Monowitz concentration camp

Monowitz was initially established as a subcamp of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz concentration camp. It was one of the three main camps in the Auschwitz concentration camp system, with an additional 45 subcamps in the surrounding area. It was named after the village of Monowice upon which it was built and was located in the annexed portion of Poland. The SS established the camp in October 1942 at the behest of I.G. Farben executives to provide slave labor for their Buna Werke industrial complex. The name Buna was derived from the butadiene-based synthetic rubber and the chemical symbol for sodium, a process of synthetic rubber production developed in Germany. Various other German industrial enterprises built factories with their own subcamps, such as Siemens-Schuckert's Bobrek subcamp, close to Monowitz in order to profit from the use of slave labor. The German armaments manufacturer Krupp, headed by SS member Alfried Krupp, also built their own manufacturing facilities near Monowitz.Monowitz was built as an Arbeitslager ; it also contained an "Arbeitsausbildungslager" for non-Jewish prisoners perceived not up to par with German work standards. It held approximately 12,000 prisoners, the great majority of whom were Jewish, in addition to non-Jewish criminals and political prisoners. Prisoners from Monowitz were leased out by the SS to IG Farben to labor at the Buna Werke, a collection of chemical factories including those used to manufacture Buna and synthetic oil. The SS charged IG Farben three Reichsmarks per day for unskilled workers, four per hour for skilled workers, and one and one-half for children.