Terrible concentration camps. World War II concentration camps

Click on photo to enlarge

A prisoner leaves Dora - Mittelbau (known names: Dora, Nordhausen) - a Nazi concentration camp, formed on August 28, 1943, near the city of Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany, as a division of the already existing Buchenwald camp. The main purpose of the camp was to organize the underground production of weapons at the Mittelwerk plant, including V-2 missiles. During the 18 months of existence, 60,000 prisoners of 21 nationalities passed through the camp, approximately 20,000 died in custody. Many of them died while laying the tunnel leading to the plant. On April 11, 1945, the US 3rd Panzer Division liberated the Dora-Mittelbau camp.

Allied soldiers inspect ovens at 's-Hertogenbosch camp
The ovens were used to cremate the victims of the 's-Hertogenbosch concentration camp in the Netherlands. After being liberated by Canadian troops in November 1944, the camp was used to detain Nazis.

Concentration camp survivor cries near the charred corpse of a friend who was set on fire by guards with flamethrowers while trying to escape

Prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp in the last days of the war
The Mauthausen camp was built in one of the most beautiful and picturesque places of the Danube Valley on the outskirts of the ancient Upper Austrian town of Mauthausen back in 1938, when it became a "branch" of the Nazi concentration camp Dachau, located near the Bavarian capital - Munich.
The first 2,000 Soviet prisoners of war entered Mauthausen on October 22, 1941.
In total, in the concentration camp - not far from "the Fuhrer's favorite city, which he wanted to eventually turn into the capital of the world" - Linz - more than 32 thousand Soviet citizens, 30 thousand Poles were executed, died from beatings and hunger, as well as from overwork in the quarries , several thousand Jews, Italians, Hungarians, Albanians, Serbs and Croats.

Children in the women's concentration camp Ravensbrück
The Ravensbrück concentration camp was built, starting in November 1938, by the SS and prisoners transferred from Sachsenhausen, in the Prussian village of Ravensbrück, near the Mecklenburg climatic resort of Fürstenberg. It was the only large concentration camp on German territory that was designated as a so-called "Guarded Detention Camp for Women". Children of "non-Aryan" peoples shaved their heads bald. In April 1945, the prisoners were liberated by the troops of the Second Belorussian Front.

A Russian prisoner of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp points to a Nazi. On April 11, 1945, the US 3rd Panzer Division liberated the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp.

Arrest of Josef Kramer, commandant of the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Nicknamed "The Beast of Belsen" by camp inmates, he was one of the Nazi war criminals personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Josef was arrested by British troops in April 1945.

Bergen-Belsen prisoner during liberation.
Concentration camp near Celle, Hannover. At first it was a small camp for political opponents of the Nazi regime. Later it was significantly expanded. Although Belsen was not formally a "death camp", was not equipped with gas chambers, thousands of prisoners died there from starvation and exhaustion. In April 1945, Belsen was liberated by the Allied forces. At the time of liberation, over 35 thousand corpses were found in the camp, and about 30 thousand people remained alive.

Walk outside the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in the boots of German soldiers

Prisoners of Bergen-Belsen after their release in April 1945. Many suffered from typhus and dysentery. The average life expectancy for prisoners was about nine months.

Prisoners of Buchenwald during the liberation
Buchenwald - Nazi concentration camp. Created in 1937 in the vicinity of Weimar. Originally called Ettersberg. For 8 years, about 239 thousand people. were prisoners of Buchenwald. At first they were German anti-fascists, later, during the 2nd World War, representatives of many other nationalities. Many prisoners died already during the construction of the camp, which was carried out without the use of mechanisms. The prisoners were also mercilessly exploited by the owners of large industrial firms, whose enterprises were located in the Buchenwald area. Especially many prisoners died in the Buchenwald branch - "Dora", where "V" projectiles were manufactured in underground rooms. Inhuman conditions of existence, hunger, overwork, beatings led to mass mortality. About 10 thousand prisoners were executed, including almost 8.5 thousand Soviet prisoners of war. In all, 56,000 prisoners of 18 nationalities were tortured to death in Byelorussia. On August 18, 1944, the leader of the German working class, Ernst Thalmann, was brutally murdered by the Nazis in Berlin. Since the founding of the camp, an underground organization of anti-fascists, headed by the communists, began to form in it. In 1943 an international camp committee was set up headed by the German communist W. Barthel. By the beginning of April 1945, the organization consisted of 178 groups (3-5 people each), including 56 Soviet groups. On April 11, 1945, in the conditions of the defeat of the Nazi troops in World War II, the prisoners of Byelorussia, led by the international political center, raised an uprising, as a result of which the camp was liquidated by the insurgents.

