Conditions of the Concentration Camps During the Holocaust Essay

In the early 1930s, the residents of the picturesque city of Dachau, Germany, were completely unaware of the horrific events about to unfold that would overshadow their city still today. The citizens of Dachau were oblivious that their city was going to become the origin of concentration camps and of the Holocaust, the mass murder committed by the Nazi s in World War II. Dachau Concentration Camp, which would soon be placed on the edge of their community, would serve as a model for all Nazi extermination camps. This perfect prototype of a Nazi killing machine has come to represent the start of the horror-filled Holocaust and the Nazi's determination to achieve a perfect society during World War II.

One of the many reasons why the jewish called them “DEATH CAMPS”. (living conditions, labor and executions)

The words inscribed above the Auschwitz concentration camp read; "Arbeit Macht Frei,” meaning, “work brings freedom.” These deceiving words gave unsuspecting prisoners hope that they could get out of the most destructive concentration camp during the entire Holocaust. This concentration camp would kill over one million people. Auschwitz will be fully analyzed, starting with the early stages of Auschwitz, then the Jews and the horrors of Auschwitz, and finally the final days of Auschwitz. The events that took place at Auschwitz concentration camp were horrifying and led to the death of millions.

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.

The conditions of the camp were unbearable. The prisoners were barely fed, mainly bread and water, and were cramped in small sleeping arrangements. "Hundreds slept in triple-tiered rows of bunks (Adler 51)." In the quarters that they stayed, there were no adequate cleaning facilities or restrooms for the prisoners. They rarely were able to change clothes which meant the "clothes were always infested with lice (Swiebocka 18)." Those were sick went to the infirmary where also there were eventually killed in the gas chambers or a lethal injection. The Germans did not want to have anyone not capable of hard work to live. Prisoners were also harshly punished for small things such as taking food or "relieving themselves during work hours (Swiebocka 19)." The biggest punishment was execution. The most common punishment was to receive lashings with a whip.

This view of social dominance and evolutionary superiority is very in line with the views of the Nazi Party and ordinary Germans. This hate for the Jews starts with Hitler’s Ant-Jewish propaganda and the implementation of the Nuremberg laws. In “Perish the Jew,” Hitler puts his views of racial superiority into writing, “The Aryan regards work as the basis for the maintenance of the national community as such; the Jew regards work as a means of exploiting other peoples” (Hitler 223). With this writing and other propaganda, Hitler successfully spread a hate for Jewish people across the country. Hitler then created the Nuremberg Laws, which slowly but successfully stripped the Jews of all their rights and made them second-class citizens in Germany. The Jews slowly became, in the eyes of the German people and the SS, people who could be consciously oppressed and turned into slave workers.

Of all of the death camps built by the Nazis during World War II, none was larger or more destructive than the terrifying Auschwitz camp. Auschwitz was built by the Nazis in 1940, in Oswiecim, Poland, and was composed of three main parts. Auschwitz I was built in June 1940 and was intended to hold and kill Polish political prisoners. Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which opened October 1941, was larger and could contain over 100,000 inmates. Auschwitz III-Monowitz provided slave labor for a plant close by. In addition, there were many sub-camps. The most important camp at Auschwitz designed for the extermination of many people was Birkenau; numerous gas chambers and crematoria were established there, mainly to murder and incinerate Jews as

in god and what they had known to be right. In doing such things to their prisoners, the

Holocaust is the most terrible human action in the history. It absolutely marks the ending of the previous mentality of human-beings. Therefore, a new round of discovery of evilness of human nature has been established. Best uncovering the truth of Holocaust will help prevent the furthur destuction of humanism, which is the most important mission of the society after World War II. There are many sources of Holocaust trying to best uncover the truth, such as the inhabitant’s experience of the immediate suffering in the camp, fragment memories from the survivors. However, only the analyzations with critical sights of these horrible actions will appeal for just humanitarian attentions to the most extent.

On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler and his army of Nazis attacked Poland, marking the first day of six years of war, fear, and suffering. Hitler had long since came to power in Germany. After World War I, Germany was stripped of many things; money, cultural worth, dignity and power. The Germans needed a place to look to for help; they needed a promising future, and Adolf Hitler promised them just that. Blaming the Jewish religion, Hitler began to rise from the masses of Germans. He convinced Germany that the Jews were “untermenschen”, of what roughly translates to in English as “subhuman” or less of a human. So eager for hope of a better way of life, the rest of Germany trusted and gave him the power he needed to carry out multiple acts of destruction.

     Concentration Camps were a big part of the Holocaust. My first topic is the concentration camp Dachau. Then I will talk about another concentration camp called Bergen-Belsen. After that, I will tell you about the concentration camp Treblinka. Finally, the last concentration I will talk about is Auschwitz-Birkenau. Describing these camps will inform you that concentration camps were a huge part of the Holocaust.

Have you ever wondered what happens at concentration camps? Have you ever thought about how harsh it was to be a jew at the time. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be treated at the camps? It’s a very cruel place to be in. The Nazis are cruel and unfair to the jews and punish them unfairly. They make them do dangerous work and then kill them shortly afterwards. Here are some different things that they do to the jews at the camps.

My camp is Auschwitz - Birkenau one of the largest concentration camps where Jews were held captured. Inside the camp were four gas chambers. Each gas chamber used Zyklon B gas. Most people brought to this camp were Jews. Before entering the chamber they were ordered to undress. Once they finished the Nazis locked the doors and dropped in the gas. Also, when they died they burned the Jews. The bones were disintegrated and their ashes were spread out on the fields.

In June, 1940, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp opened; this camp would later be the home and death place of hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Jews, Poles, and Gypsies made up the large majority of prisoners in the camp. Life in Auschwitz included living in undesirable conditions, and being kept on a very strict schedule day in, day out.

Nazis put people in concentrations camps because Hitler hated certain types of people. A concentration camp is a small place where a large number of people are held where they have to work and they are murdered. This led to a big conflict and a mass murder. They lived in bad conditions like wooden stable barracks that were very uncomfortable and very crowded small areas. The Jews had very bad sleeping conditions too. At the concentration camps there were many sicknesses that killed people. They were starved and weak because they did not have enough to eat. Jewish people were killed in many different disgusting ways, if they didn’t die from sickness.