The first concentration camp was set up in Dachau by the Nazis just after Adolf Hitler took over power in 1933. By the time the World War II was coming to an end, more than twenty concentration camps had been established. In these concentration camps, there were those that were selected by the Nazi Germany to be used as extermination camps. The extermination camps, which were also referred to as death camps, were a little bit different from the concentration camps in their use. The purpose of death camps was to systematically terminate millions of Jewish people and others who were considered to be inferior by the Germans. The Germans killed many people through mass executions and gas weapons in the exterminations camps. However, even though the extermination camps were created with mass murder as their primary purpose, the concentration camps, otherwise known as ghettos, were not so different. The conditions that the Jews were subjected to led to the deaths of many people. The ghettos were set up primarily to separate Jewish people from the rest of the German population. Jews who were transported to extermination camps were selected from the ghettos. So let us examine the life and awful experiences of the Jews in the ghettos as well as the inhumane extermination camps.
The period that the various ghettos lasted varied. Some of the ghettos lasted for only a few days while others lasted for years. Life in these quarters was a living hell. Brutal mistreatment, hunger, inhuman labor, random executions, and disease led to the deaths of very many people. Overcrowding was experienced in every ghetto. The Warsaw ghetto held more than four hundred Jews in just 1.3 square miles. The apartments that the Jews lived in were in unbearable conditions; there was garbage everywhere, human waste littered the streets, and broken plumbing was a typical scenario. The unsanitary housing led to the rapid spread of contagious diseases. People were often hungry due to the forced starvation by the Germans. They were only allowed to purchase little food. Due to the poor living conditions, they became weak and less resistant to diseases. A bacteria known as typhus claimed a lot of lives. A large number of people as froze to death during the winter since fuel were scarce. Others killed themselves to escape the misery. Children were orphaned every day forcing them to fend for themselves. The clothing was inadequate, and everyone lived a hopeless life.
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When the whole thing started, people who were considered to be opposing the Nazi regime were sent to the concentration camps. The Jews were placed there simply because of their race. The segregations were divided according to the purpose they were supposed to serve. There were labor camps, transit camps, women camps and extermination camps. The quarters were surrounded with barbed wire to prevent the detainees from escaping. Inmates were forced to work tirelessly for 12 hours a day. They ate little and wore rags throughout. The sick, disabled and old were taken to extermination camps where they were used for terrible experiments or executed. Death was something that couldn’t be avoided once you set foot in the concentration camps. You would either be killed or work yourself to death. Those with a high social status were lucky to have been given administrative jobs within the segregations.
Most of the slave laborers consisted of adults and teens. Children were spared at times even though they had no choice since most of them were orphans and had to find something to eat. You had to work to stay alive. The jobs involved making weapons, baking bread for the other citizens, cutting stones, repairing roads and making Nazi uniforms. Every Jew was supposed to wear an identification badge. Those who were appointed by Jewish councils to administer the rest of the people in the ghettos were forced to select those who would be taken to the killing centers. If they failed to do so, they would be executed immediately. For survival, the families had to send their children to smuggle food into the ghettos through the narrow wall openings. If anyone was caught committing such a crime, the punishment was severe. Adults tried to teach their kids by urging them to attend classes that were organized in the ghettos hoping that one day the misery would end and the kids would live natural lives. Children were forced to make toys using cigarette boxes since there were no other materials available. They did this to forget the death and suffering that surrounded them.
The life that the Jews had been subjected to was inhuman to the extent that children were forced to steal so that their families could get something to eat. Imagine putting parents and guardians in a state that they are willing to risk the lives of their young ones to survive. Many children had to look after themselves when their parents died. The bigger sisters and brothers were forced to assume the parenting role to their younger siblings. Young ones watched as their parents died on the streets due to starvation and diseases. Very many lives were lost, and those that were left alive lived in a dead state. There was a thin line between life and death. That is an obscene event which should have never happened. Treating people even worse than animals is something that should never be witnessed in the history of human life. It was completely wrong.
