Concentration Camps During World War II

Have you ever heard of the nasty, disgusting, and horrible conditions that jews had to suffer with in concentration camps during the Holocaust? Lice and fleas are a big part of conditions in concentration camps, another horrible condition in the camps are diseases and sanitation, lastly another awful condition in concentration camps is mass murder and starvation. Many people died in concentration camps during the Holocaust because of the environment the jews had to live in and deal with, and many families were split and torn apart because loved ones of theirs had died because of the horrible conditions in the camps.

Auschwitz was one of the most infamous and largest concentration camp known during World War II. It was located in the southwestern part of Poland commanded by Rudolf Höss. Auschwitz was first opened on June 14, 1940, much later than most of the other camps. It was in Auschwitz that the lives of so many were taken by methods of the gas chamber, crematoriums, and even from starvation and disease. These methods took "several hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand" lives a day. The majority of the lives killed were those of Jews although Gypsies, Yugoslavs, Poles, and many others of different ethnic backgrounds as well. The things most known about Auschwitz are the process people went through when entering the camp and

Auschwitz was one of the most well-known concentration camps, a camp which held many prisoners who were often judged by their looks, race, and religion and not by their actions. In concentration camps people were forced to work and not given basic human rights. Auschwitz was by far the largest concentration camp during World War Two. It quickly gained a reputation for torture and harsh treatment of the prisoners. Auschwitz has a history that can give a person the chills from the horror of the mistreatment of prisoners.

The conditions of the camps varied from one to another, but from Stalags and Concentration camps, they were close to the same. A large portion of deaths in POW camps were from “lack of food” (Uhl 1). The recommended daily minimum was a 2,000 calorie diet (Rees 5).However this was impossible to do with the shortage of food. (Rees 5). Some of the food was “potatoes and moldy bread” (Uhl 1) which was part sawdust (Uhl 1). Many only got “5 grams” of bread (Solzhenitsyn 25). Millions of people were surely to die (Jones 11). Although the camps were harsh, the prisoners were allowed to do many activities such as sports, newspaper, musicals, and more (Uhl 2). Many camps featured musical and plays to entertain others and to be used as propaganda (Uhl 2). Even though the POW’s had better choices, they were still beaten and murdered like the others captured. (Uhl 2). In eight months, Nazis murdered 2.8 Russian Pow’s, exceeding the amount of mass murder during the holocaust. (Uhl 2). While in the camps, many died from the Baatan Death March that killed off all remaining prisoners of the Japanese (“Prisoners of War” 4). The weather was also a large aspect to the deaths. The prisoner’s “fingers were

in Europe had harsher persecutions that led to murder. Over six million people were killed during this time. These deaths define two-thirds of European Jewry, and one-third of all world Jewry.

Bergen-Belsen had tens of thousands of prisoners in it and had 60,000 prisoners in a very critical condition. Bergen-Belsen was full of unsanitary conditions, the prisoners had lack of food, shelter, and they died because of overcrowded areas. The Nazis starved the prisoners so much that some couldn’t even move. “Moving vaguely on rickety skeleton legs were too ill to eat.”(ushmm.org) Most of the survivors were too hungry to even move to get food. The Nazis wanted prisoners to suffer, so they put them to work everyday, giving them one meal to eat.

In only six years, two-thirds of an entire race, plus millions more, were shot, gassed, or starved to death. Anyone who was deemed “racially inferior or politically dangerous” was sent to one of many in the camps system. Among these groups were the physically or mentally handicapped, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Jews, Gypsies, Poles and Soviet prisoners of war, and Communists (Berenbaum par. 1-2). Millions of innocent people were sent to camps where they were killed or forced to work for the German cause until they died.

Auschwitz is considered by the most the most inhumane concentration camp in world war two. At the beginning of 1940, Auschwitz was created, and it was under the rules of the SS (Concentration Camp). Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp during World War II, where over a million people died. Jews were treated horribly, and many were gassed. Auschwitz was called a death camp, for many reasons which included the deportation and selection process, medical experiments, and gas chambers.

The lives of prisoners in the Holocaust was horrific due to Hitler’s rule. Between 1933-1945, there were thousands of people killed each day because of their religion and ethnic group. By the end of the Holocaust, over 6 million people had been murdered thanks to the Nazi soldiers running the concentration camps. Over the course of months, things continued to worsen and the death count increased daily. The soldiers were trained and experienced at killing which heightened the situation, considering they could kill more people than ever before. Many young children lost their chance of life because the soldiers killed everyone, no matter what age. Anyone, brought to a camp was either killed on the spot, or was worked to death by the soldiers.

During World War II the atrocities committed by the Nazis were so violent, and so reprehensible that Germany is still trying to make amends for them to this very day. I decided to do my final paper on just one specific group of people terrorized by the Nazis in their concentration camps, American GI’s. These GI’s were sent to a camp known as Buchenwald. The off shoot of Buchenwald was known as Berga. Berga is a town in the Grietz district in Thuringia, Germany. Although, not initially used as a concentration camp, Berga would become one of Hitler’s most secretive and most infamous concentration camps during the war.

While there were many death camps that opened during the Jewish Holocaust, none of them compare to the opening of Birkenau in 1941. Birkenau opened and before it was liberated “the camp killed about 1.3 million people” (“Auschwitz”). Birkenau was a factory of death. This place was a monstrosity for all of the prisoners. They slept in a bunk with two or three other people and a blanket per person. Once the prisoners were there, they learned that life would not be easy. Waking up at six o’clock and working 12-14 hour days with minimal food. “The soup was unappetizing, and newly arrived prisoners were often unable to eat it, Supper consisted of about 300 grams of black bread, served with about 25 grams of sausage, or margarine, or a tablespoon

“In spite of all the terrible things that happened to me, I did not allow Hitler to make me feel less than human.” (Holocaust). Hitler made people feel like they were nothing, he would take their lives away because he didn’t like them. It is important to know that what Hitler did to the Jews is not right. Auschwitz is still standing today as a place people can visit. Many people feel offended by this. Auschwitz is still affecting people today on how they feel and act.

Auschwitz started out as a prison for those who were seen as ~'undesirable~' or as enemies. It then became the embodiment of Nazi cruelty and barbarism. Men, women, and children perished while others watched in delight, horror, or apathy. Auschwitz is a reminder of the destruction in prejudice and intolerance. Primo Levi best summarized the value of studying about such a horrible event in human history when he wrote, ~'Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake

In the gruesome place of Auschwitz, about 1,100,000 people were murdered by the Nazis. No one should have to be killed for no apparent reason. Adolf Hitler was a dictator who controlled his Nazi soldiers. Auschwitz is a filthy and rotten place. Prisoners often died from an illness. While many people have died in Auschwitz, some were lucky to live a free life again and tell stories about their life in the death camp. Auschwitz was the largest death camp among all the others.

Under the rule of Hitler in Nazi Germany, thousands of people were gassed in an atrocity called the Holocaust. Beginning in 19412, millions of Jews, European Gypsies, Soviet civilians and prisoners, disabled people, and others not fitting Hitler’s “Aryan” race were deported to concentration camps. At the camps, masses of people were herded into chambers where lethal gas was released into the air.