6. Ghettos and Concentration Camps

Activity 5- Concentration Camps copy blue text

Nazis moved from segregating Jews in ghettos to moving them to purpose-built concentration camps.

On 22 March 1933, only a couple of months after Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor, the first concentration camp of the Nazi regime was established in the town of Dachau. Dachau was originally intended as a camp for political prisoners such as communists, trade unionists and other political opponents of the Nazis. This was soon extended to include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma and Sinti people (known as gypsies), gay men, and people the Nazis considered ‘asocial’ (such as beggars, alcoholics and certain kinds of criminal). Built by prisoner labour, the camp became the model for all Nazi concentration camps. Dachau did not initially house many Jewish prisoners, however after the November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) an increasing number of Jews were imprisoned, with 10,000 men held captive there.

Though concentration camps were not specifically set up to kill their inmates, the harsh conditions and cruel treatment resulted in large numbers of prisoners dying, with many being arbitrarily murdered by camp guards. Humiliation and harassment were intended to destroy the spirit of the people held in the camp. Over 40,000 camps existed across the continent during the six years of war, incarcerating millions of people.

Source: Holocaust Memorial Day Trust