Bergen-Belsen
Concentration camp
Overview of Holocaust
What was the Holocost?
The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire.” The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jews, deemed “inferior,” were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.
Definition/Background information
What is Bergen-Belsen?
German military authorities established the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1940, in a location south of the small towns of Bergen and Belsen, about 11 miles north of Celle, Germany. Until 1943, Bergen-Belsen was exclusively a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. In April 1943 the SS Economic-Administration Main Office (SS Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt; WVHA) which administered the concentration camp system, took over a portion of Bergen-Belsen and converted it first into a civilian residence camp and, later, into a concentration camp. Thus, while the German government placed the Bergen-Belsen camp complex within the concentration camp system, the WVHA initially gave it a special designation.
Original Research Question
What was the main purpose for Bergen-Belsen?
Bergen-Belsen was a concentration camp for not only jews but also Russians, French, pow's, homosexuals, jehovas whitnesses, and just criminals.
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Citations
overview was cited from:
What Was the Holocost." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
Definition/Background of my topic was cited from:
"Bergen-Belsen." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 29 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
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