Fascism and atrocities will forever remain inseparable concepts. Since the introduction of the bloody ax of war by fascist Germany over the world, innocent blood has been shed in a huge number of victims.
The origin of the first concentration camps
As soon as the Nazis came to power in Germany, the first "death factories" began to be created. The concentration camp is a deliberately equipped center designed for the mass forced deprivation of liberty and the maintenance of prisoners of war and political prisoners. The name itself to this day is terrifying to many. Concentration camps in Germany were the location of those individuals who were 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 President for the Protection of the People and the State," all those who hostilely perceived the Nazi regime were arrested.
But as soon as hostilities began, such institutions turned into gigantic machines that suppressed and destroyed a huge number of people. The concentration camps of Germany during the Great Patriotic War were filled with millions of prisoners: Jews, Communists, Poles, Gypsies, Soviet citizens and others. Among the many causes of death of millions of people, the main ones were:
- cruel bullying;
- illnesses;
- poor conditions of detention;
- exhaustion;
- heavy physical labor;
- inhuman medical experiences.
Cruel system development
The total number of correctional labor institutions at that time was about 5 thousand. The concentration camps of 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", outside whose walls methodically killed Jews and then people belonging to other "inferior" peoples. Camps were created in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe.
The first phase of the development of this system is characterized by the construction of camps on German territory that were most similar to holds. They were intended to contain opponents of the Nazi regime. At that time there were about 26 thousand prisoners in them, completely protected from the outside world. Even in case of fire, rescuers did not have the right to be in the camp.
The second phase is 1936-1938, when the number of those arrested was growing rapidly and new places of detention were required. The composition of the arrested appeared homeless and those who did not want to work. A kind of purification of society from the asocial elements that disgraced the German nation was carried out. This is the time of the construction of such well-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 inhabiting German concentration camps during the Great Patriotic War almost doubled thanks to captured French, Poles, Belgians and representatives of other peoples. At this time, the number of prisoners in Germany and Austria is significantly inferior to the number of those who are in camps built on the conquered territories.
During the fourth and last phase (1942-1945), the persecution of Jews and Soviet prisoners of war was significantly increased. The number of prisoners is approximately 2.5-3 million.
The Nazis 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 German concentration camps, the list of which is as follows:
- Buchenwald;
- Halle;
- Dresden
- Dusseldorf;
- Catbus;
- Ravensbrück;
- Shliben;
- Spremberg;
- Dachau;
- Essen
Dachau - the first camp
Among the first in Germany, the Dachau camp was created, located not far from the small town of the same name near Munich. He was a kind of model for creating the future Nazi correctional system. Dachau is a concentration camp that has existed for 12 years. A huge number of German political prisoners, anti-fascists, prisoners of war, clergy, political and social activists from almost all European countries were serving their sentences there.
In 1942, a system consisting of 140 additional camps began to be created in southern Germany. All of them belonged to the Dachau system and contained more than 30 thousand prisoners used in a variety of hard work. Famous anti-fascist believers Martin Nimeller, Gabriel V and Nikolai Velimirovich were among the prisoners.
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 amount is much larger.
Also, various medical experiments on people were carried out outside these walls. 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, new medications, hemostatic agents were tested on prisoners.
Dachau, a very notorious concentration camp, was liberated on April 29, 1945 by the military of the 7th Army of the US Armed Forces.
“Labor makes free”
This phrase from metal letters placed 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, it became necessary to create a new place for their detention. 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).
Surrounded by the entire camp were towers and barbed wire, which is under electrical voltage. The forbidden zone was located at a great distance outside the camps and had the name "zone of interest."
Prisoners were brought here in trains from all over Europe. After that, they were divided into 4 groups. The first, consisting mainly of Jews and people unfit for work, was immediately sent to gas chambers.
Representatives of the second carried out a variety of work in industrial enterprises. In particular, the labor of prisoners was used at the Buna Verke refinery, which was engaged in the production of gasoline and synthetic rubber.
A third of the new arrivals were those who had congenital physical abnormalities. These were mainly dwarfs and twins. They went to the “main” concentration camp to conduct anti-human and sadistic experiments.
The fourth group consisted of specially selected women who performed the functions of servants and personal slaves of the SS men. They also sorted personal items confiscated from arriving prisoners.
The mechanism for the final resolution 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. The first prisoners were engaged in their construction. The barracks were wooden and had no foundation. In winter, it was especially cold in these rooms because they were heated with 2 small stoves.
