Brzezinka

For other places with the same name, see Brzezinka (disambiguation).

Brzezinka
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lesser Poland
County	Oświęcim County
Gmina	Gmina Oświęcim
Population  (2006)
• Total	2,100
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Car plates	KOS

Brzezinka Template:IPAr (German: Birkenau) is a village in southern Poland, located about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Oświęcim (Auschwitz), in the district of Gmina Oświęcim, Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

General information

The village is located near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Soła, at the very center of the Vistula Valley, 240 meters above sea level. By the time of the construction of the first railroad station in 1856 the station was on Brzezinka's territory, but later it was transplanted to nearby Oświęcim (Auschwitz).

Two major factories are found there: Maszyn Górniczych "Omag", which in the 1930s, called Spółka Akcyjna Zjednoczenia Fabryk Maszyn i Samochodów "Oświęcim" (Auschwitz United Machinery and Automobile Manufacturing Inc.) produced the "Oświęcim-Praga" which won a Monte Carlo Rally; and the Polinova Company (popularly known as Papownia).

History

The name Brzezinka was given to the area as far back as 1385 and stems from the Polish word for the birch trees which are plentiful. From 1440 to 1483 Brzezinka was owned by Jan Brzeziński. During World War II after annexation by Germany the village was chosen as the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II) Nazi death camp, whose remains exist along with Auschwitz I as state museums to commemorate the victims of Nazism and the Holocaust.

On 1 April 2007 Brzezinka was featured on The Amazing Race: All-Stars.