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The conditions in the concentration camp
Horrible conditions in concentration camps
The conditions in the concentration camp
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“If there is a God, he will have to beg my forgiveness.” (Quote from concentration) This quote was carved into the wall by a Jewish prisoner. Kaiserwald was one of many concentration camps used for the destruction of the Jewish race during the holocaust. Kaiserwald was built in March of 1943, it was a concentration camp ran by the Nazis, outside Riga in Latvia. Kaiserwald started out as a camp for German criminals. Eventually, any Jews found on Latvian soil were put into Kaiserwald. (Kaiserwald Concentration camp Jewish virtual library) The living conditions in the camp were rough. The prisoners were living in an overcrowded pit where they were starved. Many people in the camp contracted diseases like typhus and scarlet fever. Commonly, the prisoners were beaten or mistreated by …show more content…
He was the commander for the time that Kaiserwald was open. (Kaiserwald concentration camp virtual library). Kaiserwald, unlike Auschwitz, didn’t have gas chambers instead they forced the Jewish to work in German factories. Auschwitz had a huge death toll around 1.1 million Jewish deaths. Kaiserwald ranked lower with around 10 thousand Jewish deaths. (The Holocaust Chronicle). Kaiserwald had a total of 11,878 prisoners in the camp. These numbers are small compared to Auschwitz who had 150,000 prisoners at any given time. Kaiserwald was open for a year while Auschwitz was open for five.(History & Overview of Auschwitz). Kaiserwald and Auschwitz were both concentration camps used for the destruction of the Jewish race during the holocaust. Both camp’s are to blame for the deaths of many. Survivors of both camps live the rest of their lives with PTSD, anxiety and depression. Though they were freed they are stuck living a life sentence. October of 1944 the Soviet Army liberated Riga by this time majority of the Jewish population had already been killed by the Nazis. All that is left of Kaiserwald is a memorial statue for those who lost their lives.
The notorious detention camp, Bergen-Belsen, was constructed in 1940 and “was near Hanover in northwest Germany, located between the villages Bergen and Belsen” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org), hence the name. Originally, the “camp was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) but, Bergen-Belsen rapidly grew. “In the first eighteen months of existence, there were already five satellite camps.” (holocaustresearchproject.org). Eventually, the “camp had eight sections: detention camp, two camps for women, a special camp, neutrals camp, ‘star camp’, Hungarian Camp, and a tent camp.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, p.165) It also held prisoners who were too ill/weak to work at the “convalescent camp” (Bauer, Yehuda, p.359)
Imagine the worst torture possible. Now imagine the same thing only ten times worse; In Auschwitz that is exactly what it was like. During the time of the Holocaust thousands of Jewish people were sent to this very concentration camp which consisted of three camps put into one. Here they had one camp; Auschwitz I; the main camp, Auschwitz II; Birkenau, and last is Auschwitz III; Monowitz. Each camp was responsible for a different part but all were after the same thing; elimination of the Jewish race. In these camps they had cruel punishments, harsh housing, and they had Nazi guards watching them and killing them on a daily basis.
“There was no God in Auschwitz. There were such horrible conditions that God decided not to go there.” Linda Breder-Holocaust survivor.
One of the biggest problems was sanitation. Clean water for drinking and bathing was rare and illness from poor hygiene or contaminated water was very common. Most of the camps were in tight groups and contagious diseases such as chickenpox, colds or the flu would spread over camp within
In 1933, Heinrich Himmler, the Chief of Police in Munich at the time, conversed with officials of a abandoned gunpowder factory, later, Himmler traveled to this factory to see if it could hold prisoners. In that same year, the first elimination camp was opened. The building of Dachau, concentration camp, led to the construction of hundreds of other camps used to eliminate the Jews.
“Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the regime in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The living conditions in these camps were absolutely horrible. The amount of people being kept in one space, amongst being unsanitary, was harsh on the body. “A typical concentration camp consisted of barracks that were secured from escape by barbed wire, watchtowers and guards.
The camp was first being ran by SS; Hauptsturmfűhrer Adolf Hass. But in 1944 Hass was replaced by SS; Hauptsturmfűhrer Josef Kramer. Kramer had past experience with concentration camp, he had been involved in concentration camps since 1934 and before Bergen Belsen Kramer was at Auschwitz-Birkenau. While he was in Bergen Belsen he was nicknamed; "beast" because of the way he would kill prisoner or let them starve. One guy who survived wrote “Kramer lost his calm. A strange gleam lurked in his small eyes, and he worked like a madman. I saw him throw himself at one unfortunate woman and with a single stroke of his truncheon shatter her skull.” In 1943 is when Bergen Belsen was officially a concentration camp. it was a camp mainly for Jews. The prisoners were sectioned off for their beliefs. This camp was not mainly forced labor but in 1944 the situation changed because other prisoners were transfored, there were around 7,300 prisoner tra...
