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Eric Flores
Professor Tonya Wertz-O
English 1102
March 18, 2014
Life in the Camps of the Holocaust
In order to begin my research, I had to first choose an inquiry. I decided to research the
concentration camps or Death Camps from the Holocaust. The Holocaust is an interesting, yet
very sensitive subject to me. Although many people died I still enjoy learning about how it
happened. The concentration camps played a very important role in the Nazis system and mass
murder of the Jews. Concentration camps were from 1933 until 1945 when the war was over.
The camps served as a holding place and also an execution place. ( A Teachers Guide to the
Holocaust). Most people are familiar with the Holocaust, Nazis, and Concentration Camps, but
there is always more to be researched and discovered. I am very anxious to know more in-depth
on how people were treated, why they were killed, and what they did while in the camps.
As I began searching concentration camps, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about
the first one built. Like most people I think of Auschwitz when I think about concentration
camps, although it was not the first camp built. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp
which was founded in March of 1933 in southern Germany. Dachau was more of a labor camp
in the beginning years. Most of the prisoners were Jews, Gypsy, homosexuals, Jehovahs
Witness and prisoners of war, which included several Americans. The prisoners were forced to
build and help expand the camps and surrounding areas. After the start of World War II, the
prisoners were mainly building products to help the German Army. By the middle of 1944 many
sub-camps began to be built in order to increase war supply. Over 30 sub-camps were built
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around Dachau which employed over 30,000 prisoners. (Dachau the First Nazi Concentration
Camp) That is a huge number of workers/prisoners to work at one camp.
As Dachau was becoming a concentration camp, its capacity was only around 5,000
prisoners until 1937 when the expansion of the camp began. The prisoners were forced to build
and expand the camp as they demolished the old one. The new Dachau camp was completed in
1938 and was much larger. The new camp could hold over 6,000 prisoners and contained 32
barracks. Although it was only designed to hold around 6,000 prisoners, the camps population
was always much, much higher. The new camp also contained 7 watch towers and had electric
fences to ensure no prisoners would escape. Since Dachau was more of a concentration camp and
not a death camp, there were no gas chambers until one was installed in 1942, although it was
never used. (Dachau the First Nazi Concentration Camp)
As the American forces came closer to defeating the Germans, camps began evacuating.
Prior to the liberation of Dachau about 7,000 prisoners, who were mostly Jews were forced to
leave Dachau and left on a march. The march was called Death March mainly because so
many Jews died due to the lack of food, water, and because some were just killed. On April 29,
1945 Dachau was officially liberated by the United States Army. Around 27,000 prisoners were
still alive when the U.S army arrived. There was about188, 000 plus prisoners that were
estimated that went through Dachau over its 12-year of operation. Of those 188,000 prisoners
about 50,000 of them died there.
I could not even imagine what I would do if I was a prisoner at a concentration camp.
The idea of having to be forced to do whatever is asked of you, or being killed for no reason just
sounds awful to me. I would not do something outrageous for someone or have the risk of dying,
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it just doesnt make sense. The prisoners would have to endure a lot of pain from beatings and
starvation. They also were trapped in a room with way too many other people with no a/c, no
water or food and no privacy. Could you imagine living like that? The worst part about it is that
those people had no choice to be there or not, most prisoners were there just because of their
religion or sexuality. Also, I do not think that I could have handled seeing someone being killed
almost every day either. I dont even like seeing a dead body at a funeral so Im not sure how I
would handle seeing people constantly being killed. I imagine that experience to be a very
traumatic and depressing one. Dachau was the first camp built so if someone survived for a long
time there then they would have seen thousands of people being killed.
As I was researching Dachau I came across Sachsenhausen on Jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
Sachsenhausen was another concentration camp during the Holocaust. Sachsenhausen was built
in 1936 by prisoners and was located about 35 km from Berlin, Germany. Like all other
concentration camps life in Sachsenhausen was very tough! There were hangings and execution
by hanging that occurred on a daily basis. Many people also died from poor living conditions
such as exhaustion, diseases, malnutrition, and pneumonia from the harsh winters and even from
casual brutality. It must have been extremely hard living in those conditions; I dont think that I
could have done it. ("Sachsenhausen: History and Overview.")
After the start of World War II the number of deaths in the camp increases significantly.
In 1939 there were about 800 deaths and in 1940 there were over 4,000 deaths. In 1942 came a
place called Station Z. Station Z was not a good place to go to, it was a place built with a sole
purpose to exterminate prisoners. Once it was built, guards placed 96 Jews there and shot and
killed them all just to show it to Nazi officials. ("Sachsenhausen: History and Overview.") It
must have been a bad thought for prisoners to know that what they were building will probably
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be the way that they ended up dying. The SS were so brutal that they took 96 innocent prisoners
to kill just to show Nazi officials about Station Z. One year later a gas chamber was added to
Station Z and was used until the end of the War.
Toward the end of the war when concentration camps began to be liberated,
Sachsenhausen evacuated over 33,000 prisoners who all were forced to go on a death march. On
April 22, 1945 the Sachsenhausen camp was liberated by the Red Army. When the Red Army
arrived there was still about 3,000 remaining inmates, most of which were starving, ill and weak.
Most died soon after the camp was liberated and aid was available. Overall in the 9 years that
Sachsenhausen was open an estimated 200,000 people had passed through and about 100,000 of
them died there. ("Sachsenhausen: History and Overview.")
Before researching about concentration camps I have never heard of Sachsenhausen.
With the death toll there estimated to be about 100,000 really shocks me. That is a very large
number of deaths and for me to have never of heard of this place before just shows that it was not
as bad as other major camps. To me 100,000 people is a lot and deserves to be recognized but it
isnt compared to other places.
And of course I had to research about Auschwitz. Auschwitz is located just outside a
town called Oschwiecin, Galacin which is in Germany. Auschwitz started out as Army barracks
in 1940 but soon became the largest killing camp of the Holocaust. All concentration camps were
known for treating and killing their prisoners, but Auschwitz was on another level. There was an
estimated three million people who were killed there by means of gassing, starving, diseases,
shooting and burning. Children were particularly treated badly. Most children were once they
arrived at the camp and any child born in the camp was killed on the spot. Camp doctors would
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torture and inflict as much pain possible to children. The doctors would also place patients into
pressure chambers, test them with drugs, castrate and freeze them to death. (Gate to Hell)
As I was researching about Auschwitz, I found this quote on
Auschwitz.dk/Auschswitz.htm which talks about how children were treated in Auschwitz.
Like the adults, the kids were only a mere bag of bones, without muscles or fat, and the
thin skin like pergament scrubbed through and through beyond the hard bones of the skeleton
and ignited itself to ulcerated wounds. Abscesses covered the underfed body from the top to the
bottom and thus deprived it from the last rest of energy. The mouth was deeply gnawed by
noma-abscesse, hollowed out the jaw and perforated the cheeks like cancer. Many decaying
bodies were full of water because of the burning hunger; they swelled to shapeless bulks which
could not move anymore. Diarrhea, lasting for weeks, dissolved their irresistance bodies until
nothing remained. (Gate to Hell)
I just cannot seem to understand how the Nazis can just kill so many innocent people for
no reason at all; I know I could not have done it. I feel bad if I hit an animal on the road, I do not
think I could live with myself after killing someone. They would even kill children, which is just
wrong in so many ways. Kids have their whole lives in front of them and for the guards to just
kill them is just bad. I have a 5 year old niece and I would do anything for her, if I would have to
see one of the soldiers for the camp do anything bad to her, I would have retaliated in a heartbeat
even though I knew my life would be at stake.


