Gas chambers at the camps made it possible for the Nazis to kill hundreds of people at a time. Thanks to the death camps, the Nazis were able to kill people 10 times more quickly than in other genocides in history (according to a 2019 study).[5]
In a 100-day period between August and September 1942, the Nazis killed over 1.47 million Jews, mostly at death camps.[5] One out of every four Jews who died in all 6 years of World War II were killed during this 100-day period.[5] In some areas, more than 99.9% of the Jewish population was murdered in camps.[5]
Many people were killed as soon as they arrived at the death camps. Prisoners who were 'selected' to live (so they could do slave labor) were not expected to live more than a few months.[6]
Other purposes
The Nazi concentration camps had other purposes too. These included:[7][8][9]
The five Nazi death camps were Auschwitz-Birkenau (where over a million Jews were murdered[10]), Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Almost all victims of these camps were Jews.[10] In these five camps, the Nazis murdered around 2.7 million Jews.[2]
The Nazis also murdered 800,000 to 1,000,000 Jews in labor camps, concentration camps, and ghettos (like the Warsaw Ghetto).[2]
The Nazis murdered half a million non-Jews in concentration camps.[3]
Jews were most commonly the victims of the Nazi concentration camps. However, the Nazis believed there were many other "undesirable" groups. These included (among others):[2][3][10][11]
Inside a barracks at a Dachau subcamp after liberation
Most inmates were brought to the camps in cattle cars. When they arrived, the Nazis 'selected' which prisoners would be killed right away and which would be allowed to live (and work as slaves). Some groups were often selected for immediate execution: children, pregnant women, elderly people, people with disabilities, and anyone who looked weak or sick.[12][13][14]
The Nazis took all of the prisoners' belongings, shaved their heads, assigned them numbers, and made them wear uniforms with badges on them.
Conditions in the camps were cruel, inhumane, and deadly. Prisoners were starved and denied water. They were worked brutally, sometimes to death. The camps were extremely overcrowded, and diseases were very common. There was no sanitation or real health care. People who could not work were killed.[14]
Notable camps
An Auschwitz prisoner uniform. "Jude" means "Jew."
↑ 1.01.1Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015). KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps (1st ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN978-0-374-11825-9.
↑Friedman, Ina R. (1990). The Other Victims: First-Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN978-0-395-74515-1.
