Konzentrationsverläufen

Konzentrationslager, often translated as concentration camps, were facilities used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust and World War II to detain and murder perceived enemies of the state. These camps were characterized by inhumane conditions, forced labor, and systematic extermination. The first concentration camps were established shortly after the Nazis came to power in 1933, initially for political opponents. Over time, their purpose expanded to include Jews, Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, disabled individuals, and Soviet prisoners of war.

The Nazi regime operated a vast network of these camps across occupied Europe. While some camps served primarily as detention centers or labor camps, others, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Sobibor, were designated as extermination camps equipped with gas chambers for mass murder. Prisoners in concentration camps faced starvation, disease, brutal treatment, and constant fear. The vast majority of those imprisoned in these camps did not survive. The horrors of the Konzentrationslager remain a stark reminder of the atrocities committed during the Nazi era and are a central focus of Holocaust remembrance and education.