Oswiecim

Oswiecim is a town in the Lesser Poland provenience of southern Poland, situated 50 kilometers west of Krakow, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Sola. The town is mainly known for its occupation of the Nazis and it being near the Aushweitz concentration camp. The town was established in 1270, mainly by Germans to make it a prosperous trading center. The town later during the 1300s became the regional center of the eastern part of the duchy of Teschen, and became locally significant once the duke granted the town the right to become a lead and salt depot. The town is recognized due to its Nazi occupation during 1940-1945, and the Auschwitz concentration camp near the town. The camp was ordered to be built April 27, 1940, to be built near Oswiecim. The named "Auschwitz" is the German spelling of "Oswiecim" hence it name. The camp was the largest death camp during the Nazi occupation Era, but even thought the camp receives more than 1.2 million visitors every year, few of these people even know about Oswiecim's presence. The town was used for the holding of Nazi officials and soldiers during the Nazi occupation. Oswiecim was famous also because the Auschwitz camp had a revolt by their prisoners in 1944 where the prisoners destroyed the crematories. Lastly, the things in Oswiecim today mainly is the remains of the Auschwitz concentration camp, but the town has over 45,000 inhabitants today, and is an important center for trade and chemical as well. The town also includes a handful of hotels to house the tourists hoping to visit the nearby death camp. The town also includes museums and transport to be able to learn about the death camp nearby before visiting it, and a few tourist companies are inside the town to take tours of Auschwitz. But besides the companies made for the death camp, there are the fair share of houses and businesses for the inhabitants for the town, trying to forget the dark past of the town.