Tattoos of prisoners of Buchenwald

Allied forces discovered the bodies of the burnt prisoners of Buchenwald in April 1945

Forced trip of Weimar citizens to Buchenwald in April 1945
Citizens of neighboring Weimar were forced to see for themselves the atrocities that were happening in the Bkuchenwald concentration camp

Germans during a forced trip to Buchenwald, after being liberated in April 1945

A German woman looks at the bodies of those who died in Buchenwald during a forced trip in April 1945. After the liberation of the concentration camp of the generals of the American headquarters, George Smith Patton said that the Germans of nearby cities were obliged to see the atrocities of the Nazis.

Allied troops prepared graves for the dead prisoners of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in April 1945 with the help of German civilians.

Prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp - one of the first death camps in Germany, are happy to meet the liberators - the 42nd division of the US Army, April 29, 1945

Burial at Nordhausen
A recently released prisoner prepares his mother's body for burial near the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, April 1945

Portrait of a prisoner of the Dachau concentration camp, April 1945

Prisoners leaving Auschwitz in February 1945
Auschwitz, more precisely - Auschwitz-Birkenau - the largest Nazi concentration camp and death camp, the central link of the mechanism created by Nazi Germany for the destruction of objectionable individuals and groups, mainly European Jews. It was founded by order of G. Himmler at the end of April 1940 on the outskirts of Zasole, a small provincial town of Auschwitz (Poland), 60 km southwest of Krakow and 30 km southeast of Katowice (near the confluence of the Vistula and Sola rivers).

Prisoners celebrating the liberation of Buchenwald

This name has become a symbol of the brutal attitude of the Nazis towards captured children.

During the three years of the existence of the camp (1941-1944) in Salaspils, according to various sources, about a hundred thousand people died, seven thousand of them were children.

The place from which they did not return

This camp was built by captured Jews in 1941 on the territory of the former Latvian training ground, 18 kilometers from Riga, near the village of the same name. According to the documents, Salaspils (German: Kurtenhof) was originally called an “educational labor camp”, and not a concentration camp.

An impressive area, fenced with barbed wire, was built up with hastily built wooden barracks. Each was designed for 200-300 people, but often in one room there were from 500 to 1000 people.

Initially, Jews deported from Germany to Latvia were doomed to death in the camp, but since 1942, "undesirable" Jews from various countries were sent here: France, Germany, Austria, the Soviet Union.

The Salaspils camp also gained notoriety because it was here that the Nazis took blood from innocent children for the needs of the army and mocked young prisoners in every possible way.

Full donors for the Reich

New prisoners were brought in regularly. They were forced to strip naked and sent to the so-called bathhouse. It was necessary to walk half a kilometer through the mud, and then wash in icy water. After that, the arrivals were placed in barracks, all things were taken away.

There were no names, surnames, titles - only serial numbers. Many died almost immediately, while those who managed to survive after several days of imprisonment and torture were “sorted out”.

The children were separated from their parents. If the mothers did not give, the guards took the babies by force. There were terrible screams and screams. Many women went crazy; some of them were placed in the hospital, and some were shot on the spot.

Infants and children under the age of six were sent to a special barrack, where they died of starvation and disease. The Nazis experimented on older prisoners: they injected poisons, performed operations without anesthesia, took blood from children, which was transferred to hospitals for wounded soldiers of the German army. Many children became "full donors" - they took blood from them until they died.

Considering that the prisoners were practically not fed: a piece of bread and a gruel from vegetable waste, the number of child deaths was in the hundreds per day. The corpses, like garbage, were taken out in huge baskets and burned in crematorium ovens or dumped into disposal pits.

Covering up traces

In August 1944, before the arrival of the Soviet troops, in an attempt to destroy the traces of atrocities, the Nazis burned down many barracks. The surviving prisoners were taken to the Stutthof concentration camp, and German prisoners of war were kept on the territory of Salaspils until October 1946.

