Concentration+Camps



The first Nazi concentration camp was Dachau which was started in 1933. Hundreds of camps all across Europe were built following Dachau. There were different types of concentration camps. The forced labor camps were like slave labor camps where large groups of prisoners were used to do hard labor in very harsh conditions. Transit camps were used to hold prisoners until they could be moved to another camp. Prisoner of war camps were used to hold people that were captured soldiers. Concentration camps were used to hold and house large numbers of prisoners. They were not intended for mass murder though many prisoners died from disease, starvation, beatings, and torture. Extermination camps were used for mass killings carried out at an industrial level.



Auschwitz started as a concentration camp for Polish dissidents in 1940. It held 10,000 prisoners and was built in the town of Oswiecim. Despite not being a death camp, more than 10,000 Polish prisoners died within 20 months. The town was located on major railroad lines and the land around the town had the resources needed to manufacture war materials, mainly fresh water and coal. A factory was built and in 1941 the camp was expanded to hold 30,000 prisoners and became the largest of the Nazi camps. Germany invaded Russia in June 1941. Russian soldiers that were captured were forced to work the gravel pits at Auschwitz. Over a nine month period three million Russian POW’s were taken to Auschwitz and two million of the died from starvation, working to death, or being shot. Hitler had authorized a euthanasia program to be used on people that were too old or sick to work and the mentally and physically handicapped people. They were killed with carbon monoxide being pumped into a barrack. This turned out to be not very efficient for killing large numbers quickly. Zyklon B had been used as a pesticide. When it was exposed to air it would dissolve into a gas. In August or September 1941 it was first tested on the Russian soldiers who were placed in a barrack that had been sealed for the occasion. They kept adding Zyklon B until all the soldiers were dead. Soon after, Auschwitz II was built with the special showers where the Zyklon B was dropped into vents in the roof killing everyone in the shower. Treblinka opened in 1941 and was originally a forced labor camp for prisoners accused of crimes by the occupation. In 1942 Treblinka II was built a mile away from what would now be called Treblinka I. Treblinka was built to be used as a death camp to exterminate Jews and Polish prisoners.