Nazi Death Camps
The Final Solution
The Camps
As part of the final solution, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party sent many people of Jewish descent to concentration camps designed specifically to kill its inhabitants. The most known camp, Auschwitz, had three wings made for extermination. These wings were the labor camp, the extermination camp and the prison camp. The commander of the SS, Heinrich Himmler gave the order to build the camp. Most camps worked like this, but Auschwitz was the largest.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Death Marches
Prisoners at the end of the war were marched away from the front.
Auschwitz
The most known camp and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Buchenwald
Many people were forced into slave labor. This is an example of a labor camp.
The Most Notorious
Auschwitz is known for it's brutality and the people heading it. The entire operation was headed by Rudolf Hoess. The first wing, Auschwitz I was built in 1940 and began receiving prisoners by June 14. Auschwitz II was the extermination camp. Auschwitz III was the labor camp. As people arrived at the camps, they were separated families based on their ability to do hard labor. Men were usually sent to the work camps until they died. Women, children and elderly and the ill were immediately sent to the gas chambers. The camp's doctor, Josef Mengele performed many inhumane experiments on prisoners and this drove fear into every inmate.
Surviving Auschwitz
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365406224/
This documentary focuses on Tova Friedman who survived the Holocaust and more specifically, Auschwitz itself. It follows the account of the survivor.
Works Cited
"Auschwitz." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
"Slave laborers at Buchenwald concentration camp." Photos/Illustrations. National Archives. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.