After the liberation of Riga from the Nazis, a commission to investigate Nazi atrocities found 652 children's corpses in the camp. Mass graves and human remains were also found: ribs, hip bones, teeth.

One of the most eerie photographs, clearly illustrating the events of that time, is the “Salaspils Madonna”, the corpse of a woman who hugs a dead baby. It was found that they were buried alive.

The truth pricks the eyes

Only in 1967, the Salaspils memorial complex was erected on the site of the camp, which still exists today. Many famous Russian and Latvian sculptors and architects worked on the ensemble, including Ernst Unknown. The road to Salaspils begins with a massive concrete slab, the inscription on which reads: "The earth groans behind these walls."

Further, on a small field, figures-symbols with "speaking" names rise: "Unbroken", "Humiliated", "Oath", "Mother". On either side of the road are barracks with iron bars where people bring flowers, children's toys and sweets, and on the black marble wall, serifs measure the days spent by the innocent in the "death camp".

To date, some Latvian historians blasphemously call the Salaspils camp "educational and labor" and "socially useful", refusing to recognize the atrocities that were committed near Riga during the Second World War.

In 2015, an exhibition dedicated to the victims of Salaspils was banned in Latvia. Officials considered that such an event would harm the image of the country. As a result, the exposition “Stolen childhood. Victims of the Holocaust through the Eyes of Young Prisoners of the Salaspils Nazi Concentration Camp was held at the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Paris.

In 2017, there was also a scandal at the press conference “Salaspils camp, history and memory”. One of the speakers tried to express his original point of view on historical events, but received a harsh rebuff from the participants. “It hurts to hear how you are trying to forget about the past today. We cannot allow such terrible events to happen again. God forbid you experience something like this,” one of the women who managed to survive in Salaspils addressed the speaker.

Nazi Germany took a political course for the mass destruction of civilians, especially of Jewish nationality. So "death squadrons" were liquidated about a million people. Somewhat later, massacres began, and appeared in which people were deprived of medicine and nutrition. World War II concentration camps were built to systematically kill large numbers of people. They were built gas chambers, crematoria, laboratories for medical experiments.

The first of them were built in 1933, and a year later the SS troops took over them.

Thus, large concentration camps were created in Germany: Buchenwald, Majdanek, Salaspils, Ravensbrück, Dachau and Auschwitz.

1. Buchenwald (men's camp) - was intended to isolate anti-fascists. Outside the gates of the camp, one could see a square for building, a punishment cell for interrogations, an office, barracks (52 main ones) for prisoners, as well as a quarantine zone and a crematorium where people were killed. Here the prisoners worked in a weapons factory. Poles, Soviet citizens, Dutch, Czechs, Hungarians and Jews were brought to this place.

The concentration camps of the Second World War had a group of laboratory doctors who performed experiments on prisoners. So, it was in Buchenwald that the development of a vaccine against typhoid was carried out.

In 1945, the prisoners of the camp carried out an uprising, captured the Nazis and took the leadership into their own hands. We can say that they saved themselves, because the order had already been given to destroy all the prisoners.

2. Majdanek - intended for Soviet prisoners of war. The camp had five sections (one of them was for women). In the disinfection chamber, people were liquidated with gas, after which the corpses were taken to the crematorium, which was located in the third compartment.

In this camp, the prisoners worked in a factory that produced uniforms and a factory that produced weapons.

In 1944, due to the offensive of the Soviet troops, it ceased to exist.

3. The concentration camps of the Second World War included the Salaspils children's camp. Here the children were kept in isolation, they were deprived of care. Experiments were carried out on them, the so-called factory of children's blood was organized by the Nazis.

Today there is a memorial at this place.

4. Ravensbrück - originally intended for keeping German women, the so-called criminals, but later people of different nationalities were kept there.

Medical experiments on the study of sulfanilamide preparations were carried out in the camp. Somewhat later, bone tissue transplantation began here, the possibility of restoring muscles, nerves and bones was studied.

In 1945, she began the evacuation of the camp.

5. World War II concentration camps included Dachau. This camp was intended to contain people who polluted the Aryan nation. Here, the prisoners worked at the IG Farbenindustriya enterprise.

