Concentration camp Facts & Definitions
The term “concentration camp” describes a place where large groups of people are confined without judicial process, often targeted because of their political views, ethnicity, or religion. Although camps of this kind had existed earlier in history, under regimes in South Africa during the Boer War or in colonial settings, the Nazi system reached an unprecedented level of organization, brutality, and scale. Beginning in 1933, soon after Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor, camps became a central tool of Nazi control. By the end of the Second World War, more than 40,000 sites of detention, subcamps, and labor facilities stretched across occupied Europe. The scope of this system shows that camps were not a marginal element but an essential part of Nazi governance and ideology [1].
Definition and Early Purpose
Unlike conventional prisons, concentration camps under the Nazis were not established to punish crimes proven in court. They were deliberately created to neutralize so-called “enemies of the state.” The first such camp, Dachau, opened in March 1933 near Munich. It was intended to hold communists, social democrats, and trade unionists—people who opposed the Nazi seizure of power. Soon, the definition of who could be imprisoned broadened to include Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused military service, homosexuals accused of violating Nazi morality laws, Roma who were persecuted as “racially inferior,” and Jews, who became the largest targeted group as anti-Jewish policy intensified. Prisoners were held without trial, and their detention could be extended indefinitely, subject only to SS authority. This framework of extrajudicial imprisonment allowed the regime to silence opposition and establish an atmosphere of constant fear [2].
Structure and Classification
Camps differed in their purpose and administration. Main categories included:
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Concentration camps – for political and racial enemies of the regime.
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Labor camps – providing workers for the German war economy.
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Transit camps – temporary holding centers before deportations.
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Extermination camps – facilities designed primarily for mass murder.
This classification blurred in practice, as many camps combined functions. For instance, Auschwitz operated simultaneously as a concentration camp, a labor camp, and an extermination site. The variety of roles illustrates how the Nazi regime systematically applied the concept of imprisonment and exploitation [3].
As the system grew, camps were classified according to function. Concentration camps served as sites for indefinite detention of political opponents and racial targets. Labor camps, which multiplied rapidly after the war began, were designed to extract economic value from prisoners through construction projects, agriculture, or factory work. Transit camps acted as temporary waypoints, holding prisoners before deportation to other sites, often extermination centers in occupied Poland.
Extermination camps themselves, such as Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor, were established for one purpose only: the systematic mass murder of Jews and other targeted groups. In practice, these categories often overlapped. Auschwitz-Birkenau, for example, operated as a detention site, a vast forced labor complex, and the largest extermination facility in occupied Europe. This versatility demonstrates the Nazis’ intent to integrate terror, exploitation, and annihilation into a single system [3].
Scale of the System
By 1942, the camp network had expanded dramatically, reaching into almost every occupied country. Camps were established near major cities, rail junctions, and industrial zones to ensure both security control and economic exploitation. Thousands of satellite camps developed around factories, where prisoners were forced to produce weapons, uniforms, and other wartime supplies. The SS entered into direct partnerships with German corporations such as IG Farben, Krupp, and Siemens, which profited from forced labor. Historians estimate that around 18 million people passed through the camp system in total. Mortality was extremely high, as prisoners were subjected to starvation diets, dangerous working conditions, and systematic brutality. Millions died in these facilities, either from immediate execution, disease, exhaustion, or the extermination process itself. The vast scale illustrates how the Nazi state relied on camps not only to persecute enemies but also to sustain its war economy [4].
Conditions of Confinement
The daily reality of camp life was deliberately destructive. Barracks were overcrowded, with prisoners often crammed onto wooden bunks without mattresses or proper bedding. Sanitation facilities were minimal, spreading lice and disease. Food rations were set at starvation level: thin soup, a small piece of bread, and occasional coffee substitute. Malnutrition left prisoners too weak to endure forced labor, accelerating death rates. Roll calls could last hours, sometimes in freezing conditions, while SS guards inflicted beatings and arbitrary punishments. Medical care was absent or intentionally cruel, with some camps conducting pseudoscientific experiments on inmates. The combination of hunger, exhaustion, violence, and illness created an environment where survival was almost impossible for long periods. For many prisoners, arrival at a camp marked the beginning of a slow process of physical and psychological destruction [5].
Distinction Between Concentration and Extermination Camps
Although the terms are sometimes confused, it is important to distinguish between concentration camps and extermination camps. Concentration camps primarily functioned as detention and labor centers, where death resulted from the lethal conditions imposed. Extermination camps, built mainly in occupied Poland, were designed explicitly for mass killing. At Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec, gas chambers were the central feature, and transports of Jews were murdered within hours of arrival. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek combined both functions, where selections determined whether individuals would be sent to labor barracks or directly to the gas chambers. This distinction highlights the evolving nature of Nazi policy—from repression and imprisonment in the 1930s to the organized genocide of European Jewry during the 1940s [6].
International Recognition of the Term
After the war, the liberation of camps by Allied forces shocked global public opinion. Images from Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, and Buchenwald revealed the extent of starvation and abuse. The word “concentration camp” became forever linked to the Nazi system of terror. In historical discourse, the term is used to describe mass detention under totalitarian regimes, but scholars emphasize that the Nazi version was unique in its combination of scale, administrative precision, and genocidal purpose. Survivors’ testimonies have further shaped the understanding of these camps, ensuring that the memory of their suffering remains central to Holocaust education and commemoration. The legal concept of crimes against humanity, developed at the Nuremberg Trials, was deeply influenced by the evidence gathered from concentration camps [7].
Nazi concentration camps were more than prisons. They were part of a comprehensive system designed to control, exploit, and ultimately destroy targeted groups. Their definitions and classifications reveal how ideology and bureaucracy intersected to create mechanisms of repression. Studying these camps provides insight into the ways modern states can manipulate legal systems, administrative processes, and economic structures to commit mass violence. Remembering their history is essential, not only to honor the victims but also to recognize the warning signs of authoritarian systems and prevent future atrocities.
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Concentration Camp – link
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Nazi Camps – link
- Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Concentration Camps – link
- Majdanek State Museum, History – link
- Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Living Conditions – link
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Camps – link
- The National WWII Museum, The Nazi Concentration Camp System – link
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