Nazi Concentration Camps
The Holocaust was one of the world’s worst genocides; concentration camps were the worst place to be if you were a captive. Adolf Hitler, a Nazi, convinced many that certain groups of people needed to be exterminated. He started concentration camps to terrorize his enemies. The first concentration camps started in 1933, six years before World War Two began. There were several concentration camps. These concentration camps consisted of European Jews, P.O.W.’s (Prisoners of War), political prisoners, criminals, homosexuals, and gypsies, the mentally ill and other groups. The first concentration camp was called Dachau, located in Munich, Germany. It was opened March 22, 1933. Within five years of Dachau opening, the number of concentration camps quadrupled. The Nazis created different types of camps, for example, labor camps, transit and collection camps, P.O.W. camps, hostage (or death camps), and extermination camps. Labor concentration camps were where inmates had to do hard labor under inhumane conditions and cruel treatment. Transit and collection camps were where inmates were collected and transferred to main camps. Prisoner of war camps were where prisoners were held after being captured. These P.O.W. camps caused torture and liquidation of prisoners on a large scale. Death camps were where hostages were held and killed as reprisals. Extermination camps were a mixture of the other camps and were not useful people were sent to be killed. These concentration camps were all horrible but Auschwitz was the worst. Auschwitz was located in Poland and was opened in June 1940. Auschwitz was a total of 40 kilometers. Auschwitz was a labor and extermination camp. Auschwitz had three other sub camps Auschwitz 2 Birkenau and Auschwitz 3. Auschwitz had the highest death count compared to any other camp. It’s estimated that 4 million people were sent to Auschwitz and 1.1 million died at Auschwitz. The prisoners died of starvation, exhaustion, diseases, or killed
Bibliography: 1. Nazi concentration camps Jan 14-17 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps 2. Auschwitz, Nazi death camp Jan 14-17 2011 http://www.auschwitz.dk/auschwitz.htm