how+do+concentration+camps+differ+from+extermination+camps?

__ How does a concentration camp differ from an extermination camp? __ Carla Ruppert Daniel Endres Chris Ebig Amanda Groom ** Concentration Camps in the Third Reich **



When the Nazis came to power in January 1933 they began to suppress all potential opposition. Special courts where set up so that people could be detained without proper legal proceedings. After the Reichstag Fire the first concentration camp was set up in Dachau near Munich. The camp was intended to hold up to 5000 political prisoners – the main target where communists which the Nazi’s saw as enemies of the state. The camp in Dachau was not only the prototype for further camps, its existence also served as psychological terror to intimidate the German public. A press statement released after the opening stated that everybody who endangers the security of the state could be held at the camp indefinitely [1]. In the following months additional camps were established all over Germany to handle the masses of people arrested. The SS established larger camps in Oranienburg, north of Berlin; Esterwegen, near Hamburg (…) and Lichtenberg, in Saxony. [2] After the Röhm purge in 1934 the SS under Heinrich Himmler became the centralized power to administer and oversee the concentration camps. Besides political prisoners they Nazis soon began to deport Jews, Jehovah Witnesses, homosexuals, gypsies, and the mentally ill as well.

** Treatment of inmates in concentration camps **

Although the concentration camps were not specifically designed to be mass killing camps like the later mentioned extermination camps, many inmates died because of the harsh conditions in these camps.

The camps were overcrowded, disease spread easily and many prisoners died from starvation or dehydration. They slept in barracks, which usually held 4-5 people in one bed. The prisoners had to make sure that they kept their bowl and spoon; if they didn’t hold on to these items they would not be able to get any soup.

Women had a tougher stand than the men. They were more likely to be killed, beaten or. Many women where raped by SS Officers and some camps even had there own brothels.

From 1934 on the SS used the inmates as forced labor and began to execute prisoners that were deemed unfit for work. [2]

The purpose of the concentration camps was sort of a slow torture approach. The prisoners were used as forced labor and because of the poor nutrition they received they eventually would slowly parish in the camps.

** Second World War beginning 1939 **

With the beginning of the Second World War the Nazis began to set-up camps in the newly annexed territories. These camps usually were larger than the camps in Germany and the treatment of the prisoners was even harsher. The camps more and more became a tool to lock up the “undesirable” populations of the conquered territories. These new camps were often created in areas with a large number of Jewish populations. It was during this time when the Nazis began to systematically starve and torture inmates to death. The climate of national emergency during the war allowed the SS to expand the function of the camps and they began to systematically kill perceived enemies of the Nazi State. [2] The war furthermore provided a convenient excuse to ban releases from the camps. [3]

The advancing German Troops in the east where followed by the “Einsatzgruppen” whose job was to commit mass executions of “undesirables” behind the front line. These paramilitary death squads were responsible for the murders of up to 1,000,000 people during the war and marked the first organized structure for the mass killing of Jews in the Nazi State. [4]



** The Final Solution **

As the war progressed the plan to the plan to purge the German “Lebensraum” (living space) of Jews was expanded as well. “The final solution of the Jewish question” was a term coined by Adolf Hitler. The Final Solution was established during the Wannsee conference in Berlin on January 20, 1942. It was the framework to the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II. SS Lieutenant Heydrich opened the Meeting with “Reich Marshal Göring’s request that a draft be submitted to him regarding the organizational, technical and material aspects of the final solution of the Jewish question required prior joint consideration by all central agencies directly concerned with these problems in order to coordinate their subsequent course of action.” [5]

The Nazis where in Search of a better (for the perpetrators) and more effective way of mass killings for a while, especially after Himmler saw the psychological impact the Einsatzgruppen had to endure during the mass executions.

** Extermination Camps **

The Nazis began to set up extermination camps in Poland starting end of 1941 in the General Gouvernment Poland. The first death camp was constructed at Chelmno.



The arriving prisoners (mostly Jews) where almost immediately led to gas chambers which where filled with the deadly carbon monoxide exhaust fumes from gasoline engines. [6] Between March 1942 and summer 1942 three more extermination camps where constructed in Belzec, Sobribor and Treblenika under Operation Rheinhard. These camps used the same killing methods as the Chelmno camp. After the completion of these camps the Nazis began with mass deportations of Jews from the Ghettos that had been created all over Poland in the previous years. Between December 1941 and March 1943 approximately 152,000 Jews where killed at Chelmno and more and 1,500,000 at the Operation Rheinhard camps. [6]

The largest extermination camp was Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was established near the already existing Auschwitz concentration camp in the spring of 1942. Unlike the previously mention extermination camps the Nazis used the industrially manufactured gas Zyklon-B in the Auschwitz gas chambers. The gas chambers were made of cement, with a big steel door to lock-in prisoners. The soldiers would tell prisoners they were going to take shower. Once the prisoners were inside, the soldiers would lock the door, and then throw in cans of the insecticide Zyklon-B.



The **[|Auschwitz-Birkenau]** (Auschwitz-II) camp was constructed to be a mass killing factory and reached it’s peak during the deportation of the Hungarian Jews in the spring of 1944 when approximately 6,000 Jews where gassed each day. [6] Another difference between Auschwitz and the previous camps was the fact that Auschwitz never lost its function as a forced labor camp. Upon arrival men would generally be separated from the women and children and all other person’s deemed unfit to work. These prisoners who where able to work were used for forced labor after the initial selection and then forced recurring selections (most notably by Dr. Mengele) until they where deemed unfit for work and send to the gas chambers as well. [6]

During the operation of the gas chambers between 1,1 and 1,5 million people where killed at Auschwitz. [7]

** Conclusion **

Concentration camps where first introduced to hold political prisoners and later turned into forced labor camps. The extermination or death camps were constructed after the Nazis established the final solution. The extermination camps were essentially death factories. Auschwitz was as exception as it was both a forced labor as well as an extermination camp; this led to constant selections of the prisoners at Auschwitz.

Works cited: [1] [] [2] [] [3] [] [4] [] [5] [] [6] [] [7] []

[8] Leither, Isabella. Isabella: From Auschwitz to Freedom. Xlibris corporation, 2000. Print. [9] Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill And Wang, 2006. Print.