This camp is considered the most ominous of all known, experiments were carried out on people in it, the purpose of which was to study the possibility of controlling human behavior, and the effect of malaria on the body was also studied here.

In 1945, the underground organization of the camp organized an uprising and thwarted the plan to liquidate all the prisoners.

6. Auschwitz (Auschwitz) - intended for the maintenance of political prisoners. The camp had a heel yard, thirteen blocks, each of which had its own purpose, a gas chamber and a crematorium.

In 1943, a resistance group was formed here, which helped the prisoners escape.

Thus, the German concentration camps of the Second World War are striking in their cruelty. For all the time of their existence, a huge number of people, including children, have died in them.

The Auschwitz prisoners were released four months before the end of World War II. By that time there were few of them left. Almost one and a half million people died, most of them were Jews. For several years, the investigation continued, which led to terrible discoveries: people not only died in gas chambers, but also became victims of Dr. Mengele, who used them as guinea pigs.

Auschwitz: the history of one city

A small Polish town, in which more than a million innocent people were killed, is called Auschwitz all over the world. We call it Auschwitz. A concentration camp, experiments on gas chambers, torture, executions - all these words have been associated with the name of the city for more than 70 years.

It will sound rather strange in Russian Ich lebe in Auschwitz - "I live in Auschwitz." Is it possible to live in Auschwitz? They learned about the experiments on women in the concentration camp after the end of the war. Over the years, new facts have been discovered. One is scarier than the other. The truth about the camp called shocked the whole world. Research is still ongoing today. Many books have been written and many films have been made on the subject. Auschwitz has entered our symbol of a painful, difficult death.

Where did mass murders of children take place and terrible experiments were carried out on women? In Which city do millions of inhabitants on earth associate with the phrase "factory of death"? Auschwitz.

Experiments on people were carried out in a camp located near the city, which today is home to 40,000 people. It is a quiet town with a good climate. Auschwitz is first mentioned in historical documents in the twelfth century. In the XIII century there were already so many Germans here that their language began to prevail over Polish. In the 17th century, the city was captured by the Swedes. In 1918 it became Polish again. After 20 years, a camp was organized here, on the territory of which crimes took place, the likes of which mankind had not yet known.

Gas chamber or experiment

In the early forties, the answer to the question of where the Auschwitz concentration camp was located was known only to those who were doomed to death. Unless, of course, do not take into account the SS. Some of the prisoners, fortunately, survived. Later they talked about what happened within the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Experiments on women and children, which were conducted by a man whose name terrified the prisoners, is a terrible truth that not everyone is ready to listen to.

The gas chamber is a terrible invention of the Nazis. But there are things even worse. Christina Zhivulskaya is one of the few who managed to get out of Auschwitz alive. In her book of memoirs, she mentions a case: a prisoner, sentenced to death by Dr. Mengel, does not go, but runs into the gas chamber. Because death from poisonous gas is not as terrible as the torment from the experiments of the same Mengele.

The creators of the "factory of death"

So what is Auschwitz? This is a camp that was originally intended for political prisoners. The author of the idea is Erich Bach-Zalewski. This man had the rank of SS Gruppenführer, during the Second World War he led punitive operations. With his light hand, dozens were sentenced to death. He took an active part in the suppression of the uprising that took place in Warsaw in 1944.

The assistants of the SS Gruppenfuehrer found a suitable place in a small Polish town. There were already military barracks here, in addition, the railway communication was well established. In 1940, a man named came here. He will be hanged at the gas chambers by the decision of the Polish court. But this will happen two years after the end of the war. And then, in 1940, Hess liked these places. He set to work with great enthusiasm.

Inhabitants of the concentration camp

This camp did not immediately become a "factory of death". At first, mainly Polish prisoners were sent here. Only a year after the camp was organized, a tradition appeared to display a serial number on the prisoner's hand. More and more Jews were brought in every month. By the end of the existence of Auschwitz, they accounted for 90% of the total number of prisoners. The number of SS men here also grew steadily. In total, the concentration camp received about six thousand overseers, punishers and other "specialists". Many of them were put on trial. Some disappeared without a trace, including Josef Mengele, whose experiments terrified the prisoners for several years.

