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How did the Nazis transport people from across Europe to Auschwitz?

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Auschwitz: entrance gates — Auschwitz The entrance gates to the Auschwitz concentration camp, near Kraków, Poland; the sign reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Liberates”).

To facilitate the systematic murder of millions during the Holocaust, the Nazis utilized a vast, industrialized transportation network to move victims from across Europe to Auschwitz and other extermination camps in German-occupied Poland.12

The deportation process was centrally organized by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Central Office), specifically Bureau IV B4 under Adolf Eichmann. The Gestapo and other security forces rounded up Jewish populations and other targeted groups from occupied territories, often first confining them in ghettos or transit camps, such as Westerbork in the Netherlands.345

From these collection points, victims were forced onto trains, frequently packed into cramped cattle cars. These transports were a critical component of the "final solution," designed to move victims efficiently to stationary killing centers. This rail network operated throughout the war, continuing to deliver victims to Auschwitz from across the continent until Soviet troops approached the camp in January 1945.521