Over six million people were either worked to death or murdered in cold blood inside German concentration camps during World War II. This number includes both Jews and non-Jews who died inside the camps, but does not count the many people who were executed in the towns and ghettos. Almost the entire Jewish population of Eastern Europe was murdered during this war. Murdered alongside the Jews were political prisoners, homosexuals, gypsies and other minority groups. The Jews, however, were the only group singled out for absolute extermination (Chatel and Feree 6). Although many of the concentration camps and sub-camps were started for purposes other than the annihilation of minority groups, without exception, every camp contributed to the millions of dead left after the war.

The first concentration camp was started on March 22, 1933, at Dachau. "The initial decision to open concentration camps was made by Herman Goering, the minister of Prussia" (Chatel and Feree 1). In fact, Dachau's first prisoners were not Jews. They were "political prisoners (e.g. Communists or Social Dem

Bergen-Belsen became a sick camp where prisoners from other camps would be sent when they were not able to work. These prisoners were basically neglected and many lived for only a short time inside the terrible conditions" (188). A new camp commander, Josef Kramer came to Bergen-Belsen on December 2, 1944. His main goal was to turn Bergen-Belsen into an official concentration camp. Upon this decision, "tens of thousands of prisoners poured in" (188) to the camp. Overcrowded, there was nowhere near enough supplies for the camp. "Most of them [the prisoners] had no roof over their heads, and were without water and food" (189). Between January and April of 1945, over 35,000 people died, mostly from neglect (189). Many people who helped to liberate concentration camps, such as Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen were horrified at what they found, but it was nothing compared to what the liberators would encounter at the death camps, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.

At the largest of all of the camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, prisoners were quickly divided upon arrival. The old, young, sick, and disabled were torn away from those who could work. They were all told that they were going to be disinfected after their long train journey, but in reality those not able to work were taken to gas chambers. Not many realized what was about to happen to them. They were led into a room and told to undress for their shower. Then the group was crammed into a room where they would be killed by poisonous gas. Even the Jewish prisoners who survived the selection could be subject to death at any time. The Sonderkommandos, Jewish workers at the gas chambers and crematoriums, thought that their jobs would secure their lives, but they were randomly selected to be executed too (Adler 4). They knew too much to be allowed to live inside the camp for very long (4). The autrocities committed at Auschwitz-Birkenau are almost too horrible to imagine. Although a majority of the prisoners were sentenced to immediate death upon arrival, others faced much crueler deaths. The Wall of Death is where prisoners were stripped naked, made to sit on their knees and shot at close range by a German guard (Swiebocki 88). Prisoners were also locked inside starvation cells or forced to stand for endless hours inside a "90 cm x 90 cm [standing cell] [...] usually four inmates at a time" (95). Prisoners were also killed randomly as punishment for others. Once, thirteen innocent prisoners were murdered as a punishment for trying to escape. They were hanged in front of the prisoners at roll call. The ropes were not quite long enough to cause a quick, neck-breaking death, so the prisoners suffered slowly to their deaths. All of this was done in front of the prisoners as an example to them to not try to escape from the camp (89). The campers were subject to long roll calls at which a prisoner orchestra would play beautiful symphonic music. They also played as the selected prisoners would march into their certain demise inside the gas chambers (Adler 4). "This was an unreal thing; this beautiful music," says Rachel Piuti, who came to Auschwitz in 1944. "We marched out, the music accompanied us. We marched back, the music welcomed us. This is why it seemed already like life after death" (4). Those who worked at one of the many sub-camps were subject to beatings, cold, starvation, and diarrhea. They ate poorly with a cup of leafy coffee or tea for breakfast, soup for lunch, and a little bread and cheese for dinner (68). They received this much if they were lucky. They slept in large barn-like structures that were used to house horses before the war. There were holes all over the building, which exposed the prisoners to the harsh elements, even while they were inside. The prisoners slept on 3-tiered bunks with at least six people crammed on a single slab of wood. Many prisoners were used to retrieve the dead bodies from the gas chambers and burn them in on

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2720
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)