Being confined in a concentration camp was beyond unpleasant. Mortality encumbered the prisons effortlessly. Every day was a struggle for food, survival, and sanity. Fear of being led into the gas chambers or lined up for shooting was a constant. Hard labor and inadequate amounts of rest and nutrition took a toll on prisoners. They also endured beatings from members of the SS, or they were forced to watch the killings of others. “I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time” (Night Quotes). Small, infrequent, rations of a broth like soup left bodies to perish which in return left no energy for labor. If one wasn’t killed by starvation or exhaustion they were murdered by fellow detainees. It was a survival of the fittest between the Jews. Death seemed to be inevitable, for there were emaciated corpses lying around and the smell...
form of hard labor, for weeks or months. Auschwitz was the end of the line
The first concentration camps were set up in 1933. Hitler established the camps when he came into power for the purpose of isolating, punishing, torturing, and killing anyone suspected of opposition against his regime. In the early years of Hitler's reign, concentration camps were places that held people in protective custody. These people in protective custody included those who were both physically and mentally ill, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, Jews and anyone against the Nazi regime. By the end of 1933 there were at least fifty concentration camps throughout occupied Europe.
These camps were more than relocation camps. People died at these camps under extreme work conditions and being gassed. Survivors are proof that Jews were gassed and worked to death. Jews kept diaries and letters explaining the harsh conditions they were put under by the Nazis. Some survivors had family members or close friends that were gassed in the chambers. Deniers say that they died of natural causes or due to illnesses caused by being moved from their homeland. These illnesses were not just caused by being moved, but were also caused by poor living conditions they were kept in. Auschwitz was capable of holding 150,000 prisoners at a time, but was severely overpopulated with about 230,000 prisoners at once. People slept in feces and even sometimes dead bodies (Holocaust
Bergen Belsen Nazi Concentration Camp was established in 1943 (Bergen-Belsen). Bergen-Belsen was a detention camp that was used to prison Jews during Hitler’s reign. Years ago, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was not a concentration camp at all. It more was camp that held prisoners of war from enemies back, back then. This camp was located near the German towns Bergen and Belsen. Bergen-Belsen was had a max capacity of only 10,000 people. Later after the Auschwitz concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland was liberated in 1945 by Soviet soldiers, Bergen Belsen had held more than 60,000 people (Bergen-Belsen). These people included: Slavic, Jewish, Gay, Jehovah's Witness,
The Auschwitz Concentration Camp was a camp used to hold Jews during the Holocaust; the Auschwitz Camp was the largest camp of its time. Auschwitz had three main complexes and 36 sub-camps. The three main camps were Auschwitz 1-Stamlagger, created in 1940, built for Polish Political Prisoners, the second camp was named Auschwitz 2-Birkenau, created in 1941, there was more than a hundred thousand prisoners and the building was used for Mass Killing center, it had Crematoria and Gas Chambers. They killed over 2,000 Jews a day in Auschwitz. The third camp was called Auschwitz III-Monowitz, created in 1944, used for supplied forced labor.
On both sides of the walls there were deep ditches running the entire length of the perimeter. Inside, the camps always had an Appellplatz, meaning a roll call square. An Appellplatz was a stand where prisoners would often stand for hours while waiting to get their names called indicating that they were present, many times prisoners would often be executed on the blocks as well. Prisoners of these camps didn’t just die of execution many died from hunger, and disease as well due to the inhumane way they were treated. The estimated number today that died from result from inhuman slave labor, hunger and disease is at least 500,000. In the camp the sick the old and those who couldn’t keep up with the work were selected and then killed with gas, injections, or shot. Others were chose for “Pseudo- scientific experiments” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016), which meant they most often lost their life’s. Concentration camps were horrific but the Nazis found a way to top the idea of a concentration camp and that idea was an extermination camp dating from 1941-1945. An extermination camp was a camp constructed with the purpose of mass murdering Jews. A total of 6 extermination camps were established for the genocide of the Jews. Nazis murdered around three million Jews which was half of the six million
Auschwitz I was built in 1940, as a site for Polish political prisoners. This was the original camp and administrative center. The prisoners’ living conditions were inhumane in every respect, and the death rate was quite high. Auschwitz I was not meant ...