2. What were Concentration Camps ?
• Concentration camps
were camps that
people were forced
to go to, to be
tortured or forced to
do work.
• The first
concentration camp
(Dachau ) was built to
hold political
opponents of Nazi’s (
March 23, 1933)
• By the beginning of
World War II, these
concentration camps
had expanded.
3. Prisoners
• Nazis didn’t only target Jews
• Holocaust victims came from all
countries that had been
occupied.
• Including (Jews, Gypsies,
homosexuals, Jehovah
Witnesses, religious leaders,
political prisoners, and prisoners
of war)
4. Deportation & Transportation
• Deportation and transportation to camps often took days.
• Individuals, families and whole communities together were packed
into cattle trucks
• They did not know where they were going, the length of the
journey or what would happen to them when they eventually
arrived at their destination.
5. Processing & Routines
• Upon arrival men
and women were
separated, children
staying with their
mothers.
( For many prisoners
this would be the last
time they saw their
family members)
• After registration,
prisoners had to
undress and have
their hair shaved.
• Their own clothing
would be replaced
by a striped uniform
6. Classification
• Inmates were put into four
groups:
1. Political opponents,
2. Members of “inferior
races”,
3. Criminals
4. “Shiftless element”.
(Homosexuals were classed
as part of this group)
• All concentration camp
inmates wore a sign on
their clothing that
indicated what group they
were from
7. Routines
• Camp routines would begin with the Appell, the daily roll call.
• Prisoners had to stand in rows, completely still, for hours at a
time.
8. Work
• Depending on the type
of camp, prisoners
were assigned to a
whole range of
different duties.
• Most prisoners worked
outside the camps in
factories, construction
projects, farms or coal
mines.
• They would have to
walk to their place of
work.
9. Living Conditions
• It was impossible for inmates to keep clean or have a change
of clothes.
• Prisoners, therefore, spent their existence in the camp dirty
and in filthy clothes, which increased the likelihood of them
getting infections and diseases
10. Survival
• Hunger was one of the greatest problems.
• Meals consisted of watery soup , and a small piece of black
bread;
• Many thousands died from starvation or illnesses brought on
by lack of nutrition.
11. Death
• Death was common primarily due to horrible living conditions,
exposure, or lack of food,.
In Extermination Camps ( Created for efficient mass murder.)
The cause of deaths were due to gas chambers, shootings, gas
vans, or starvation .
Unlike concentration camps, which served primarily as
detention and labor centers.
12. Liberation
• As Allied troops moved across Europe they began to
encounter camp prisoners.
• Soviet forces were the first to approach a major Nazi camp,
reaching, Poland, on July 23, 1944
• British, Canadian, American, and French troops also
freed prisoners from the camps.
13. Liberation
• The Allied soldiers came
upon thousands of dead
bodies and prisoners who
were still alive that looked
like skeletons
• Troops, physicians, and relief
workers tried to provide
nourishment for the
surviving prisoners,
• Many of them were too weak
to digest food and could not
be saved.
• Survivors of the camps faced
a long and difficult road to
recovery.
