Concentration Camps

Question 1

What were concentration camps?

Answer 1

Camps were often located in isolated areas, away from the view of the public.
They were large, inhumane and brutal prisons where anyone who was seen as an enemy of the Nazis could be sent. Anyone who did or said anything that Nazis disapproved of could be sent a camp, such as simply voicing negative opinions about Hitler or even telling anti-Nazi jokes. By 1939, 150,000 people were ‘under protective arrest’ in these concentration camp prisons.

Question 2

Prisoners in the camps were classed as:

Answer 2

Undesirables’ such as prostitutes, criminals & homosexuals.

Minority Racial groups such as Jews and Poles and Gypsies

Political prisoners who were seen as a threat to the Nazis. E.g. teachers, communists, journalists, writers.

Question 3

The first camp-

Answer 3

The first concentration camp was opened in Dachau in 1933 - before Hitler had declared himself as fuhrer. Later that year the first camp for women was opened.