The history of the concentration camps near Berlin is a dark and tragic chapter in human history. During World War II, the Nazis established several camps in and around Berlin, where they imprisoned and exterminated millions of people, mostly Jews, but also political dissidents, homosexuals, disabled individuals, and other marginalized groups.

1. The Establishment of the Concentration Camps

The first confinement camp close to Berlin was the Sachsenhausen camp built in 1936, twenty kilometers away from Berlin. It also was used to set the pattern for other concentration camps and was made a training center for SS men. Other camps such as Ravensbrück a camp situated to the north of Berlin were mainly handling female prisoners.

2. Life in the Camps

Conditions in the concentration camps were that prisoners were subjected to inhuman treatment, severe hunger and dehumanization. Thus, prisoners were forced to work, tortured, and used in practice on human guinea pigs. They were cramped within small dark rooms, dirty and confined, hungry and sick. They also suffered from death through execution, staking, strangulation as well as from the harsh accommodated conditions.

2.1 The Role of Prisoners

Kapo — Nacht und Nebel — prisoners in the camps were sorted by categories distinguished by colored triangles in the camp uniform. For instance, red triangles were used on Political prisoners and pink triangles were used on homosexual prisoners.

Some prisoners were used for forced labor in factories some were used for experiments by doctors and nurses and others were overworked in the camp doing very hard work. In the camps, living conditions were deliberately made substandard, taking away all human dignity a prisoner had, and keeping him constantly being frightened and hopeless.

3. Liberation and Aftermath

The concentration camps near Berlin were eventually liberated by Allies at the later part of second world war. These camps were the places, which revealed the severity of the actions that the people like Hitler conducted, so the world started to recognize the results of Nazis. Basiuto flagship operations of taking the responsible individuals to court and offering support to the affected persons commenced.

3.1 Memorial Sites

At the present time, the built structures of the former concentration camps near Berlin are significant places of memory and remembrance. People can traverse through the given spots in order to learn more about the holocaust and honor the victims.

Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum is one of them that offers exposure to the atrocities that occurred in the camp, and commemorative site which enables survivors and their families to mourn victims of the concentration camp. Ravensbrück Memorial could be named, which is devoted to the fate of women during the holocaust.

4. Remembering the Past

One has to remember the cursed places of the concentration camps in the Fuhrer’s native city as the lessons of hatred and discrimination will always be retrieved no matter the time that passes. Thus this period must not be forgotten in order to prevent the repeat of such cruelty and instead we should aspire for a world that is characterized by acceptance, kindness, and respect of other people’s dignity.

Going to these memorial sites and making ourselves familiar with these grim history makes the victims’ memories continue to living and serves for indications to racism and prejudice.