We will not give the exact number of victims of Auschwitz here. Let's just say that more than two hundred children died in the camp. Most of them were sent to the gas chambers. Some fell into the hand of Josef Mengele. But this man was not the only one who conducted experiments on people. Another so-called doctor is Carl Clauberg.

Starting in 1943, a huge number of prisoners entered the camp. Most had to be destroyed. But the organizers of the concentration camp were practical people, and therefore decided to take advantage of the situation and use a certain part of the prisoners as material for research.

Carl Cauberg

This man supervised the experiments conducted on women. His victims were predominantly Jews and Gypsies. The experiments included the removal of organs, the testing of new drugs, and irradiation. What kind of person is Karl Cauberg? Who is he? In what family did you grow up, how was his life? And most importantly, where did the cruelty that goes beyond human understanding come from?

By the beginning of the war, Karl Cauberg was already 41 years old. In the twenties, he served as chief physician at the clinic at the University of Königsberg. Kaulberg was not a hereditary doctor. He was born into a family of artisans. Why he decided to connect his life with medicine is unknown. But there is evidence according to which, in the First World War, he served as an infantryman. Then he graduated from the University of Hamburg. Apparently, medicine fascinated him so much that he refused a military career. But Kaulberg was not interested in medicine, but in research. In the early forties, he began to search for the most practical way to sterilize women who did not belong to the Aryan race. For experiments, he was transferred to Auschwitz.

Kaulberg's experiments

The experiments consisted in the introduction of a special solution into the uterus, which led to serious violations. After the experiment, the reproductive organs were removed and sent to Berlin for further research. There is no data on exactly how many women became victims of this "scientist". After the end of the war, he was captured, but soon, just seven years later, oddly enough, he was released according to an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war. Returning to Germany, Kaulberg did not suffer from remorse at all. On the contrary, he was proud of his "achievements in science." As a result, complaints began to come in from people who had suffered from Nazism. He was arrested again in 1955. He spent even less time in prison this time. He died two years after his arrest.

Josef Mengele

The prisoners called this man "the angel of death". Josef Mengele personally met the trains with new prisoners and conducted the selection. Some went to the gas chambers. Others are at work. The third he used in his experiments. One of the prisoners of Auschwitz described this man as follows: "Tall, with a pleasant appearance, like a movie actor." He never raised his voice, he spoke politely - and this terrified the prisoners in particular.

From the biography of the Angel of Death

Josef Mengele was the son of a German entrepreneur. After graduating from high school, he studied medicine and anthropology. In the early thirties, he joined the Nazi organization, but soon, for health reasons, left it. In 1932, Mengele joined the SS. During the war he served in the medical troops and even received the Iron Cross for bravery, but was wounded and declared unfit for service. Mengele spent several months in the hospital. After recovery, he was sent to Auschwitz, where he launched his scientific activities.

Selection

Selecting victims for experiments was Mengele's favorite pastime. The doctor only needed one look at the prisoner in order to determine the state of his health. He sent most of the prisoners to the gas chambers. And only a few captives managed to delay death. It was hard to deal with those in whom Mengele saw "guinea pigs."

Most likely, this person suffered from an extreme form of mental disorder. He even enjoyed the thought that he had a huge number of human lives in his hands. That is why he was always next to the arriving train. Even when it was not required of him. His criminal actions were guided not only by the desire for scientific research, but also by the desire to rule. Just one word of his was enough to send tens or hundreds of people to the gas chambers. Those that were sent to the laboratories became the material for experiments. But what was the purpose of these experiments?

An invincible faith in the Aryan utopia, obvious mental deviations - these are the components of the personality of Josef Mengele. All his experiments were aimed at creating a new tool that could stop the reproduction of representatives of objectionable peoples. Mengele not only equated himself with God, he placed himself above him.

Josef Mengele's experiments

The angel of death dissected babies, castrated boys and men. He performed operations without anesthesia. Experiments on women consisted of high voltage shocks. He conducted these experiments in order to test endurance. Mengele once sterilized several Polish nuns with X-rays. But the main passion of the "doctor of death" was experiments on twins and people with physical defects.

To each his own

On the gates of Auschwitz was written: Arbeit macht frei, which means "work sets you free." The words Jedem das Seine were also present here. Translated into Russian - "To each his own." On the gates of Auschwitz, at the entrance to the camp, in which more than a million people died, a saying of the ancient Greek sages appeared. The principle of justice was used by the SS as the motto of the most cruel idea in the history of mankind.

