Establishing Concentration Camps Holocaust PowerPoint #6

How this came about Punishment –Early times: execution by cruel means, torture, slavery, seizing of property, or punishing the lawbreaker’s family This ended with the French Revolution –Modern Times: fines, terms in prison, or execution Hitler’s concentration camps –Deliberately brutal –Determined to work people to death –Were to exist until that future time when all undesirables had been destroyed

Nazis list of “the guilty” included: –Labor organizers –Political opponents –Critics of Nazi policies –Racial “Subhumans” Jews Jehovah’s Witness Homosexuals Slavs Blacks Gypsies Mentally and Physically Disabled

SS took care of running camps –First three were Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen –Barbed wire, guard towers, unpainted buildings –The SA were the first in Nazi Germany to hold prisoners. –Dachua Theodore Eicke was commandant in 1933 He demanded complete obedience from officers and guards No one with a conscience could work there –Prisoners were rarely taken directly to a prison camp; often kept in holding areas to be weakened –Brought on covered and crowded boxcars to camps These trips were several days long with no food, bathrooms or water

The Trains The job of running the trains to and from the ghettos was done by one man: SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann The Germans had to pay for each Jew on board just like any other passenger The cars could officially hold 8 horses or 40 soldiers, but there were men, women, and children in each one No room to sit or lie down Many died before they arrived; a train of 1,000 Jews might arrive with 200 already dead Stench and filth were indescribable

Arrival Arrivals were lined up facing guards with muzzled dogs Orchestras sometimes played music to ease fears The sorting process took place as one person in a white coat pointed arrivals to the left or the right –One side meant death, the other life –Some were kept alive to work Those who lived were processed –Identification number tattooed on their arm Purpose was to dehumanize them; they no longer have a name –Hair was cut off and sold to make coats, socks, mattress stuffing, etc.

Inmates First inmates were Communists and Jews Each group identified by a badge –Political (red) –Jehovah’s Witness (purple) –Anti-social (black) –Criminal (green) –Homosexual (pink) –Gypsy (brown) –Jew (yellow) Foreigners were identified by: –“F” for French –“P” for Polish –Mentally defective “Blod,” meaning stupid Worst cruelty was reserved for Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals

The Barracks Dark, gloomy, smelly, and overcrowded Slept on wooden shelves with each allowed a space equal to that of a coffin Plagued by hunger, filth, bitter cold in winter, exhausting work in summer heat, most of their effort was devoted to staying alive Long hours of senseless work; sometimes worked at factories