The Crimes committed within the Concentration and Death Camps within the Third Reich shocked
the entire world after the Second World War.
Following the conflict, trials were held to bring those perpetrators of war crimes, mass
murder and atrocities to justice.
The most high profile trials took place at Nuremberg with the remaining members of Hitler’s
inner circle and Nazi leadership, including key figures such as Rudolf Hess and Herman
Goring placed on trial.
During the proceedings much evidence was shown, including footage showing the death and depravity
from inside the concentration camps, filmed after they were liberated.
In this video we look at the 10 deadliest Nazi death camps, those camps which became
factories for mass murder.
The crimes committed at these camps in particular are associated with the evils of the Nazi
Regime.
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Buchenwald is remembered as one of the largest and first concentration camps established,
and prisoners came from all over Europe.
On the main gate was the motto ‘Jedem was Seine,’ translating as ‘To Each his own,’
and the SS viewed this motto as giving the master race the right and tools to annihilate
and destroy other races.
Inside, the conditions were very harsh, and one of the most prominent causes of death
was starvation with many prisoners being malnourished.
Because of this they also suffered from disease, and many were worked to death being provided
with insufficient food and water.
Many inmates Alsop died as a result of human experimentation and executions, with hangings
and shootings regularly being carried out.
In particular, in 1941 its estimated that at least 1000 men were randomly selected for
immediate execution by gunshot.
The SS left accounts of the number of prisoners and people arriving and departing the camp.
According to SS documents its documented that 33,462 died inside of Buchenwald, but this
isn’t considered accurate.
The more accurate number of total deaths at Buchenwald was estimated to have been 56,545.
What the liberators of Bergen-Belsen found when they arrived at the camp stayed with
them until the day they died.
The liberators were greeted with sights of sheer disease, starvation and ill-treatment.
Dead bodies lay everywhere inside of Belsen, but mixed amongst the prisoners were a number
of high profile SS guards, including infamous camp commandant Josef Kramer, the Beast of
Belsen.
Following its liberation and cleanup, guards such as Kramer and Irma Grese were tried and
executed for their roles at Belsen.
It was at Belsen where Anne Frank and her sister were killed from the conditions and
disease outbreaks inside.
As the Second World War came to a conclusion, the SS began moving many prisoners from camps
closer to the front lines back towards Germany, and because of this Belsen got hugely overcrowded.
Before the conditions were horrific, with evil guards inflicting reigns of terror, but
the sheer number of inmates who arrived crippled the camps infrastructure.
The overcrowding lead to Typhus epidemics killing 100s a day, and the guards gave hardly
any food out, if any.
This led to the deaths of over 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945 alone.
When the British arrived, they found 60,000 prisoners starving to death or ill, and 13,000
corpses lying around.
The SS destroyed the files of Belsen documenting the prisoners, but its estimated that at least
50,000 people died at Belsen, and because of the overcrowding it has become impossible
to calculate the exact number.
Dachau was opened in March 1933, and first held political prisoners and enemies of the
Nazis.
Following its opening, it was enlarged and included forced labour elements into the camp,
and it resulted in the imprisonment of over 188,000 prisoners.
At Dachau there was a reign of terror instilled by the SS guards, who regularly executed prisoners
in front of huge groups to make them incredibly fearful.
There were standing cells inside the camp, meaning that prisoners were forced to stand
in them for a long period of time in one position, sometimes days on end.
A huge network of sub camps were established administered by Dachau, and after the war
a number of SS guards were sentenced to death for their crimes committed at Dachau.
When the camp was liberated, the Allies came across a huge number of corpses, and the US
soldiers immediately inflicted some revenge, shooting a number of SS guards themselves
in bloody reprisals.
At the time of liberation because of the conditions, 200 people were dying a day, and the overall
death camp is alleged to be over 41,000 but the number is certainly more.
Majdanek was a concentration and extermination camp built on the outskirts of Polish City
Lublin, that had 7 gas chambers.
The camp was used to murder people on a huge scale, and it was captured mostly intact at
the end of the conflict.
It had around 150,000 inmates, who worked for the SS industries in particular serving
the armaments works.
During the Final Solution, it began to become a site of industrial killing with the creation
of a number of gas chambers.
After this, a huge amount of European Jews were transported to Majdanek, to be killed
as soon as they arrived there.
The SS personnel murdered thousands when the Warsaw Ghetto was liquidated, and the camp
was known for its horrific efficiency.
The SS guards were known also for their cruelty, and estimates on the amount murdered inside
the walls do vary.
The Soviets after the war its believed over-estimated the number murdered there at over 400,000.
But other estimates have said up to 235,000 were killed, but its believed to have been
around 80,000 murdered inside the camp.
Mauthausen was situated inside of Austria, near to Linz where Hitler lived during his
childhood.
It opened in 1938, and became a colossal complex that saw hundreds of thousands pass through
its gates.
It was served also by a number of sub camps, and the prisoners were forced to conduct slave
labour under terrible conditions.
May of them were forced to work inside of the quarries and ammunition factories there.
New prisoners arrived daily from other concentration camps.
The quarry was found at the bottom of some stairs nicknamed the stairs of death, which
prisoners were forced to carry incredibly heavy blocks of stones up 186 steps.
The guards worked prisoners to death, and threatened them at gun point.
They even played sadistic tricks, in which they would force a prisoner to push the one
in front off a cliff, and if not they would be shot dead.
They even threw prisoners onto the 380 volt barbed wire fence, killing them instantly.
The SS also used icy showers on prisoners, killing around 3000 with prisoners forced
to take a freezing cold shower and then left outside in the cold.
The Germans destroyed most of the camps files and evidence, so the exact death toll is impossible
to work out.
The estimates do vary, but they are all huge.
It’s estimated that between 122,000 and 320,000 were killed inside of Mauthausen,
with the number often quoted as over 200,000.
Many of the camps listed so far have been concentrations camps, where prisoners worked
inside of.
However Sobibor was an extermination camp, that existed for the only reason as to murder
jews.
Prisoners were not kept here to work, just to face their deaths.
Those who were not killed as soon as they arrived there, were forced to assist in the
murderous intent at Sobibor.
The only prisoners who lived here were around 600 who were forced to work in helping the
mass murder.
Trains entered the camp, and unloaded prisoners and they were forced to hand over their valuables
and were told to undress.
The women then had their hair cut off, and they were then led along a 100m walk, nicknamed
the Road to Heaven, to the gas chambers.
The terror that faced those who were executed at Sobibor must have been horrifying.
It was announced the prisoners would have a bath before entering the camp to work, but
during this they entered the gas chambers and then they were gassed.
The bodies were then interred in mass graves, or were burned in the open air.
The death toll and Sobibor was colossal, and its estimated that between 170,000 and 250,000
Jews were murdered there.
The most used figure is a quarter of a million, based on the lack of evidence that survives
after it was destroyed by the SS.
Chelmno was another extermination camp used by the Nazis.
It was set up within Poland, and was also used solely for mass murder and genocide.
It operated during the deadliest stage of the Holocaust, and many Jews who died here
were transported from ghettos in Poland.
Many prisoners were loaded onto the lorries to be taken to Chelmno, and then once there
were loaded onto vans where they were murdered with exhaust fumes and then buried in pits
inside of the forest.
Witnesses heard screaming as the fumes poured into the enclosed space, and this method killed
thousands.
The Sonderkommano made up of Jewish Prisoners were then forced to take the bodies from the
vans to be then buried in large pits of cremated before their ashes being buried.
They were also forced to clean the blood and excrement from the vans.
Historians estimate that the SS murdered between 152,000 and 180,000 people at Chelmno during
the time in which it was operated, however other authorities inside of Poland placed
to estimate closer to around 340,000 people gassed at Chelmno.
Belzec was another extermination camp established, which was intended to just murder as many
people as possible, as quickly as possible.
Construction began in November 1941, and it was the first killing centre to implement
Operation Reinhard.
A stationary gas chambers had been created, and these were found on the centre of a former
labour camp.
The site was chosen due to its rail network and connections, and as soon as the infrastructure
was set up, gassings began.
Belzec had a small staff, that horrifically instilled the execution of hundreds of thousands.
Typically, freight trains made up of between 40-60 cars arrived at Belzec railway station,
with around 100 crammed into each car.
20 cars were brought in at a time, and the Jews were ordered to disembark before being
taken into a reception area.
They were told to hand over all valuables, and men and women were separated, along with
children.
They were then forced to undress and were told to run through the tube, which directly
led to gas chambers, which were labelled as showers and wash rooms.
Once the door was sealed, Carbon monoxide was pumped into the gas chambers, killing
those inside.
The sonderkommano then removed the bodies quickly and cremated them, before the next
detachment were forced into the chambers.
Belzec became the third deadliest camp of the Holocaust, with an estimated 434,000 to
600,000 being killed in this barbaric way at the camp.
Treblinka was yet another extermination camp, established in a forest north east of Warsaw,
close to the village of Treblinka.
It was used for only murdering as many Jews as possible, and more Jews were murdered here
than at any other Nazi extermination camp except for Auschwitz.
It was managed by the SS, and there were two camps.
Treblinka I was a forced labour camp, where prisoners worked in the forest cutting wood
for the cremation pits.
Around 20,000 died inside Treblinka I via shootings, or were killed by disease, starvation
and poor treatment.
Treblinka II was the extermination camp, where the majority of people were murdered.
Trains would transport people from Warsaw and other areas to Treblinka station, and
all new arrivals were sent immediately to the undressing room.
After undressing the Jews were beaten with whips to force them into the gas chambers.
Men were always gassed first, with women and children waiting outside for their turn.
The women and children would hear the horrific screams of the men inside, which caused panic
and distress.
The brutality of the guards often saw women and children beaten sometimes to death, with
one particular guard Ivan the Terrible murdering many in horrific ways.
It was estimated that 3000 prisoners could be killed in 3 hours, with around 15,000 people
being killed a day.
The victims were all murdered inside the gas chambers.
The victims were murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning from engine exhaust fumes.
The bodies were then retrieved and burned in mass cremation pits.
Treblinka was truly devastating, and it’s estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000
were killed there.
The largest death camp established by the Nazis was Auschwitz.
It was divided into three main camps, Auschwitz I the slave labour element, Auschwitz II Birkenau
the extermination complex and Auschwitz III Monowitz, the IG Farben factory.
It was served also by a network of other sub camps and it became a major site of the final
solution.
Auschwitz became infamous for its brutality and mass slaughter, with those who were not
sent to the gas chambers being killed via starvation, disease, exhaustion, execution,
medical experimentation of being beaten to death.
The SS guards ruled over with an iron fist, with anyone who refused to work or attempting
to escape being brutally dealt with.
The huge scale of the atrocities of Auschwitz are still being discovered today, and after
the war no more than 15% of the staff of Auschwitz were ever brought to trial.
Himmler ordered the camp to be established in preparation for the mass killings, and
a number of crematoria and gas chambers were established in which hundreds of thousands
were killed.
Many prisoners did not even make it inside of the camp, as once they arrived they were
selected to go to the gas chambers.
Those who weren’t deemed fit enough were killed almost instantly.
Victims would be led towards the crematoria, then told to undress before being forced into
the gas chambers.
They used Zyklon B, a pesticide dropped into the chambers to kill hundreds at a time.
The conditions inside Auschwitz were also terrible, with death being seen on a daily
basis.
Ultimately at least 1.3 million people were transported to Asuchwitz during its time in
operation, and its estimated that at least 1.1 million were killed inside its fences,
and inside of the gas chambers.
It became the deadliest site used by the Nazis for mass slaughter.
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