Buchenwald
Buchenwald was one of the largest concentration camps established on German soil. It was located on a wooded hill four and a half miles northwest of Weimar, Germany (Berenbaum and Whitlock 1). USHMM shares that it was located north of Sachsenhausen and south of Dachau. The camp was built in 1937 so it could initially house political enemies and followers of the Jewish faith. The population greatly increased after Kristallnacht in November of 1983. There were many medical experiments done at these camps too (“Buchenwald” 6,7).
According to USHMM; Beginning in 1941, a number of physicians and scientists carried out a varied program of medical experimentation on prisoners at Buchenwald in special barracks in the northern part of the …show more content…
The camp was opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany”(1). Heinrich Himmler, as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners"(qtd. in USHMM, “Dachau” 1). Located in southern Germany, north of Buchenwald, Dachau originally housed political prisoners. After some time, the camps eventually evolved itself into a death camp where thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease, overwork, and execution (History.com Staff 1). Jewish people were not the camp’s only prisoners. Some of the camp’s other prisoners included members of groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany. Hitler thought that artists, intellectuals, physically and mentally handicapped people, and homosexuals were unfit and were sentenced to death and suffering in concentration camps. According to History.com Staff, during the main period of World War II , some Dachau prisoners were used as labor slaves to manufacture weapons and other materials to help support Germany’s war efforts. Additionally, some Dachau prisoners were forced to participate in brutal medical experiments performed by the Nazi’s doctors (1). USHMM states that ”On April 26, 1945, as American forces approached, there were 67,665 registered prisoners in Dachau and its subcamps. More than half of this number were in the main camp. Of these, 43,350 were categorized as political prisoners, while 22,100 were Jews, with the remainder falling into various other categories” (“Dachau” 16).”The U.S. soldiers also discovered several dozen [around 30] train cars loaded with rotting corpses [during the liberation]”(History.com Staff 15). The number of incarcerated prisoners was around an estimated 180,000 with an estimated 28,000 plus death toll. They believe that the total number of victims will unlikely be known (USHMM, “Dachau” 18). According to the article
Buchenwald was one of the largest concentration camps established on German soil. It was located on a wooded hill four and a half miles northwest of Weimar, Germany (Berenbaum and Whitlock 1). USHMM shares that it was located north of Sachsenhausen and south of Dachau. The camp was built in 1937 so it could initially house political enemies and followers of the Jewish faith. The population greatly increased after Kristallnacht in November of 1983. There were many medical experiments done at these camps too (“Buchenwald” 6,7).
According to USHMM; Beginning in 1941, a number of physicians and scientists carried out a varied program of medical experimentation on prisoners at Buchenwald in special barracks in the northern part of the …show more content…
The camp was opened in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany”(1). Heinrich Himmler, as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as "the first concentration camp for political prisoners"(qtd. in USHMM, “Dachau” 1). Located in southern Germany, north of Buchenwald, Dachau originally housed political prisoners. After some time, the camps eventually evolved itself into a death camp where thousands of Jews died from malnutrition, disease, overwork, and execution (History.com Staff 1). Jewish people were not the camp’s only prisoners. Some of the camp’s other prisoners included members of groups Hitler considered unfit for the new Germany. Hitler thought that artists, intellectuals, physically and mentally handicapped people, and homosexuals were unfit and were sentenced to death and suffering in concentration camps. According to History.com Staff, during the main period of World War II , some Dachau prisoners were used as labor slaves to manufacture weapons and other materials to help support Germany’s war efforts. Additionally, some Dachau prisoners were forced to participate in brutal medical experiments performed by the Nazi’s doctors (1). USHMM states that ”On April 26, 1945, as American forces approached, there were 67,665 registered prisoners in Dachau and its subcamps. More than half of this number were in the main camp. Of these, 43,350 were categorized as political prisoners, while 22,100 were Jews, with the remainder falling into various other categories” (“Dachau” 16).”The U.S. soldiers also discovered several dozen [around 30] train cars loaded with rotting corpses [during the liberation]”(History.com Staff 15). The number of incarcerated prisoners was around an estimated 180,000 with an estimated 28,000 plus death toll. They believe that the total number of victims will unlikely be known (USHMM, “Dachau” 18). According to the article