CONCENTRATION CAMPS

WHAT WERE THEY?

• Camps where enemies of the Nazi regime were sent to be eliminated
• Prisoners were over-worked, underfed, and abused by guards
• Many prisoners were used for medical experimentation
• Those not fit for work were sent to gas chambers to be killed
• Dead or dying were sent to crematories.

AUSCHWITZ

• Included 3 main camps:
• Auschwitz I (May 1940)
• Auschwitz II (Birkenau, 1942)
• Auschwitz III (Buna, Oct. 1942)
• Near pre-war German-Polish border

Untitled Slide

AUSCHWITZ I

• Constructed in abandoned Polish artillery barracks.
• Purposes:
• Incarcerate enemies of Nazi regime for indefinite period of time
• Have an available supply of forced laborers
• Eliminate targeted groups of population

AUSCHWITZ II

• Largest total prisoner population
• Central role in killing Jews of Europe
• 1941- Zyklon B gas was introduced
• Continued gassing operations at Birkenau until Nov. 1944
• "provisional" gas chambers and 4 large crematorium buildings

Auschwitz III

• Created to house laborers of the Buna synthetic rubber works
• Many died from arduous labor and abuse

DEPORTATIONS TO AUSCHWITZ

• Transports arrived from 1942 to the end of summer 1944
• Approximately 1.1 million Jews and 200,000 others deported to Auschwitz
• More than 3/4 were almost always sent directly to gas chambers

LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ

• January, 1945
• Soviet forces neared the Auschwitz concentration camp complex
• SS evacuated about 60,000 prisoners and marched them to sub camps
• Sick and dying prisoners left behind
• The Soviet army entered Auschwitz camps and liberated around 7,000 prisoners

Untitled Slide

DACHAU

• Established in March, 1933
• First concentration camp established by Nazis
• In beginning, used only for criminals, not just Jews.
• Training camp for SS concentration camp guards
• 2 crematoriums and a gas chamber

LIBERATION OF DACHAU

• April 29, 1945, American army liberated camp
• Found over 30 train cars with bodies of killed victims.
• Amount of prisoners killed will never be known

BUCHENWALD

• SS authorities opened Buchenwald for male prisoners in July 1937
• Women not part of the Buchenwald camp system until late 1943 or early 1944
• Buchenwald was one of few concentration camps that held “work-shy” individuals
• Those who could not, or would not, find employment administered at least 88 subcamps

LIBERATION OF BUCHENWALD

• April 11, 1945: expectation of liberation
• Prisoners stormed the watchtowers, seizing control of the camp.
• Later that afternoon, US forces entered Buchenwald
• At least 56,000 males murdered at Buchenwald
• About 250,000 people imprisoned total