Concentration Camps of Germany during the Great Patriotic War (list)

Fascism and atrocities will forever remain inseparable concepts. Since the entry of the bloody ax of the war by fascist Germany over the world, innocent blood of a huge number of victims has been shed.

The birth of the first concentration camps

As soon as the Nazis came to power in Germany, the first "factories of death" began to be created. Concentration camp is a deliberately equipped center intended for mass forced confinement and detention of prisoners of war and political prisoners. The very name to this day is terrifying. Concentration camps in Germany were the location of those individuals suspected of supporting the anti-fascist movement. The first concentration camps were located directly in the Third Reich. According to the Extraordinary Decree of the Reich Presidency on the Protection of the People and the State, all those who hostilely perceived the Nazi regime were arrested indefinitely.

But as soon as hostilities began, such institutions turned into giant machines that overwhelmed and destroyed a huge number of people. Concentration camps in Germany during the Great Patriotic War were filled with millions of prisoners: Jews, Communists, Poles, Gypsies, Soviet citizens and others. Among the many reasons for the death of millions of people, the main ones were:

• Cruel mockery;
• Disease;
• Poor conditions of detention;
• Exhaustion;
• Heavy physical labor;
• Inhuman medical experiences.

The development of a cruel system

At that time, the total number of correctional labor institutions was about 5,000. Concentration camps in Germany during the Great Patriotic War had different purposes and capacities. The spread of racial theory in 1941 led to the emergence of camps or "death factories", behind which the methodically murdered Jews and then people belonging to other "inferior" peoples. The camps were established in the occupied territories of the countries of Eastern Europe.

The first phase of development of this system is characterized by the construction of camps on the German territory, which had the maximum similarity with holds. They were provided for the content of opponents of the Nazi regime. At that time there were about 26 thousand prisoners in them, absolutely fenced off from the outside world. Even in case of fire rescuers had no right to be in the camp territory.

The second phase is 1936-1938, when the number of arrested people grew rapidly and new places of detention were required. In the composition of the arrested there were homeless people and those who did not want to work. There was a kind of purification of society from antisocial elements, which disgraced the German nation. This is the time of the construction of such widely known camps as Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald. Later, Jews were sent into exile.

The third phase of the development of the system begins almost simultaneously with the Second World War and lasts until the beginning of 1942. The number of prisoners who inhabited the concentration camps of Germany during the Great Patriotic War is almost doubled thanks to captive French, Poles, Belgians and representatives of other nations. At this time, the number of prisoners in Germany and Austria is significantly inferior to the number of those who are in camps built in the conquered territories.

During the fourth and final phase (1942-1945), the persecution of Jews and Soviet prisoners of war is greatly increased. The number of prisoners is approximately 2.5-3 million.

Fascists organized "death factories" and other similar institutions of forced detention in the territories of various countries. The most significant place among them was occupied by concentration camps in Germany, the list of which is as follows:

• Buchenwald;
• Halle;
• Dresden;
• Düsseldorf;
• Katbus;
• Ravensbrück;
• Shliben;
• Spremberg;
• Dachau;
• Essen.

Dachau - the first camp

Among the first on the territory of Germany was the Dachau camp, located near the homonymous small town near Munich. It was a kind of model for the creation of a future system of Nazi prisons. Dachau is a concentration camp that existed for 12 years. He was serving a large number of German political prisoners, anti-fascists, prisoners of war, clergymen, political and social activists from almost all countries in Europe.

In 1942, a system consisting of 140 additional camps began to be created on the territory of southern Germany. All of them belonged to the "Dachau" system and contained more than 30 thousand prisoners used in a variety of heavy jobs. Among the prisoners included well-known anti-fascist believers, Martin Nimöller, Gabriel V and Nikolai Velimirovich.

Officially, Dachau was not intended to destroy people. But, despite this, the official number of prisoners killed here is about 41,500 people. But the real number is much greater.

Also behind these walls was carried out a variety of medical experiments on people. In particular, there have been experiments related to the study of the effect of height on the human body and the study of malaria. In addition, prisoners were tested for new drugs, hemostatic drugs.

Dachau, a concentration camp with very bad reputation, liberated April 29, 1945, the military of the 7th Army of the US Armed Forces.

"Labor makes it free"

This phrase of metal beads, located above the main entrance to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, is a symbol of terror and genocide.

In connection with the increase in the number of arrested Poles, a need arose to create a new place for their maintenance. In 1940-1941, all residents were evicted from the territory of the Polish city of Auschwitz and the surrounding villages. This place was intended for the formation of a camp.

It consisted of:

• Auschwitz I;
• Auschwitz-Birkenau;
• Auschwitz-Buna (or Auschwitz III).

In the surroundings of the whole camp there were towers and barbed wire, which is under electric tension. The forbidden zone was located at a great distance outside the camps and was called the "zone of interest".

Prisoners were brought here on trains from all over Europe. After that they were divided into 4 groups. The first, consisting mainly of Jews and unfit for work, was immediately sent to gas chambers.

Representatives of the second performed various works at industrial enterprises. In particular, the work of prisoners was used at the refinery "Buna Verke", which was engaged in the production of gasoline and synthetic rubber.