Crematoriums in Auschwitz Birkenau were located at the end of the railway tracks. They were combined with gas chambers. In each of them 5 triple furnaces were placed. Other crematoriums were smaller and consisted of one eight-muffle furnace. All of them worked almost around the clock. A break was made only in order to clean the ovens of human dust and burnt fuel. All this was transported to the nearest field and poured into special pits.
Each gas chamber accommodated about 2.5 thousand people, they died within 10-15 minutes. After that, their corpses were transferred to the crematorium. Other prisoners had already been prepared in their place.
A large number of corpses could not always accommodate crematoria, so in 1944 they began to be burned right on the street.
Some facts from the history of Auschwitz
Auschwitz is a concentration camp whose history includes the completion of approximately 700 escape attempts, half of which ended successfully. But even if someone managed to escape, all his relatives were immediately arrested. They were also sent to camps. Prisoners who lived with the fugitive in the same block were killed. By this method, the management of the concentration camp prevented escape attempts.
The liberation of this "death factory" took place on January 27, 1945. The 100 rifle division of General Fedor Krasavin occupied the camp. Only 7500 people were alive at that time. The Nazis during their retreat killed or transported more than 58 thousand prisoners to the Third Reich.
Until now, the exact number of lives that Auschwitz has taken is not known. How many souls of souls roam there to this day? Auschwitz is a concentration camp whose history consists of the lives of 1.1-1.6 million prisoners. He became a sad symbol of outrageous crimes against humanity.
Guarded Detention Camp for Women
The only huge concentration camp for women in Germany was Ravensbrück. It was designed to support 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 part were Jewish. This women's concentration camp was not officially designed to conduct various mockeries of the prisoners, but there was no formal prohibition of such.
Upon admission to Ravensbrück, all that they had was taken from women. They were completely undressed, washed, shaved and given out work clothes. After that, the prisoners were distributed among the barracks.
Even before entering the camp, the most healthy and efficient women were selected, the rest were destroyed. Those who survived did various work related to construction and sewing workshops.
Toward the end of the war, a crematorium and a gas chamber were built here. Before that, if necessary, mass or single executions were carried out. Human ashes were sent as fertilizer to the fields surrounding the female concentration camp or simply poured into the bay.
Elements of humiliation and experiences in Ravesbruck
The most important elements of humiliation included numbering, mutual responsibility and unbearable living conditions. Also a feature of Ravesbruck is the presence of an infirmary, designed to conduct experiments on people. Here the Germans tested new drugs, pre-infecting or crippling the prisoners. The number of prisoners was rapidly decreasing due to regular cleanings or breeding, during which all women who lost their ability to work or had poor appearance were destroyed.
At the time of release, about 5 thousand people were in the camp. The remaining prisoners were either killed or taken to other concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The women who were finally imprisoned were released in April 1945.
Concentration Camp in Salaspils
At first, the Salaspils concentration camp was created in order to contain Jews in it. They were delivered 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 nearby.
Since at the time the construction began, the Nazis practically destroyed all the Jews in Latvia, the camp turned out to be unclaimed. In this regard, in May 1942, a prison was made in the empty building of Salaspils. It contained all those who avoided labor duty, sympathized with the Soviet government, and other opponents of the Hitler regime. People were sent here in order to die a painful death. The camp was not like other similar institutions. There were no gas chambers or crematoria. Nevertheless, about 10 thousand prisoners were destroyed here.
Children's Salaspils
Salaspils concentration camp was a place of detention for children who were used here to provide blood for wounded German soldiers. After the blood withdrawal procedure, most juvenile prisoners died very quickly.
They were kept in separate barracks and deprived of even minimal primitive care. But it was not cold and terrible living conditions that became the main cause of the death of children, but the conduct of experiments for which they were used as experimental subjects.
The number of small prisoners who died in the walls of Salaspils totals more than 3 thousand. These are only those children of concentration camps who are under 5 years old. Some of the bodies were burnt, and the rest were buried in a garrison cemetery. Most of the children died due to ruthless pumping of blood.
The fate of the people who ended up in concentration camps in Germany during World War II was tragic after the liberation. It would seem that what could be worse! After the fascist correctional labor institutions, they were captured by the Gulag. Their relatives and children were repressed, and the former prisoners themselves were considered “traitors”. They worked only on the hardest and lowest paid jobs. Only some of them subsequently managed to break out into people.
The German concentration camps are evidence of the terrible and inexorable truth of the deepest decline of humanity.