Deaths at Auschwitz were officially recorded, like any other camp in the world at the time.

The Auschwitz Death Books (German: Sterbebücher) are death registers prepared under the responsibility of the Political Department of the Auschwitz Camp (comprising the Main Camp, Birkenau, and all the subcamps). These books contained the death certificates of the inmates who had been admitted and registered at the camp, and who subsequently died for whatever reasons, executions included. When a maximum of 1,500 of these single-sheet certificates had been issued, they were bound as hard-cover volumes. Three copies of each death certificate existed. One remained in the camp, while two others were sent to superior departments.