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Below is a picture of the front entrance of Auschwitz.

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608049644153737022&w=252&h=180&c=7&rs=1&qlt=80
&pe=1&mo=10_30&pid=1.7
While researching on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum about Auschwitz I began
to find a lot of information about gas chambers. Along with shooting, starvation and bad living
conditions; one of the most common ways the prisoners died at the camps was by the gas
chambers. The Nazis began to kill by a way of gassing in late 1939 with the use of Zyklon-B
gas. The SS guards at the camps would gather many prisoners at once and walk them into the
cambers. The prisoners were told to strip of their clothes and that they were getting a shower, but
instead they were about to die. Once the room was filled with the prisoners, they were locked in
there and the guards add the Zyklon-B which then killed everyone inside. Once everyone was
died the bodies were either buried or burned in a cremation station.
The Nazis constantly searched for more efficient means of extermination. At the
Auschwitz camp in Poland, they conducted experiments with Zyklon B (previously used for
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fumigation) by gassing some 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 ill prisoners in September
1941. Zyklon B pellets, converted to lethal gas when exposed to air. They proved the quickest
gassing method and were chosen as the means of mass murder at Auschwitz. At the height of the
deportations, up to 6,000 Jews were gassed each day at Auschwitz. (Gassing Operations)
This quote really stood out to me by the fact that the Nazis were constantly searching for
more efficient ways to kill their prisoners. I guess shooting, starving and illness was not a good
enough that they had to resort to gassing. Although it would be quick and an easier way of death,
it was unnecessary. Here is an actual picture of a gas chamber in Auschwitz.

http://voicesinwartime.org/sites/default/files/images/auschwitz5.jpg
In total there were about 6 million Jews who were killed during the holocaust, I am just
curious to know why the Nazis thought it was okay to kill millions of innocent people.
Personally I feel bad when I hurt someones feelings; I couldnt imagine being a Nazi and killing
at will. I would have tried everything in my power to help out as many people as I could have,
even though my life was at risk.
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Work Cited
"A Teachers Guide To The Holocaust." http://fcit.usf.edu/. University of South
Florida. Web. 26 Mar 2014.
"Auschwitz Concentration Camp The Gas Chambers and
Cremation."http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/. Holocaust research project. Web. 26 Mar
2014. <http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/auschwitzgaschambers.html>.
"Gassing Operations." http://www.ushmm.org/. United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, 10 Jun 2013. Web. 30 Mar 2014.
<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005220>.
"Gate To Hell ." http://auschwitz.dk/Auschwitz.htm. Auschwitz. Web. 26 Mar
2014. <http://auschwitz.dk/Auschwitz.htm>.
<http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/camps.htm>.
Goss, Jennifer. "Dachau the First Nazi Concentration Camp."about.com.
about. Web. 23 Mar 2014.
<http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/Dachau.htm>.
"Sachsenhausen (Oranienburg): History and Overview."jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Jewish
Virtual Library. Web. 23 Mar 2014
.<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Sach.html>.