Konzentrationslager (KL) was a German term and abbreviation
added to different locations where special facilities were created in
order to imprison dozens of thousands of prisoners who were used as forced
labour or exterminated in gas chambers or in many other ways during WWII by Germans
serving the 3rd Reich authorities.
The system of camps was composed of 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 part of 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 and never the oppressors in this terrifying system of the German mass extermination policy.
It should 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 death 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 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 subpeople 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 extermination of undesired members of their planned Realm of Europe. Until 1942 there were only concentration camps, since 1942 death camps were the
solution to quickly exterminate 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.
| 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 camp | Germans, 3rd Reich | 180,000 | Sobibór |
| Treblinka | Death camp | Germans, 3rd Reich | 800,000 | Treblinka |
| Bełżec | Death 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.
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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