Auschwitz "Work Sets You Free"
Auschwitz "Work Sets You Free"Thinkstock

Poland is preparing an extensive list of the personnel who served in the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, the EFE news agency reported on Tuesday.

According to new data, more than 8,700 people worked at the camp, nearly double the previous figure.

The initiative could lead to new war crime charges being brought up against the few dozens of the workers still living, the report noted.

An investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a public body which is responsible for investigating Nazi and communist war crimes against Polish citizens brought the new information to light.

Media reports on Tuesday specified that the updated list of people who served in the camp includes more than 8,700 names, including 186 women.

Older documents calculated between 4,000 and 5,000 staff members, of which only about 770 were convicted in the aftermath of World War II.

The new information comes as a crackdown on Nazi war criminals continues, mostly in Germany.

The crackdown began following the 2011 Munich trial of John Demjanjuk, a Nazi war criminal charged of assisting in the murder of 28,060 people at the Sobibor death camp and sentenced to five years. The former Nazi died in 2012.

In February it was announced that a 93-year-old former Auschwitz death camp officer will go on trial in Germany this month on charges of at least 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Several weeks later, a 93-year-old man, who was not identified, was charged in a German court with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as an SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp.

Most recently, the trial of 93-year-old former SS guard Oskar Groening, known as the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz”, began at a state court in the northern German city of Lueneberg.

Although Groening, who was charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder, has openly admitted serving as an SS officer at Auschwitz, he denies committing any crimes.