Who were held in concentration camps?

In 1933–1939, before the onset of war, most prisoners consisted of German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons accused of 'asocial' or socially 'deviant' behavior by the Germans.

Similarly, it is asked, what nationalities were in concentration camps?

Other ethnic groups

Czechs. The most numerous of the other groups were the Czechs.
Byelorussians.
Germans.
French.
Russians.
Yugoslavians.
Ukrainians.
Other nationalities.

Secondly, who started concentration camps? Auschwitz, the largest and arguably the most notorious of all the Nazi death camps, opened in the spring of 1940. Its first commandant was Rudolf Höss (1900-47), who previously had helped run the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany.

Also Know, what was the purpose of concentration camps?

Concentration camp. Concentration camp, internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order.

What did prisoners do in concentration camps?

Prisoners did not have to labor at all on Sundays and holidays, which they spent tidying up their quarters, mending or washing their clothes, or shaving and having their hair cut. They could also attend concerts by the camp orchestra and, every other week, send official letters to their families.

33 Related Question Answers Found

Where were concentration camps located?

Located near the industrial town of Oświęcim in southern Poland (in a portion of the country that was annexed by Germany at the beginning of World War II), Auschwitz was actually three camps in one: a prison camp, an extermination camp, and a slave-labour camp.

Who built the gas chambers at Auschwitz?

Out of the five ovens at Dachau concentration camp, four were made by H. Kori and one by Topf & Söhne. In all, Topf built 25 crematoria ovens which had a total of 76 incineration chambers (called 'muffles') for concentration camps.

What groups were sent to Auschwitz?

Other ethnic groups

In addition to Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and Soviet POWs, about 25 thousand prisoners of other nationalities were imprisoned in Auschwitz.

What races were killed in Auschwitz?

Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz
Inmates	Mainly Jews, Poles, Romani, Soviet prisoners of war
Number of inmates	At least 1.3 million
Killed	At least 1.1 million
Liberated by	Soviet Union, 27 January 1945

How many death camps were there?

6 death camps

How Big Is Auschwitz?

The Memorial Site covers two preserved parts of the camp: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in a total area of 191 hectares (472 acres), including 20 hectares (49 acres) of the Auschwitz I camp and 171 hectares of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp.

Who Owns Auschwitz?

Both were developed and run by Nazi Germany during its occupation of Poland in 1939–1945. The Polish government has preserved the site as a research centre and in memory of the 1.1 million people who died there, including 960,000 Jews, during World War II and the Holocaust. It became a World Heritage Site in 1979.

Who liberated Auschwitz?

On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz concentration camp—a Nazi concentration camp where more than a million people were murdered—was liberated by the Red Army during the Vistula–Oder Offensive. Although most of the prisoners had been forced onto a death march, about 7,000 had been left behind.

What kind of food did they eat in the concentration camps?

According to an educational website run by the London Jewish Cultural Centre, diets in the Nazi-run camps consisted of imitation coffee or tea for breakfast, “watery soup” for lunch and 300 grams of bread for dinner, together with “a tiny piece of sausage, or margarine, marmalade or cheese.”

Why were the concentration camps in Poland?

The primary function of death camps was the elimination of Jews from all countries occupied by Germany, except the Soviet Union (Soviet Jews were generally killed on the spot). Non-Jewish Poles and other prisoners were also murdered in these camps; an estimated 75,000 non-Jewish Poles died at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Was there a concentration camp in Berlin?

Lying just outside Berlin, Sachsenhausen was the first purpose-built camp established under Heinrich Himmler. Originally conceived as a place to subjugate enemies of the Nazis, some 200,000 people were imprisoned here and subjected to systematic torture, starvation, forced labor and some of the worst living conditions.

How many German concentration camps were there?

There were 20 main concentration camps, many of which had many subcamps, according to Geoffrey Megargee, the editor of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Many of them combined the most dehumanizing and degrading characteristics of prison and slave labor camps.

What was selection?

Selection in the camp. Beginning in the second half of 1941, mostly among the prisoners in the “rewir” or camp hospital, SS doctors began carrying out the selection of Auschwitz prisoners, during which they put to death those prisoners they regarded as unfit for labor because of terminal exhaustion or sickness.

How did concentration camps end?

Liberation Of The Concentration Camps. As the Allies advanced across Europe at the end of the Second World War, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners. The first major camp to be liberated was Majdanek near Lublin, Poland in July 1944.

What happened in concentration camps facts?

30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. In prison camps, prisoners were forced to do hard physical labor. Torture and death within concentration camps were common and frequent. 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust (1.1 million children).

When was the term concentration camp first used?

Although the first example of civilian internment may date as far back as the 1830s, the English term concentration camp was first used in order to refer to the reconcentrados (reconcentration camps) which were set up by the Spanish military in Cuba during the Ten Years' War (1868–78).

What is Concentration Camp simple definition?

noun. a guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc., especially any of the camps established by the Nazis prior to and during World War II for the confinement and persecution of prisoners.