Adolf Hitler Concentration Camps During World War II

Bridget Murphy
Mrs.Shakleton
English 9
12/8/14
It was 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany; he was now in complete control. This was only a start to the horrible years yet to come. Hitler set out to conquer as much land as he could and aimed for weaker countries like Poland. He began something called concentration camps (What are Concentration Camps?). People, who were Jewish, homosexual, and mentally ill, were forced to live in these camps. With Poland being weak and having the largest number of Jews, the camps begin here (Concentration Camps, 1933–1939).
If anyone was considered a "threat" to the German community, they were put in the something called a concentration camp. People who are Jewish, homosexual, mentally ill, and sometimes or a repetitive criminal; they were forced to start a new life in these camps. Even if they weren’t guilty of something Hitler still would have the people removed from their current life and have them start a new one. When the Jews
were taken from their homes, it wasn't a good way. "Some 3000 Jews were taken to Drama and herded onto trains without food or water, for transport to a camp in Gorna Dzumaya" (Deportation of Jews from Bulgarian occupied Macedonia).
Days in the camps were very harsh and bitter.
The people were split up into either factories or working on the grounds of the camps. Working in private institutions were worse than working in the camps; they had higher death rates than the concentration camps. The Nazis sent the weak and hurt to work harder (What Are Concentration Camps?). A policy was created called "Annihilation Through Work" which meant to work the prisoners to death. A major camp Mauthausen formally located in Austria forced the prisoners to run up 186 stone steps while carrying heavy boulders, which is a fine example of annihilation. People who tried to escape would be killed (Nazi Camps). In 1942 the death rate caused by these camps were 60% (What are Concentration Camps?). Random times during the day prisoners would be brought to gas chambers. The Nazis would never tell them that they were going to die. The gas chambers were sometimes said to be showers, which were a big contribution to the death rate in these
camps.
It was 1945 and the horror was coming to an end. Liberation came slowly, but it happened (Rubin 95). Freedom began with death marches. Late months of 1944, train or ship carried out evacuations of the camps. By December 1944, Anglo-American forces were all set to invade Germany. SS guards killed anyone who couldn’t travel on foot. The marches became more intense during the ruthless winter of 1944-1945. Many people died of starvation and the horrific temperatures (Death Marches). “As Allied forces advanced into the heart of Germany they liberated hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. This included thousands of prisoners whom allied and Soviet troops liberated while they marched on the forced evacuations” (Death Marches). Germany surrendered on May 7th, 1945 and on May 8th, 1945 it was Victory Day in Europe. However “As late as May 1, 1945, prisoners who had been evacuated from Neuengamme to the North Sea coastline were loaded onto ships; hundreds of them died when the British bombed the ships a few days later, thinking that they carried German military personnel” (Concentration Camps, 1933–1939)