Concentration Camps In The 20th Century

Throughout Europe in the twentieth century, millions of innocent people were murdered in what came to be known as concentration camps. These “camps” were mostly located in Germany and Poland, but other countries in Europe as well. Out of all of the concentration camps, some of the worst were Auschwitz, Dachau, and Treblinka. Auschwitz was initially built as only one camp in April, 1930. Only one year later, in October of 1931, Nazis decided that they should construct another Auschwitz; Auschwitz II. Auschwitz I was built in the Polish city of Oswiecim. It was constructed in an abandoned suburb of the city that was used as barracks for the Polish army. Auschwitz I became home for German and Polish prisoners, and also enemies of Nazi Germany. This branch of Auschwitz also supplied forced labor to its prisoners, as Auschwitz II did. Auschwitz II, or Auschwitz-Birkenau, was built in Brzezinka, Poland. This second Auschwitz camp held mostly gypsies and Jewish people. Trains brought Jews into Auschwitz-Birkenau

Established in March of 1933, Dachau held over 200,000 prisoners. Dachau was located in the capital of Germany; Munich. Like Auschwitz, Dachau imprisoned mostly Jewish people. In 1937, the prisoners were forced to construct and complete building Dachau. Dachau consisted of 32 barracks. In 1942, a new crematorium was constructed. This new crematorium also has a gas chamber. The gas chamber and firing range were the main ways that the Nazi’s used to kill prisoners at Dachau. Another main component of Dachau was the cruel experiments performed on prisoners. These experiments included testing new medications and for malaria and tuberculosis. By the time American forces liberated Dachau on April 29, 1945, 31,000 prisoners had been killed there. Although this number is significantly lower than other concentration camps, it’s still extremely tragic what happened at