Throughout the era of the Nazi government, most Jewish people were unaware of the existence of Concentration Camps. Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany established almost 40,000 camp’s used to imprison millions of victims. Amongst those 40,000 camps were Buchenwald, Dachau, Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen, and of course, Auschwitz-Birkenau, all of which are the camp’s most students learn about in any world history class.
In his book “Night” Ellie Wiesel tells the reader about his first hand experiences in a concentration camp. He tells the reader how the Jews from his Ghetto were transported there, and how none of them had any idea where they were going until they got to their destination. They were transported to the camps by cattle cars guarded by police. There were at least eighty people in crammed …show more content…
It included three main camps (Auschwitz 1, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Auschwitz-Monowitz) (Auschwitz, USHMM). All of which used prisoners for forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period of time as a killing center. In his article, Robert Van Pelt states that “Auschwitz is the most significant memorial of the site of the shoah, and the most significant memorial site of polish suffering under German rule.” Between 1940 and 1945 approximately 1,095,000 jews were deported to Auschwitz, 960,000 of whom died there; 147,000 poles were deported there of whom 74,000 were killed; 23,000 romans were deported there, 21,000 of whom died there; 15,000 soviet prisoners of war were deported there and died; and 25,000 of other nationalities were deported with 12,000 ending up dead (Auschwitz, USHMM). “I pinched myself, was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel, 32). Millions of innocent victims were rounded up and shipped to hundreds of camps located around
In his book “Night” Ellie Wiesel tells the reader about his first hand experiences in a concentration camp. He tells the reader how the Jews from his Ghetto were transported there, and how none of them had any idea where they were going until they got to their destination. They were transported to the camps by cattle cars guarded by police. There were at least eighty people in crammed …show more content…
It included three main camps (Auschwitz 1, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Auschwitz-Monowitz) (Auschwitz, USHMM). All of which used prisoners for forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period of time as a killing center. In his article, Robert Van Pelt states that “Auschwitz is the most significant memorial of the site of the shoah, and the most significant memorial site of polish suffering under German rule.” Between 1940 and 1945 approximately 1,095,000 jews were deported to Auschwitz, 960,000 of whom died there; 147,000 poles were deported there of whom 74,000 were killed; 23,000 romans were deported there, 21,000 of whom died there; 15,000 soviet prisoners of war were deported there and died; and 25,000 of other nationalities were deported with 12,000 ending up dead (Auschwitz, USHMM). “I pinched myself, was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel, 32). Millions of innocent victims were rounded up and shipped to hundreds of camps located around