Fascism and atrocities will forever remain inseparable concepts. Since the introduction of the bloody ax of war by fascist Germany over the world, the innocent blood of a huge number of victims has been shed.

The birth of the first concentration camps

As soon as the Nazis came to power in Germany, the first "death factories" began to be created. A concentration camp is a deliberately equipped center designed for the mass involuntary imprisonment and detention of prisoners of war and political prisoners. The name itself still terrifies many to this day. Concentration camps in Germany were the location of those individuals who were suspected of supporting the anti-fascist movement. The first were located directly in the Third Reich. According to the "Emergency Decree of the Reich President on the Protection of the People and the State," all those who were hostile to the Nazi regime were arrested for an indefinite line.

But as soon as hostilities began, such institutions turned into ones that suppressed and destroyed a huge number of people. German concentration camps 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 the following:

• severe bullying;
• illness;
• poor conditions of detention;
• exhaustion;
• heavy physical labor;
• inhumane medical experiments.

The development of a brutal system

The total number of correctional labor institutions at that time was about 5 thousand. German concentration camps 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", behind the walls of which they methodically killed first Jews, and then people belonging to other "inferior" peoples. Camps were set up in the occupied territories

The first phase of the development of this system is characterized by the construction of camps on the German territory, which had the maximum similarity with the holds. They were intended to contain opponents of the Nazi regime. At that time, there were about 26 thousand prisoners in them, absolutely protected from the outside world. Even in the event of a fire, rescuers had no right to be in the camp.

The second phase is 1936-1938, when the number of those arrested grew rapidly and new places of detention were required. The arrested included the homeless and those who did not want to work. A kind of cleansing of society from 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 concentration camps in Germany during the Great Patriotic War almost doubled thanks to the captured French, Poles, Belgians and representatives of other nations. At this time, the number of prisoners in Germany and Austria is significantly inferior to the number of those who are in the camps built in the conquered territories.

During the fourth and final phase (1942-1945), the persecution of Jews and Soviet prisoners of war intensifies significantly. The number of prisoners is approximately 2.5-3 million.

The Nazis organized "factories of death" and other similar institutions of 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;
• Schlieben;
• Spremberg;
• Dachau;
• Essen.

Dachau - the first camp

Among the first in Germany, the Dachau camp was created, located near the small town of the same name near Munich. He was a kind of model for the creation of the future system of Nazi correctional institutions. Dachau is a concentration camp that existed for 12 years. A huge number of German political prisoners, anti-fascists, prisoners of war, clergy, political and public activists from almost all European countries were serving their sentences in it.

In 1942, a system consisting of 140 additional camps began to be created on the territory of southern Germany. All of them belonged to the Dachau system and contained more than 30 thousand prisoners used in a variety of hard work. Among the prisoners were well-known anti-fascist believers Martin Niemoller, Gabriel V and Nikolai Velimirovich.

Officially, Dachau was not intended to exterminate people. But, despite this, the official number of prisoners who died here is about 41,500 people. But the real number is much higher.

Also, behind these walls, a variety of medical experiments on people were carried out. In particular, there were experiments related to the study of the effect of height on the human body and the study of malaria. In addition, new medicines and hemostatic agents were tested on prisoners.

Dachau, an infamous concentration camp, was liberated on April 29, 1945 by the US 7th Army.

"Work makes you free"

This phrase of metal letters, placed above the main entrance to the Nazi, 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 Auschwitz and the villages adjacent to it. This place was intended to form a camp.

It included:

• Auschwitz I;
• Auschwitz-Birkenau;
• Auschwitz Buna (or Auschwitz III).

Surrounded by the entire camp were towers and barbed wire, which was under electrical voltage. The forbidden zone was located at a great distance outside the camps and was called the "zone of interest."

Prisoners were brought here on trains from all over Europe. After that, they were divided into 4 groups. The first, consisting mainly of Jews and people unfit for work, were immediately sent to the gas chambers.

Representatives of the second performed a variety of work in industrial enterprises. In particular, the labor of prisoners was used at the Buna Werke oil refinery, which was engaged in the production of gasoline and synthetic rubber.

