Humanity experienced an evil period marked by the foundation of concentration camps which impacted our history deeply. The Nazi leadership adopted the concentration camps during World War II to gain control over and murder large numbers of harmless citizens. As the German capital city Berlin hosted multiple Nazi concentration camps. This article explains why and why concentration camps mattered in the history of World War II.
1. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp:
Sachsenhausen stood out as one of the worst Nazi concentration camps in 35 kilometers north of Berlin. The camp began operating in 1936 to teach other camps as established models. The main purpose of Sachsenhausen was to hold political detainees from Nazi opponents as well as intellectual and communist prisoners.
The camp forced its victims to live through unbearable conditions while performing slave labor and suffered many violent assaults. The lack of nourishing food and sickness took many prisoner lives while others were executed. The camp trained dozens of SS officers whose later assignments took them to Nazi-occupied areas.
2. Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women:
During World War II, Ravensbrück stood as the largest female concentration camp near Berlin at a distance of 90 kilometers. The administration set up this facility in 1939 and kept running it up to 1945 when liberation happened. Women political prisoners resisted forces and civilian noncombatants joined other nationalities at this facility where they became its primary victims.
Prisoners of Ravensbrück lived in terrible conditions with too many inmates plus doctors tested victims and guards regularly hurt them without purpose. Some female prisoners worked under force in local factories and agricultural locations where they experienced violent mistreatment.
3. Oranienburg Concentration Camp:
The Nazis built Oranienburg as their first concentration camp around 35 kilometers from Berlin. SS guards used the facility to learn their roles before they served at other Nazi prison camps. Under the Nazi rule Oranienburg began with detaining political inmates along with those the government called undesirable individuals.
Prisoners at Oranienburg experienced horrible daily life through professional abuse and harsh labor while fearing violence at all times. The facility grew over time and became the main location where Nazi personnel executed people who had physical or mental disabilities through the mandatory death program.
4. Dachau Concentration Camp:
Despite its distance from Berlin Dachau took important place within the Nazi concentration camp operations thanks to its close position to Munich. It became the blueprint for other camps and accepted political prisoners and religious dissenters along with people Hitler’s regime labeled as lesser races.
The Nazi authorities at Dachau concentration camp forced workers to work with no food and made them endure inhumane medical research. Visitors used the camp after the war to represent Nazi cruelty as it marked the start of such operations worldwide.
Conclusion:
The Nazi regime used concentration camps located near Berlin to show its appalling mistreatment of prisoners. Dachau acted as a platform for the Nazi regime to persecute and damage millions of lives through death. History requires us to study this evil period to pay proper tribute to the victims while teaching people to value all human lives.
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