Wednesday 7 March 2018

Nazi German concentration and death camps


Konzentrationslager (KL) was a German term and abbreviation added to different locations were special facilities were being created in order to imprison dozen of thousands of prisoners who were used as forced labour or exterminated in gas chambers or any other way during WWII by Germans serving the 3rd Reich authorities.


The system of camps comprised more than 1,200 camps which enslaved and anihilated milions of citizens of European states in between 1933-1945.

It should be underlined that Poles whose territory was divided in 1939 by Germans and Soviets in half, were one of the most persecuted groups as far as German oppresive system of concentration camps is concerned. The very first transport to Auschwitz was composed of Poles from Tarnów, a town in east-southern occupied Poland. 

During WWII Polish nation lost 17% of their citizens i.e. 6 mln people 
(3 mln Polish Roman-Catholics and 3 mln Jews with Polish citizenship). 

Poles were victims never the oppressors in this terrifying system of the German mass extermination policy.

It might be added that certain concentration camps had their specificity as for the imprisoned. For Poles, KL Mautchausen remained a concentration camp for the elites („Vernichtungslager fur die polnische Intelligenz” – a deatch camp for the Polish elites; the term used by SS members who were supervising the construction of Mautchausen-Gusen), KL Ravensbruck – a camp where Polish women were being transported in great numbers (40,000 imprisoned; 32,000 died), KL Dachau – a camp where Polish priests and members of the clergy were taken and exterminated.

The process of extermination of subpeoples in the Hitler’s eyes such as Poles, Jews, Gypsies, Slaves conducted since the beginning of WWII by Germans seemed nevertheless to be too slow as not as many people were eliminated as German authorities had wished to.

That is why in 1942, Germans decided to accelerate the pace of mass elimination of undesired members of their planned Realm of Europe. Till 1942 only concentration camps operated, since 1942 death camps were the solution to quickly end up with the Jewish population. The idea to create death camps was developped by Heinrich Himmler and confirmed at the Wansee Conference and therefore  is to be understood as the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.

Most of sites where the Nazi German Concentration and Death camps were located during WWII may be accessed for a comprehensive study and research about the horror of Hitler’s Germany citizens and followers.

Please find below a short list of some of the concentration and death camps with Internet links to the Museums sites respectively.



German camps

Name of the camp Type of the camp Built and operated by Number of exterminated people Further reading
Auschwitz Concentration camp and death camp Germans, 3rd Reich 1,3 mln (total number with Birkenau victims) Auschwitz 
Birkenau (Auschwitz II) Concentration camp and death camp Germans, 3rd Reich 1,3 mln (total number with Birkenau victims) Auschwitz
Sobibór Death campGermans, 3rd Reich 180,000 Sobibór 
Treblinka Death camp Germans, 3rd Reich 800,000 Treblinka
BełżecDeath camp Germans, 3rd Reich 500,000 Bełżec
Chełmno Death camp Germans, 3rd Reich 200,000 Chełmno
Mauthausen/Gusen Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 122,000 Mathausen
Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 70,000 Bergen-Belsen 
Stutthof Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 65,000 Stutthof 
Dachau Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 148,000 Dachau
Sachsenhausen Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 200,000 Sachsenhausen
Buchenwald Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 56,000 Buchenwald 
Majdanek Concentration camp Germans, 3rd Reich 78,000 Majdanek 

The map below shows the location of the camps.



What was a concentration camp?

A special designated area with buildings created or already adapted to serve as housing barracks for the imprisoned. Prisoners were detained in unbearable conditions forced to work 12 hours a day without proper nutrition not to mention proper clothing. The majority could not stand such inhuman treatment and died shortly after the arrival and exposure to such „niceties”. Many survived and looked like live skeletons upon the liberation of the camps by the Allied forces.

What was a death camp (also known as extermination camp)?

A special chosen, mostly secluded place where facilities were being build or adapted to serve as a place for detention and then anihilation of large groups of people. Gas chambers and crematoriums were KEY INSTALATIONS which served as final stop for the captured. Cyclon B gas was used as a means to intoxicate the prisoners brought to a place that looked like a shower area. After the intoxication, bodies were being gathered by a special Kommando to crematoriums where bodies were being burnt. 

Death camps were planned to exterminate most of the Jews of Europe. It should be remembered that 6 mln Jews lost their lives because of the Hitler's devil racial policy in concentration and death camps, mass executions and many more "unrefined" ways.


Image source: Internet

Source: Youtube.com 

Read more:
  • Snyder, Timothy (2010). Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books.
  • Chris Webb: The Sobibor death camp. History, Biographies, Remembrance. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2017.
  • http://auschwitz.org/en/bookstore/


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