A third of the newcomers were those who had congenital physical abnormalities. They were mostly dwarfs and twins. They were sent to the "main" concentration camp for anti-human and sadistic experiments.

The fourth group consisted of specially selected women who served as servants and personal slaves of the SS. They also sorted personal belongings confiscated from arriving prisoners.

The mechanism for the final solution of the Jewish question

Every day there were more than 100 thousand prisoners in the camp, who lived on 170 hectares of land in 300 barracks. Their construction was carried out by the first prisoners. The barracks were wooden and had no foundation. In winter, these rooms were especially cold because they were heated by 2 small stoves.

The crematoria at Auschwitz Birkenau were located at the end of the railroad tracks. They were combined with gas chambers. Each of them had 5 triple furnaces. Other crematoria were smaller and consisted of one eight-muffle oven. They all worked almost around the clock. The break was done only in order to clean the furnaces of human ashes and burnt fuel. All this was taken out to the nearest field and poured into special pits.

Each gas chamber held about 2.5 thousand people, they died within 10-15 minutes. After that, their corpses were transferred to the crematoria. Other prisoners were already prepared to take their place.

A large number of corpses could not always accommodate crematoriums, 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 about 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 escapee in the same block were killed. In this way, the management of the concentration camp prevented attempts to escape.

The liberation of this "factory of death" took place on January 27, 1945. The 100th Infantry Division of General Fyodor Krasavin occupied the territory of the camp. Only 7,500 people were alive at that time. The Nazis during their retreat killed or took to the Third Reich more than 58,000 prisoners.

Until our time, the exact number of lives taken by Auschwitz is not known. The souls of how many prisoners roam there to this day? Auschwitz is a concentration camp whose history is made up of the lives of 1.1-1.6 million prisoners. It has become a sad symbol of outrageous offenses against humanity.

Guarded Detention Camp for Women

The only huge concentration camp for women in Germany was Ravensbrück. It was designed to hold 30 thousand people, but at the end of the war there were more than 45 thousand prisoners. These included Russian and Polish women. The majority were Jewish. This women's concentration camp was not officially intended for carrying out various abuses of prisoners, but there was also no formal ban on such.

When entering Ravensbrück, women were stripped of everything they had. They were completely stripped, washed, shaved and given 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 jobs related to construction and tailoring workshops.

Closer to 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 women's concentration camp, or simply dumped into the bay.

Elements of humiliation and experiences in Ravesbrück

The most important elements of humiliation were numbering, mutual responsibility and unbearable living conditions. Also, a feature of Ravesbrück is the presence of an infirmary designed for experiments on people. Here the Germans tested new drugs by infecting or crippling prisoners. The number of prisoners was rapidly decreasing due to regular purges or selections, during which all women who lost the opportunity to work or had a bad appearance were destroyed.

At the time of liberation, there were approximately 5,000 people in the camp. The rest of the prisoners were either killed or taken to other concentration camps in Nazi Germany. The finally imprisoned women 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 brought there from Latvia and other European countries. The first construction work was carried out by Soviet prisoners of war, who were in Stalag-350, located nearby.

Since at the time of the start of construction, the Nazis had practically destroyed all the Jews in the territory of Latvia, the camp turned out to be unclaimed. In this regard, in May 1942, a prison was made in the empty premises of Salaspils. It contained all those who evaded labor service, sympathized with the Soviet regime, and other opponents of the Hitler regime. People were sent here to die a painful death. The camp was not like other similar establishments. There were no gas chambers or crematoria here. Nevertheless, about 10 thousand prisoners were destroyed here.

Children's Salaspils

The Salaspils concentration camp was a place of detention for children who were used here to provide them with the blood of wounded German soldiers. After the blood sampling procedure, most of the juvenile prisoners died very quickly.

The number of small prisoners who died within the walls of Salaspils is more than 3 thousand. These are only those children of concentration camps who are under 5 years old. Some of the bodies were burned, and the rest were buried in the garrison cemetery. Most of the children died due to the merciless pumping of blood.

The fate of people who ended up in concentration camps in Germany during the Great Patriotic War was tragic even after liberation. It would seem, what else could be worse! After the fascist corrective 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 in the most difficult and low-paid jobs. Only a few 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.