How It Started
On March 9, 1933, several weeks after Hitler assumed power, the first organized attacks on German opponents of the regime & on Jews broke out across Germany. Less than two weeks later, Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, was opened. Situated near Munich, Dachau became a place of internment for German Jews, Communists, Socialists, and liberals, anyone whom the Reich considered its enemy. It became the model for the network of concentration camps that would be established later by the Nazis.
Deportation to the Camps
Nazi Germany exploited the labour of the occupied peoples from the onset of the occupation. More than 14 million people and 2.5 million prisoners of war were transported to Germany for labour. Deportation was the first step in the Final Solution. Typically, the Jews were informed that they were going to be resettled for work. Each was told to take some clothing, blankets, shoes, eating utensils (but no knife), a bowl & some money. Rounded up, they were herded into trucks for the trip to the rail station, or were forced to walk. The rail cars were often strategically located at a distance from the passenger terminals, so that this scene would not arouse the ire of the local populace. Many who did see chose not to protest. They were on their ways to work camps where they'd labour & slave night & day.
Jews were enslaved of forced labour camps across Europe, in the Reich itself, in the west and, foremost, in the east. Economic needs & the prolonging of the war established the need to utilize the Jews as a labour force.
Jews were enslaved of forced labour camps across Europe, in the Reich itself, in the west and, foremost, in the east. Economic needs & the prolonging of the war established the need to utilize the Jews as a labour force.
Day Life in the Camps
The appeal, the daily line-up that took place every morning after wakeup & each evening after returning from labour, was one of the horrific aspects of the prisoners’ lives in the camps. They were forced to stand completely still, often for hours at a time, exposed to the elements in the cold, rain, or snow and to the terror of sudden violence by SS men or guards. The camp routine was composed of a long list of orders and instructions, usually given to all but sometimes aimed at individual prisoners. All of one’s strength had to be enlisted to overcome the daily routine: an early wakeup, arranging the bed’s straw, the line-up, marching to labour, forced labour, the waiting period for the meagre daily meal, usually consisting of a watery vegetable soup & half a piece of bread which was insufficient for people working at hard labour, the return to the camp & another line-up, before retiring to the barracks.
Survivor Testimonies of the Camps
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