CONCENTRATION LABOR EXTERMINATION

CAMPS

ANIMATED MAP: WWII & EUROPE

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/animated-map/world-war-ii-and-the-holocaust

6 mins

CONCENTRATION CAMP DEFINITION

The term “concentration camp” refersto a camp in which people are detainedor confined, usually under harshconditions and without regard to legalnorms of arrest and imprisonment thatare acceptable in a constitutionaldemocracy.

German: Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ

EARLY CONCENTRATION CAMPS

• The first concentration camps in Germany wereestablished soon after Hitler became Chancellor ofGermany, with Dachau being the first.

• The major purpose of these early concentrationcamps was to imprison and intimidate the leadersof social, political, and cultural movements thatthe Nazis perceived as threats.

• Camps were established as needed to handle themasses of people arrested.

Dachau -northwest of Munich

Oranienburg -north of Berlin

Esterwegen -near Hamburg

Lichtenburg -in Saxony

CENTRALIZATION OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS

• Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader, was authorized to centralize the administration of the concentration camps and formalize them into a system.

• SS Lieutenant General Theodor Eicke was appointed as Inspector of Concentration Camps.

• After Dec 1934, the SS became the only agency authorized to establish and manage facilities formally called concentration camps.

• Local civilian authorities did continue to establish/manage forced-labor camps/detention camps throughout Germany.

• In 1937, only four concentration camps were left: Dachau, near Munich; Sachsenhausen near Berlin; Buchenwald near Weimar; and Lichtenburg near Merseburg in Saxony for female prisoners.

PURPOSES OF THE CAMP SYSTEM

• Concentration camps are often inaccurately compared to a prison in modern society. But concentration camps were independent of any judicial review. They served three main purposes:

• To incarcerate people whom the Nazi regime perceived to be a security threat. These people were incarcerated for indefinite amounts of time.

• To eliminate individuals and small, targeted groups of individuals by murder, away from the public and judicial review.

• To exploit forced labor of the prisoner population. This purpose grew out of a labor shortage.

FORCED LABOR

• By 1939, there were six main camps in the “Greater German Reich” (Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück).

• Prisoners were forced laborers, and used for theconstruction of the very camps they would be heldwithin.

• Camps were strategically placed based for forcedlabor. For example, Mauthausen and Flossenbürgwere located near large stone quarries.

• Prisoners were seen as disposable: mistreated andmalnourished, & no regard to their safety.

“Work makesfreedom.”

TARGETING GROUPS

• As the war began, releases were banned from the camp, providingthe SS with a readily available labor force.

• 1939–1941, the SS established a number of new concentrationcamps to incarcerate increased numbers of political prisoners,resistance groups, and groups deemed racially inferior, such as Jewsand Roma (Gypsies).

• After the beginning of the war, the concentration camps also becamesites for the mass murder of small targeted groups deemeddangerous for political or racial reasons by the Nazi authorities.

• During this period, German authorities constructed gas chambers. oruse to kill people at several of the concentration camps.(Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz I, and other camps. A gaschamber was constructed later at Dachau, but it was never used).

CLASSIFICATION IN CAMPS

• criminals = green inverted triangles

• political prisoners = red

• "asocials" (including Roma, nonconformists, vagrants, and other groups) = black/brown

• Homosexuals = pink

• Jehovah's Witnesses = purple

• Non-German prisoners were identified by the first letter of the German name for their home country, which was sewn onto their badge.

• Jewish = Star of David, could include other colors

ROLES WITHIN THE CAMPS

• Within the camps, the Nazis established a hierarchical identification system andprisoners were organized based on nationality and grounds for incarceration.

• Prisoners with a higher social status within the camp were often rewarded withmore desirable work assignments such as administrative positions indoors.

• Some prisoners held the power of life and death over other prisoners.

• Those lower on the social ladder had more physically demanding tasks such asfactory work, mining, and construction, and suffered a much higher mortality ratefrom the combined effects of physical exhaustion, meager rations, and extremelyharsh treatment from guards.

• Prisoners also staffed infirmaries, kitchens, and served various other functionswithin the camp.

• Living conditions were harsh and extreme but varied greatly from camp to campand also changed over time.

My visit to Dachau, spring 2017

SERVING THE GERMAN WAR EFFORT

• Groups continued to be targeted, assuring alabor supply despite the brutality of labordepleting the number of available laborers.

• The SS used gas chambers and other means to“weed out” prisoners who were no longer able towork.

• Central SS authorities tried to persuade campcommandants to focus their efforts on keepingthe prisoners alive to serve the German wareffort.

• Few camp commandants took these instructions seriously. None were concerned about changing the murderous culture of the camps.

THE “FINAL SOLUTION”

• The “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” was a euphemismused by Nazi leaders in regard to extermination of all Jews.

• This brought an end to policies aimed at encouraging orforcing Jews to leave the German Reich and other parts ofEurope. Those policies were replaced by systematicannihilation.

• The decision was made in 1941, after the invasion of theSoviet Union.

• The Nazi leaders envisioned killing 11 million Jews as part ofthe “Final Solution.” They succeeded in murdering 6 million.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Chelmno

LIBERATION → DEATH MARCHES

• As Allied forces moved across Europe, they discovered and liberatedcamps.

• As Allied forces approached Nazi camps, the SS organized “death marches”(forced evacuations) of concentration camp inmates, in part to keep largenumbers of concentration camp prisoners from falling into Allied hands.

• The evacuations of the concentration camps had three purposes:

• SS authorities did not want prisoners to fall into enemy hands alive to tell theirstories to Allied and Soviet liberators

• the SS thought they needed prisoners to maintain production of armamentswherever possible

• some SS leaders, including Himmler, believed irrationally that they could use Jewishconcentration camp prisoners as hostages to bargain for a separate peace in thewest that would guarantee the survival of the Nazi regime.