Concentration Camps

Types of Prison Camps

Before discussing concentration camps during the Second World War, it is essential to differentiate between the different types of prison camps. The term concentration camp is often used to describe all incarceration centres during the Nazi regime. However, this is not the case.

German Concentration Camps

When Adolf Hitler gained control of Germany in 1933, there was no plan to establish a system of concentration camps. The concentration camp system was only launched following the Reichstag Fire in February 1933.

Over the following months, the Nazi regime began to establish detention centres. These sites would be used to detain and eliminate 'enemies of the state'. The Reichstag Fire Decree – passed in February 1933 – allowed people to be arrested and imprisoned without trial.

By March, the first concentration camp, Nohra, had been established.

Fig. 1 - Oranienburg, one of the earliest concentration camps

In the early days, most detainees were political opponents; between 1933 and 1934, approximately 80% of prisoners were German Communists. Prisoners also included Roma Gypsies, homosexuals, 'asocial' citizens, and members of specific religions.

Theodor Eicke and Concentration Camps

Senior SS member Theodor Eicke became one of the leading masterminds behind the organisation of concentration camps in Germany and a key figure in the Holocaust.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Opened on 22 March 1933, Dachau was the first concentration camp. While Nohra had opened earlier that month, it was a temporary detention centre. Located near Munich in southern Germany, Dachau was initially used to imprison communists and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. After its establishment, however, its purpose changed to detain social minorities such as Romani Gypsies and Jews.

Such an influx of prisoners prompted Theodor Eicke – the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp – to establish a hierarchy of leadership to coordinate his camp effectively. The model that Eicke developed at Dachau became the precedent for the future concentration camp system.

Centralisation of the Concentration Camp Network

Until 1934, there was no national system for concentration camps. Camps would often be established in disused schools or factories, with the headquarters run by local police forces. Only in 1934, when Theodor Eicke became the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, did new purpose-built concentration camps come into being.

Eicke established a series of regulations and procedures for concentration camp guards regarding how they should treat their prisoners. Furthermore, specialist units were introduced to oversee the running of the concentration camps. Originally called the 'SS Guard Unit' in 1935, the section was renamed the 'SS Death's-Head Unit' in April 1936.

Fig. 2 - Dachau Concentration Camp

By 1938, only two original concentration camps (Dachau and Lichtenburg) remained in function. The camps that were shut down were replaced with new camps such as Sachsenhausen (1936) and Buchenwald (1937). These new purpose-built camps were built in isolated areas outside the rule of law. Furthermore, prisoners incarcerated in these camps were forced to wear uniforms displaying Nazi concentration camp badges.

Expansion of the Concentration Camp System

In 1938, the power to send individuals to concentration camps was taken away from the judiciary and given exclusively to the Gestapo and German Criminal Police. Consequently, between 1938 and 1939, the network of concentration camps expanded rapidly. The Nazis expanded their definition of 'criminal' to include Jehovah's Witnesses, Czech and Austrian anti-Nazis, the mentally ill, the homeless, and the Jews. To house the influx of new prisoners, the camps of Flossenburg (1938), Mauthausen (1938), and Ravensbruck (1939) were established.

Fig. 3 - Flossenburg Concentration Camp

Concentration Camps From WW2

After the Second World War broke out in September 1939, new territory brought new potential prisoners for the concentration camp system. The influx of new prisoners saw the Nazis establish the camps of Neuengamme (1940), Auschwitz (1940), Gross-Rosen (1941), and Natzweiler (1941). Between the beginning of WWII and 1942, the number of prisoners in the concentration camp system nearly quadrupled.

As the war drew on, the conditions in the concentration camps became even more brutal. In April 1941, Nazi policy demanded the execution of prisoners who were ill or exhausted; such prisoners were selected by camp doctors and murdered in euthanasia centres. 5,000-20,000 prisoners were executed under this new Nazi policy within a year.

Fig. 4 - Prisoner working at Neuengamme

In 1942, the concentration camp systems began to emphasise the war effort, with most prisoners used by war industries. Such arduous labour saw the death rate catapult; approximately half of the prisoners admitted in late 1942 died by the end of the year.

The deportation of Jews during the second half of the war saw another period of rapid expansion of the concentration camp system. Firstly, Auschwitz was expanded; by the summer of 1943, over a third of inmates in the concentration camp system were held in Auschwitz. Several ghettos and labour camps were converted to concentration camps the following year. These new concentration camps were Riga, Kovno, Vaivara, and Krakow-Plaszow.

Liberation of the Concentration Camps

As the Allies closed in on the Nazi territory, the Third Reich accelerated Sonderaktion 1005 – their plan to hide any evidence of the Holocaust. Sonderaktion 1005 – which had been in place since June 1942 – saw records destroyed, mass graves dug up, entire camps dismantled, and the forced migration of inmates. Despite their best efforts, no amount of concealment could hide the horror and brutality that the Nazis had inflicted; as the Allies marched across Europe in 1944 and 1945, they uncovered concentration camps, death centres, and mass graves.

Fig. 6 - Liberation of Natzweiler-Struthof

Soviet forces first liberated the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland in 1944. The Nazis had depopulated Majdanek the previous spring, sending prisoners to western camps such as Auschwitz and Mauthausen. Upon arrival, the Soviets found numerous prisoners who hadn't been evacuated and considerable evidence that mass murder had been committed.

Half a year later, in January 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz; Auschwitz was the largest and deadliest concentration camp of the Nazi regime. Like Majdanek, the Nazis attempted to evacuate the prisoners westwards. With Nazi Germany on the brink of military defeat, the SS forced concentration camp inmates to march long distances in horrendous conditions. This forced evacuation process has become known as the 'death marches'.

Concentration Camps Death Toll

As they marched across Europe, the Allies liberated some 250,000 thousand prisoners – despite scenes of jubilation as prisoners were freed, the vast majority of inmates weren't so lucky.

Here is a quick table outlining how many people fell victim to the Holocaust: