The Concentration Camps: 1933 - 1945
Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 40,000 camps and other incarceration sites. The perpetrators used these sites for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people thought to be enemies of the state, and mass murder.
Prisoners looking through barbed wire in a Nazi concentration camp.
1. Read the passage below to learn about the Nazi camp system.
NAZI CAMP SYSTEM
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In the early years of the Third Reich, the Nazis imprisoned primarily Communists and Socialists. In about 1935, the Nazis also began to imprison people they saw as racially or biologically inferior, especially Jews – but also homosexuals, people with mental problems, Romanian Gypsies, and Catholics. During World War II, the Nazi camp system expanded rapidly and the purpose of the camps evolved beyond imprisonment toward forced labor and outright murder.
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In the early years of the Third Reich, the Nazis imprisoned primarily Communists and Socialists. In about 1935, the Nazis also began to imprison people they saw as racially or biologically inferior, especially Jews – but also homosexuals, people with mental problems, Romanian Gypsies, and Catholics. During World War II, the Nazi camp system expanded rapidly and the purpose of the camps evolved beyond imprisonment toward forced labor and outright murder.
2. Watch the video to learn about life in Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp.
3. Look at the information about the badges people were forced to wear.
Yellow Star of David sewn on the uniform of a Jewish prisoner.
Besides the typical yellow star that Jews were forced to wear, there were other badges sewn to the uniforms of prisoners in the concentration camps. These badges were used by Nazi guards to identify the reason a person was imprisoned.
Click on the pictures below to make them larger. Look at the different badges prisoners in concentration camps had to wear.
Click on the pictures below to make them larger. Look at the different badges prisoners in concentration camps had to wear.
Different symbols worn on concentration camp prisoner uniforms.
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