While describing the background of Berlin in the period of World War II it is impossible not to touch upon the topic of concentration camps. A concentration camp was where the Nazis put thousands of ordinary individuals and tortured them to death. To that extent, in this blog post, we will look into concentration camps that existed in and around Berlin during that period. Now it is time to focus on this grim period of history.
1. Concentration camp Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen or Orchestra was set up in the year 1936, and it was the second-largest concentration camp camp was to be constructed the Nazis. Sitting just north of Berlin, it was soon deemed a proper model of the concentration camps. It was first for political prisoners then was enlarged for Jewish people, homosexual and other anti-Nazis persons.
Sachsenhausen lived up to its reputation as a death camp, where conditions were almost inhumanely bad. This led to a number of prisoner fatalities, many of whom suffered forced labour, medical experimentation, and of course brutality. It had been estimated that thousands of people died in the concentration camp through lack of food and diseases, as well as through organized killings.
1.1 Liberation and Memorial
Thus, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, was liberated by Soviet forces in April 1945. After the war, it was Soviet special camp until 1950. Today it is a symbol, or a museum, and people can come there to find out what happened, to pay tribute to the victims.
2. Ravensbrück facility for the concentration of women
Ravensbrück is 56 km north of Berlin and was a women’s concentration camp during the second World War. It was built in 1939 and held around 130000 women some of whom were political prisoners resistance fighters and Jews.
The atrocities at Ravensbrück actually continued to intensify this policy, the conditions were brutally less bearable. Inmates suffered through working in chains, forced experimentation, and for no reason at all – brutality from their captors, the guards. Fukeny women suffered the worst cruelties and many of them died in the camp.
2.1 Liberation and Memorial
Concentrated camp Ravensbrück was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in April of 1945. Currently it functions as a memorial and the visitors can learn about the fate of women in the Holocaust.
3. Auschwitz Sub-Camps
Although, they are not situated in Berlin proper, there were several sub-camp branches of Auschwitz. It was comprised of a network of camps and the largest of these was the Auschwitz-Birkenau which transported prisoners to these satellite camps due to need for labor due to the war industry .
The main subdivision of the camp was the Auschwitz III-Monowitz where prisoners were used in the production by the German industrial organisation, IG Farben. The living conditions got appalling so most of the prisoners died from fatigue, hunger, and illnesses.
3.1 Liberation and Memorial
The Auschwitz, including its sub-camps was liberated by the Soviet troops in January 1945. Currently, going through the Auschwitz-Birkenau tells about the tragedy scale of the holocaust and offers people an opportunity to pay a tribute to the victims.
Conclusion
Visiting the concentration camps near Berlin allows one to understand better what happened in the Second World War. The Dresden-based Sachsenhausen, the Venskampfidelle-based Ravensbrück, and the numerous sub-camps of the concentration camp Auschwitz are :
[…] In this way, studying these camps and remembering their victims we can help to prevent such horrors occurring in the future.
It is imperative that we as humanity, along with future generations learn all that we do, open doors for generations to come and promote benevolence all over the world.
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