| Kanada, Auschwitz | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Holocaust | |
     Above: Auschwitz II, 13 September 1944, during the 15th US Army Air Force bombing of Auschwitz III. The "loot storage area" is Kanada II.[1] Top: Kanada warehouses, c. May 1944. | |
| Location | Auschwitz concentration camp, occupied Poland |
| Description | Warehouses for the looted property of prisoners, Auschwitz I and II |
The Kanada warehouses, also known as Effektenlager or simply Kanada, were storage facilities in the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland during the Holocaust. The buildings were used to store the stolen belongings of prisoners, mostly Jews who had been murdered in the gas chambers on arrival.[2] The property of prisoners registered in the camp and used as slave labour was kept on deposit.[3]
The warehouses became known as "Kanada" (or "Canada") because the prisoners saw them as the land of plenty. Although the name began as prisoner slang, it was apparently adopted by some of the camp administration.[2] Prisoners who worked there were known as the Aufräumungskommando[4] ("clearing-up commando") or Kanada Kommando.[5] It was viewed as one of the best jobs in Auschwitz, because prisoners could "organize", in camp slang, and procure goods for themselves and other inmates.[5]
- ^ Piper 2009, p. 209.
- ^ a b Strzelecki 1998, pp. 250–251.
- ^ Strzelecka & Setkiewicz 2000, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Strzelecki 1998, p. 250.
- ^ a b Greif 2005, pp. 338, n. 45.