camps. They did not know about the gas chambers and the mass killings that were taking place there. If the prisoners had known the truth, many of them would have attempted to escape instead of being led to the camp unknowingly.