Nazi Concentration Camps: Prisoners, Conditions, and Aftermath

Introduction: The Holocaust and the Camp System

The Holocaust generated immense suffering — for its victims and for society as a whole — given the magnitude of the event. Nazi concentration camps served as a living hell for those who were unlucky enough to enter them as prisoners. Experiencing such an ordeal was profoundly dehumanizing, both for the detainees and for the guards themselves. Although the process of ethnic cleansing that Hitler initiated ultimately failed, it nonetheless produced a tremendous amount of distress and memories that will never be forgotten because of their intensity. The concentration camps held people from varied backgrounds, ranging from Jews — one of Hitler's primary targets — to virtually anyone believed to pose a threat to the well-being of the Third Reich.

It rarely happens that time passes without the world being reminded of the Holocaust. The event is frequently revisited, with new information constantly emerging or with already known information being re-examined — most probably as society's attempt to understand what could have triggered such a disaster and how it was possible for good people to be unwilling to prevent it (Zettl, 2005).

At first, Hitler's intentions had not been obvious, and no one could imagine someone wanting to commit such horrors. However, as the war evolved, Jewish people were being sent to working camps from various areas of occupied Europe. It was not long before the first reports of Nazis treating Jews ruthlessly appeared. Even with the rumors circulating, it was virtually impossible for anyone to fully picture the reality inside the working camps. It was only after the Second World War that the camps and their operations were fully uncovered, and it took several decades for the world to discover exactly what had happened inside them. In most cases, when people hear the word "Holocaust," they think of piles of corpses and survivors who are barely alive.

Although the world slowly but surely recovered from the incident, the people who actually lived through it and were held prisoner in Nazi concentration camps were never able to completely recuperate. Despite more than six decades passing since the Holocaust ended, its survivors were never truly capable of fully reintegrating into society, given that their memories haunted them everywhere they went. "Some of these survivors also struggle with everyday challenges, mental crises and with the woes of aging, retirement and illnesses which may seem insurmountable when viewed in perspective of the shadows of the past" (F. Kellermann, 1999). More troubling still, while some survivors acknowledge that the event has left a permanent mark on them, others are reluctant to admit that they are suffering as a result of having been imprisoned in concentration camps and are left to endure that suffering without professional assistance.

Who Was Imprisoned: Targeted Groups

Some of the primary groups selected for imprisonment in concentration camps were Jews, Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, the disabled, criminals, and virtually anyone considered unworthy of freedom. Jewish people were the main target of the Nazis, which is why the majority of Holocaust victims are of Jewish origin. Any individual believed to be of Jewish faith or Jewish descent was immediately selected for deportation to concentration camps. The most notable concentration camps were located in Poland, largely because that country had a high Jewish population.

In most cases, Roma were the second group targeted by the Nazis for the concentration camps. It is difficult to determine the exact number of Roma killed during the Holocaust, largely because the group had no secure place in the world — indeed, it is even difficult to determine the total number of Roma in the present day. The Nazis also routinely sent prisoners of war to concentration camps and gave them no preferential treatment; in many cases these individuals were treated even worse than other groups.

Hitler was known to be unwilling to accept homosexuals in the Third Reich and had a list compiled of all homosexuals in Germany, with the purpose of sending them to Nazi prisons and concentration camps. Groups that expressed opposition to war in general were considered eligible for elimination; the Jehovah's Witnesses were among those Hitler did not want roaming freely in Nazi territory. Jehovah's Witnesses were generally opposed to armed warfare and refused to join the military, which led the Nazis to conclude that they were unwilling to support the Third Reich and could be a bad influence on the broader German population.

Because of their political convictions, communists were not favored by the Nazis, and anyone believed to be connected to the Communist Party was selected for the concentration camps. Criminals, deemed an unwanted segment of the German population, were also sent to the camps. The sphere of those considered unwanted in Nazi Germany was vast — Hitler had no desire to support anyone thought to be against the concept of Aryan purity. Those who were disabled or mentally ill were taken from their families or from the institutions they belonged to and relocated to concentration camps. In particular cases, the Nazis went so far as to send elderly people to concentration camps on the grounds that they could no longer serve the Nazi state in any meaningful way.

Camp Structure, Expansion, and Auschwitz

Although the broader public did not become fully acquainted with Nazi concentration camps until after the Second World War, these institutions dated back to the early years of Nazi Germany, as Hitler established a series of camps designed to hold anyone who posed a threat to the state. Historians typically focus on the last years of the Second World War when describing the Nazi concentration camp system, often overlooking the fact that people suffered in such complexes for years before the war even began. The extraordinary growth in prisoner numbers reinforces this focus: "Inmate numbers shot up from 110,000 in September 1942 to a staggering 715,000 in January 1945" (Birkbeck, University of London, camps.bbk.ac.uk).

Some of the earliest camps were designed to silence and intimidate those who did not support the Nazi system. The outbreak of war allowed the Germans to recognize the economic potential that forced labor camps represented. Hitler subsequently increased the number of concentration camps to support the war effort. This directly contributed to the rising death toll within the camps, given that most prisoners were unable to survive such prolonged torment.

The first official mass killings took place in the early 1940s, with the Nazis murdering people in both the east and the west. Hitler apparently wished to accelerate the process, issuing the order for the Final Solution to be implemented. Large numbers of Jewish people were killed first by shooting and later by being gassed in specially constructed gas chambers. Conditions in the working camps were horrific, and people frequently died of starvation or disease.

One of the largest and most significant concentration camps was located in Oświęcim, near Kraków, Poland. Although most people may be unfamiliar with the town's actual name, virtually everyone has heard a great deal about the Auschwitz extermination camp. Hitler's forces established the camp at this location because it was a junction of some of the most important roads and railways in Poland, allowing prisoners to be transported there in large numbers relatively quickly. The town of Oświęcim was also significant because it had a large Jewish population, making it easier for the Germans to round up prisoners. Auschwitz has become the defining symbol of the Holocaust primarily because of its scale and because people from across Europe were sent there in large numbers to be exterminated.

Contemporary society is virtually unable to fully comprehend what Auschwitz meant for those imprisoned there, regardless of everything they have seen or heard about it. The concentration camp was a complex system designed to murder or to subject Jewish individuals to terrifying suffering. "Some Holocaust survivors have said that not only did the barbed wire surrounding Auschwitz tremble and howl, but also the tortured earth itself moaned with the voices of the victims" (ISurvived.org).

The first waves of prisoners arrived at Auschwitz in March 1942, and from that point trains filled with people arrived on a regular basis, with the final years of the war seeing tens of thousands of prisoners arriving every day. Once inside Auschwitz, prisoners had their names stripped from them and received a number tattooed on their arms instead. The process of being a prisoner within the camp was profoundly dehumanizing: from the very first moments of their journey, people were loaded into cattle cars and forced to remain there for prolonged periods in inhumane conditions.

Auschwitz initially served as a concentration camp for Polish individuals whom the Nazis detained because of the supposed threat they represented. At the height of the Third Reich, German-occupied territory contained numerous concentration camps categorized according to the type of prisoners they were meant to hold. Camps were designated for prisoners of war, for transit, and for execution. In their initial public statements about the concentration camps, the Nazis claimed it would be dangerous for society if the prisoners they held were released. Influential German figures such as Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, contradicted accounts of the conditions inside the camps by claiming that prisoners were actually treated favorably during their detention. Reality was, however, completely different.