Concentration+Camps

**Adolf Hitler****, Nazi Chancellor** **wanted more land, especially in the east, to expand** **Germany** **according to the Nazi policy of lebensraum. Hitler used the harsh limitations that were set against** **Germany** **in the** **Versailles** **Treaty as a pretext for** **Germany****'s right to acquire land where German-speaking people lived.** **Germany** **successfully used this reasoning to envelop two entire countries without starting a war.**
 * The Beginning **
 * Austria****: On March 13, 1938,** **Germany** **took over** **Austria** **(termed the Anschluss).**
 * Czechoslovakia****: The French and the British handed** **Germany** **a large portion of** **Czechoslovakia** **at the** **Munich** **Conference in September 1938. Hitler had then taken the rest of** **Czechoslovakia** **by March 1939.**
 * Why was** **Germany** **allowed to take over both** **Austria** **and** **Czechoslovakia** **without a fight? The simple reason is that** **Great Britain** **and** **France** **did not want to repeat the bloodshed of World War I. They believed they could avoid another world war by giving Hitler a** **few country' (such as** **Austria** **and** **Czechoslovakia****). Great Britain and France had not clearly understood that Hitler's goal was much larger than just a few countries. As Hitler gradually became more powerful concentration/death camps were being organized. Once again the world was plunged into chaos, war was the only option and the horrors of extermination were becoming reality.**

**During World War 2 the Germans had created certain and major camps designed for mass concentration and maximum extermin****ation. These major camps were Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka,****Buchenwald****, and Stutthoff. The most violent and important camp during WWII was most likely Auschwitz-Birkenau. Probably one of the most notorious of all the killing centers, Auschwitz-Birkenau had two functions, a concentration camp where prisoners were used as forced labor and also a death center. There were three areas of** **Auschwitz****, 1, 2 (Birkenau), and 3 (Monoschwitz). Auschwitz 1 held the offices living area, the administration building, kitchen, infirmary, the main guarding station, one gas chamber and crematorium (burning the remains of dead people), the Gestapo camp, medical experiments center and gallows. Barracks housed the criminals in the camp. These barracks held the "court rooms" where the prisoners were "tried" and almost always sentenced to death. The execution area was located in the southwest corner of the camp and was used for executing the prisoners against the wall by shooting them. Their bodies were placed in pits in and around the main camp.** **Auschwitz** **1 was surrounded by double barbed wire electric fences and nine watch towers. This is one of the main symbols of the horrors that occurred during the Holocaust mainly because** **at least one-third of the estimated 6 million Jews killed by Nazi officers and troops during World War II died there. The closest estimate of the exact amount that died was 1,208,000.**
 * Major Camps During WWII **


 *  Causes of Death **
 * The Holocaust was one of the most gruesome events that have ever happened in history. Its not the war that was the real mind blowing event it was what was happening privately and silently. A near 75% of people that were sent to concentration camps were gassed on arrival the remaining were forced into labor until they were judged to meet the same fate. There were many methods used to kill the prisoners inside these camps. Many too gruesome to truly be interpreted. It ranged anywhere from mass gassing to firing squads picking off people lined up against the wall. A favorite of the Nazi's was to work the laborers far past their exhaustion point this caused intensely brutal pain and on top of the constant hunger due to starvation, this was a living nightmare. Still the most popular was gassing, it was quick, easy, and to the Nazi's, exactly what they were looking for to exterminate Jews and other races as quickly as possible. Disease was also a huge role in killing the many prisoners that the camps held. Malaria was one of these main diseases that just added to the horror of these camps. Anne Frank actually passed away due to Typhus, another disease. It's clear that there were many causes of death within the concentration camps whether intended or not, many, many people died. **

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http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/holocamp.html