The third part of new arrivals was made by those who had inborn physical deviations. They were mostly dwarfs and twins. They went to the "main" concentration camp for conducting anti-human and sadistic experiments.

The fourth group consisted of specially selected women who served as servants and personal slaves of SS men. They also sorted personal items confiscated from arriving prisoners.

The mechanism of the final solution of the Jewish question

Every day in the camp there were more than 100 thousand prisoners who lived on 170 hectares of land in 300 barracks. Their construction was carried out by the first prisoners. The barracks were wooden and had no foundation. In winter, these rooms were particularly cold, because they were heated using 2 small ovens.

The crematoria in Auschwitz Birkenau were located at the end of the railway tracks. They were combined with gas chambers. In each of them was placed 5 triple furnaces. Other crematoria were smaller and consisted of one eight-muffle furnace. All of them worked almost around the clock. The break was done only in order to clean the stoves of human dust and burnt fuel. All this was exported to the nearest field and poured out into special pits.

Each gas chamber housed about 2.5 thousand people, they died for 10-15 minutes. After that their corpses were transferred to the crematorium. In their place have already been prepared by other prisoners.

A large number of corpses could not always accommodate a crematorium, so in 1944 they were burned directly on the street.

Some facts from the history of Auschwitz

Auschwitz is a concentration camp, whose history includes the commission of approximately 700 attempts to escape, half of which ended successfully. But even if someone managed to escape, the arrests of all his relatives were immediately carried out. They were also sent to camps. Prisoners who lived with those who fled in one block were killed. In this way, the management of the concentration camp prevented attempts to escape.

The liberation of this "factory of death" took place on January 27, 1945. 100 rifle division of General Fyodor Krasavin occupied the territory of the camp. Only 7,500 people were alive at that time. The Nazis killed or took to the Third Reich over 58,000 prisoners during their retreat.

Until now, it is not known the exact number of lives that Auschwitz took. Souls of how many prisoners roam there to this day? Auschwitz is a concentration camp, the history of which consists of 1,1-1,6 million prisoners. He became a sad symbol of outrageous crimes against humanity.

A guarded prison camp for women

The only huge concentration camp for women in Germany was Ravensbrück. It was designed for the maintenance of 30 thousand people, but at the time of the end of the war there were more than 45 thousand prisoners. These included Russian and Polish women. A significant proportion were Jewish women. This women's concentration camp was not officially designed to conduct various mockeries of the prisoners, but there was also no formal prohibition of such.

Upon admission to Ravensbrück, women were taken out of all that they had. They were completely undressed, washed, shaved and given out working clothes. After that, the prisoners were distributed in barracks.

Even before entering the camp, the most healthy and efficient women were selected, the rest were destroyed. Those who survived did various jobs related to construction and sewing workshops.

Closer to the end of the war, a crematorium and a gas chamber were built here. Until then, if necessary, mass or single executions were carried out. Human ash was sent as fertilizer to the surrounding female concentration camps or simply poured into the bay.

Elements of humiliation and experiences in Ravesbruck

The most important elements of humiliation included numbering, round robbery and unbearable living conditions. Also feature of Ravesbruck is the presence of an infirmary, designed to carry out experiments on people. Here, the Germans tested new drugs, first infecting or mutilating prisoners. The number of prisoners rapidly declined due to regular purges or selections, during which all women who lost the opportunity to work or had a bad appearance were killed.

At the time of liberation there were approximately 5,000 people in the camp. The remaining prisoners were either killed or taken to other concentration camps of fascist Germany. The finally imprisoned women were released in April 1945.

Concentration camp in Salaspils

First, the concentration camp of Salaspils was created in order to keep the Jews in it. They were brought there from Latvia and other European countries. The first construction work was carried out by Soviet prisoners of war, who were in the stalag-350, located near.

Since Nazis almost killed all Jews in the territory of Latvia at the time of the construction, the camp was unclaimed. In this regard, in May 1942 in an empty building Salaspils made a prison. It contained all those who evaded labor service, sympathized with Soviet power, and other opponents of the regime of Hitler. Here people were sent to die a painful death. The camp was not like other similar institutions. There were no gas chambers, no crematoriums. Nevertheless, about 10 thousand prisoners were killed there.

Children's Salaspils

The Salaspils Concentration Camp was the place where children were imprisoned, who were used to provide them with the blood of wounded German soldiers. After carrying out the procedure for taking blood, most of the juvenile prisoners died very quickly.

They were kept in separate barracks and deprived of even minimal primitive care. But it was not the cold and terrible conditions of life that became the main cause of the death of children, but the carrying out of experiments for which they were used as experimental subjects.

The number of small prisoners who died in the walls of Salaspils, counts more than 3 thousand. These are only those children of concentration camps who have not turned 5 years old. Some of the bodies were burned, and the rest were buried in the garrison cemetery. Most of the children died because of merciless pumping of blood.

The fate of people who were in concentration camps in Germany during the Great Patriotic War, was tragic after liberation. It would seem that it can still be scarier! After the Nazi correctional labor institutions, they were captured by the GULAG. Their relatives and children were repressed, and the former prisoners were considered "traitors". They worked only on the most difficult and low-paid jobs. Only a few of them later managed to get out into people.

Concentration camps in Germany are evidence of the terrible and inexorable truth of the deepest decline of humanity.