Unveiling Horrors of Concentration Camps

Concentration Camps
Deprivation. Devastation. Horror. Those were a few of the things that people in concentration camps had to go through every day. “What actually is a concentration camp?” You may ask yourself, well, “Concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned, and in some cases killed, without legal proceedings.” is what Engel, David wrote in his article, “Concentration camp”. There were a lot of Nazi concentration camps, a few of them being Auschwitz, Dachau, and Majdanek.
Auschwitz has many interesting facts about it. The first fact that I have is that slave labor was done by able-bodied prisoners. This means that if you were well enough to work, not too young, too old, too weak, or ill, you would have to work for the camp until you died (“Concentration camp”). Another interesting fact is that, when prisoners died, Nazis would remove gold teeth and burn (cremate) the corpses (“Concentration camp”). This shows that while the Nazis held little to no care for the lives of the prisoners, they did not want to waste materials used for and on the prisoners. And last, but certainly not least, over 1 ¼ million people were murdered at Auschwitz, including Jews, Poles, Roma, and soviet prisoners of war (“Concentration camp”). This is interesting

because 1 ¼ million people is a very large amount of people to be killed at one camp. Overall, those were a few facts I found interesting about Auschwitz.
Dachau is another interesting concentration camp.

Dachau was the first permanent concentration camp (Sydnor, Charles W., Jr.). This is interesting because not many people know of Dachau, yet it was the first Nazi concentration camp. Also, Dachau was originally for people that opposed the Nazis Politically, but held a small amount of Jews (Sydnor, Charles W., Jr.). This is interesting because most people probably think the Holocaust was only against Jews. Finally, Dachau first opened on March 22, 1933 (Sydnor, Charles W., Jr.). This is interesting because that means that the Holocaust happened more recently than most people would expect. All in all, that is why I believe Dachau is an interesting concentration

camp.

Majdanek intrigues me for a few reasons. One being that it was in an urban location, while most concentration camps were hidden away where people wouldn’t find them ("Majdanek"). Another reason being that Nazis set up Majdanek as a wartime prison and concentration camp in Poland ("Majdanek"). This is interesting because that means that the Holocaust was for more types of people than I knew. Finally, prisoners would do slave work, including construction, farming, metal-working, sanitation and textiles ("Majdanek"). This shows that they wanted the people, that could, to work to keep the camp running. To conclude, those were a few reasons that Majdanek intrigues me.

Auschwitz, Dachau, and Majdanek are just a few of the many Nazi concentration camps. Auschwitz was a concentration camp where 1 ¼ million Jews were murdered. Dachau was the first permanent Nazi concentration camp. And, Majdanek was a wartime prison and concentration camp set up by the Nazis.
How would you feel? Getting forced into labor, knowing that eventually you would be killed? Or being taken away from everything you know and love, just to be killed at your destination?

Works Cited:
Engel, David. "Concentration camp." World Book Student, World Book, 2017, www.worldbookonline.com.lili.idm.oclc.org/student/article?id=ar128020. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.
Engel, David. "Majdanek." World Book Student, World Book, 2017, www.worldbookonline.com.lili.idm.oclc.org/student/article?id=ar755113. Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.
Sydnor, Charles W., Jr. "Dachau." World Book Student, World Book, 2017, www.worldbookonline.com.lili.idm.oclc.org/student/article?id=ar146260. Accessed 30 Oct. 2017.