Concentration Camps of the Third Reich

What is a concentration camp? a large detention center created for political opponents, aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people. Nazi Germany set up camps whose objective was either to use political opponents as forced labor (labor camps) or to kill them (extermination camps), and called them concentration camps to conceal their true purpose. Prisoners in Nazi concentration and labor camps were also treated horrifically, and many died.

Trains The main way of transporting prisoners to the camps. Trip could last from 3 days to one month. People were loaded into freight cars people per car with their belongings. Each person was given a small loaf of bread for the trip. They had one 50 gallon barrel of water, and a barrel for waste. Average space per person, 18 inches.

Prisoners’ belongings were taken away when they entered the camp and never given back. Shoes Full suitcases Jewelry Gold teeth and dentures

Work will make you Free The motto at all camps Arbeit Macht Frei

The reception area: The Sauna Auschwitz This is where prisoners selected for slave labor were processed. Often people would have to wait outside naked in any weather. Here they would have to give up all their remaining possessions: money, jewels, even wedding rings and photos. In short, the prisoner was left with only one possession, his or her body. In this building planned humiliation was performed on the confused and terrified new arrivals. Men and women were forced to stand on stools, in a room crowded with people while heads and armpits of one's body were shaved by male prisoners.

Fences Separated Men and Women camps and surrounded the perimeter of the camp Guards would often be in the middle and in the towers to prevent conversing or escape

The Barracks Held people

Barracks at Birkenau Women’s Men’s The beds There was one row of beds down the length of the barrack.

The beds As you can see, the prisoners were piled in. This would have been nice in the winter for warmth, but miserable in the hot summers.

The lavatory Located in the barrack. The prisoners were only allowed to use the lavatories in the morning before roll call and at the end of the day. They were only given a few minutes to use them, and there were not enough for everyone to go at once.

They were issued this at entry, but it would not be replaced if stolen or damaged. It consisted of the striped pants and jacket, and a pair of wooden shoes. The whole set was for winter, in the summer they would wear only parts. The uniform

Causes of death in Camps Gas Chambers Starvation Typhus Medical experimentation Execution

The Little Wood Auschwitz People were made to wait here for what they had been told was a disinfecting shower. their actual destination was Krematorium V. A fence blocked their view but the screams of those further along the Nazi destruction line could be heard.

The DOOR Does it enter the shower or the gas chamber? The prisoners never knew.

Gas Chamber

Starvation Average diet was 200 calories a day –Consisted of bread, cabbage soup and coffee

Typhus It is not directly spread from person to person. People get typhus after infective rat fleas contaminate fresh skin wounds or the flea bite site. Symptoms include headache, fever, chills, joint pain, nausea, vomiting, and cough.

Medical Experiments Malaria experiments. Conducted at the Dachau concentration camp in order to investigate immunization for treatment of malaria. Healthy concentration-camp inmates were infected by mosquitoes or by injections. After having contracted malaria the subjects were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficiency. Over 1,000 involuntary subjects were used in these experiments, many of whom died. Sterilization experiments. Conducted at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps, and other places. The purpose of these experiments was to develop a method of sterilization which would be suitable for sterilizing millions of people with a minimum of time and effort. These experiments were conducted by means of X-ray, surgery, and various drugs. Thousands of victims were sterilized. Bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation experiments. Conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp to study bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration, and bone transplantation from one person to another. Sections of bones, muscles, and nerves were removed from the subjects. Sea water experiments. Conducted at the Dachau concentration camp to study various methods of making sea water drinkable. Some of the subjects were deprived of all food and given only chemically processed sea water.

Medical Experimentation Freezing experiments. One study forced subjects to endure a tank of ice water, sometimes for as long as 3 hours. Another study placed prisoners naked in the open for several hours with temperatures below freezing. Nazi experimenters assessed different ways of rewarming survivors. Many people died as a result of these experiments. High altitude experiments. Prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were tortured so the Nazi German Air Force could find out the capacity of the human body to endure and survive high altitude. A low-pressure chamber was used to duplicate altitude conditions of up to 68,000 feet. Subjects were then forced into these simulated altitudes within the chamber.

Medical Experimentation Sulfonamide experiments. Conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Wounds inflicted on the experimental subjects were infected with bacteria such as streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus. Circulation of blood was interrupted by tying off blood vessels at both ends of the wound to create a condition similar to that of a battlefield wound. Infection was aggravated by forcing wood shavings and ground glass into the wounds. The infection was treated with sulfonamide and other drugs to determine their effectiveness. Some subjects died as a result of these experiments.

Medical Experiments Mengele ran a butcher shop - major surgeries were performed without anesthesia. Once, Mengele was removing pieces from the stomach, but without any anesthetic. Another time, it was a heart that was removed, again, without anesthesia. Mengele did a number of medical experiments of unspeakable horror at Auschwitz, using twins. These twins as young as five years of age were usually murdered after the experiment was over and their bodies dissected. twins surgery

Pistol Range Used for executions. Some guards were known to engage in target practice, using their prisoners as targets.

Crematorium Used to burn dead bodies, NOT living ones.

Prisoners put in charge of loading and emptying the ovens

The Dead