concentration labor extermination...liberation →death marches •as allied forces moved across...
TRANSCRIPT
CONCENTRATION LABOR EXTERMINATION
CAMPS
ANIMATED MAP: WWII & EUROPE
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/animated-map/world-war-ii-and-the-holocaust
6 mins
CONCENTRATION CAMP DEFINITION
The term “concentration camp” refersto a camp in which people are detainedor confined, usually under harshconditions and without regard to legalnorms of arrest and imprisonment thatare acceptable in a constitutionaldemocracy.
German: Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ
EARLY CONCENTRATION CAMPS
• The first concentration camps in Germany wereestablished soon after Hitler became Chancellor ofGermany, with Dachau being the first.
• The major purpose of these early concentrationcamps was to imprison and intimidate the leadersof social, political, and cultural movements thatthe Nazis perceived as threats.
• Camps were established as needed to handle themasses of people arrested.
Dachau -northwest of Munich
Oranienburg -north of Berlin
Esterwegen -near Hamburg
Lichtenburg -in Saxony
CENTRALIZATION OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS
• Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader, was authorized to centralize the administration of the concentration camps and formalize them into a system.
• SS Lieutenant General Theodor Eicke was appointed as Inspector of Concentration Camps.
• After Dec 1934, the SS became the only agency authorized to establish and manage facilities formally called concentration camps.
• Local civilian authorities did continue to establish/manage forced-labor camps/detention camps throughout Germany.
• In 1937, only four concentration camps were left: Dachau, near Munich; Sachsenhausen near Berlin; Buchenwald near Weimar; and Lichtenburg near Merseburg in Saxony for female prisoners.
PURPOSES OF THE CAMP SYSTEM
• Concentration camps are often inaccurately compared to a prison in modern society. But concentration camps were independent of any judicial review. They served three main purposes:
• To incarcerate people whom the Nazi regime perceived to be a security threat. These people were incarcerated for indefinite amounts of time.
• To eliminate individuals and small, targeted groups of individuals by murder, away from the public and judicial review.
• To exploit forced labor of the prisoner population. This purpose grew out of a labor shortage.
FORCED LABOR
• By 1939, there were six main camps in the “Greater German Reich” (Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, and Ravensbrück).
• Prisoners were forced laborers, and used for theconstruction of the very camps they would be heldwithin.
• Camps were strategically placed based for forcedlabor. For example, Mauthausen and Flossenbürgwere located near large stone quarries.
• Prisoners were seen as disposable: mistreated andmalnourished, & no regard to their safety.
“Work makesfreedom.”
TARGETING GROUPS
• As the war began, releases were banned from the camp, providingthe SS with a readily available labor force.
• 1939–1941, the SS established a number of new concentrationcamps to incarcerate increased numbers of political prisoners,resistance groups, and groups deemed racially inferior, such as Jewsand Roma (Gypsies).
• After the beginning of the war, the concentration camps also becamesites for the mass murder of small targeted groups deemeddangerous for political or racial reasons by the Nazi authorities.
• During this period, German authorities constructed gas chambers. oruse to kill people at several of the concentration camps.(Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz I, and other camps. A gaschamber was constructed later at Dachau, but it was never used).
CLASSIFICATION IN CAMPS
• criminals = green inverted triangles
• political prisoners = red
• "asocials" (including Roma, nonconformists, vagrants, and other groups) = black/brown
• Homosexuals = pink
• Jehovah's Witnesses = purple
• Non-German prisoners were identified by the first letter of the German name for their home country, which was sewn onto their badge.
• Jewish = Star of David, could include other colors
ROLES WITHIN THE CAMPS
• Within the camps, the Nazis established a hierarchical identification system andprisoners were organized based on nationality and grounds for incarceration.
• Prisoners with a higher social status within the camp were often rewarded withmore desirable work assignments such as administrative positions indoors.
• Some prisoners held the power of life and death over other prisoners.
• Those lower on the social ladder had more physically demanding tasks such asfactory work, mining, and construction, and suffered a much higher mortality ratefrom the combined effects of physical exhaustion, meager rations, and extremelyharsh treatment from guards.
• Prisoners also staffed infirmaries, kitchens, and served various other functionswithin the camp.
• Living conditions were harsh and extreme but varied greatly from camp to campand also changed over time.
My visit to Dachau, spring 2017
SERVING THE GERMAN WAR EFFORT
• Groups continued to be targeted, assuring alabor supply despite the brutality of labordepleting the number of available laborers.
• The SS used gas chambers and other means to“weed out” prisoners who were no longer able towork.
• Central SS authorities tried to persuade campcommandants to focus their efforts on keepingthe prisoners alive to serve the German wareffort.
• Few camp commandants took these instructions seriously. None were concerned about changing the murderous culture of the camps.
THE “FINAL SOLUTION”
• The “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem” was a euphemismused by Nazi leaders in regard to extermination of all Jews.
• This brought an end to policies aimed at encouraging orforcing Jews to leave the German Reich and other parts ofEurope. Those policies were replaced by systematicannihilation.
• The decision was made in 1941, after the invasion of theSoviet Union.
• The Nazi leaders envisioned killing 11 million Jews as part ofthe “Final Solution.” They succeeded in murdering 6 million.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Chelmno
LIBERATION → DEATH MARCHES
• As Allied forces moved across Europe, they discovered and liberatedcamps.
• As Allied forces approached Nazi camps, the SS organized “death marches”(forced evacuations) of concentration camp inmates, in part to keep largenumbers of concentration camp prisoners from falling into Allied hands.
• The evacuations of the concentration camps had three purposes:
• SS authorities did not want prisoners to fall into enemy hands alive to tell theirstories to Allied and Soviet liberators
• the SS thought they needed prisoners to maintain production of armamentswherever possible
• some SS leaders, including Himmler, believed irrationally that they could use Jewishconcentration camp prisoners as hostages to bargain for a separate peace in thewest that would guarantee the survival of the Nazi regime.