The other researchers are Danuta Czech (former deputy director of the museum), Tadeusz Iwaszko, Stanisław Kłodziński, Helena Kubica, Aleksander Lasik, Piotr Setkiewicz, Irena Strzelecka, Andrzej Strzelecki, and Henryk Świebocki.

The research is based on the State Museum Archives, which include 30,000 images; 15 metres of shelves of records from the camp's construction department (Bauleitung); and another 15 metres of documents from the camp itself, such as SS personnel files, 70,000 death certificates, watch books, letters from prisoners written inside the camp, telegrams about escapes, punishment books, and the daily roll call.

[5] Irving Greenberg, then chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, described the work in 2001 as "by far the most comprehensive in its detail and level of source material".

[1] Reviewing it for Yad Vashem Studies, Joachim Neander noted "the authors' deep empathy with the victims" and called it "an academically solid compendium".

[2] Peter Hayes, writing in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, regarded the chapters as poorly organized, making it more suitable as a reference work than a readable history.