The Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located in Oranienburg near Berlin, was one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps during World War II. As an absolute beginner on this topic, you may be curious about the history, conditions, and experiences of those imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. In this blog post, we will explore the grim reality that unfolded within the camp’s walls.
The Establishment and Purpose of Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen was founded in 1936 and was recognized as a prototype of other concentration camps that were soon developed. Originally serving as a prison for political prisoners, the Nazis widened the oppression to including others like Jews, Force, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the homosexual.
It was established near Berlin in order to demonstrate to the civilian population the force of the Nazis. Its location afiliated also for easy access of high-ranking SS officers and officials to visit and to monitor the camp’s activities.
Dwelling Standards in Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen like all other concentration camps wascharacterized by ruthless living conditions, hard work and always living in fear. Some of the atrocities that took place include; forced labor, forced starvation, and forced medical experiments.
People were housed in very crowded dormitories and were provided with little or even no sanitary conditions. Toward the end of the Civil War certain living conditions were seen such as, there was no proper food and clean water this created diseases and epidemics. As many women and men of color and indigenous people, the prisoners were denied access to a decent life and were rather treated like animals.
Resistance and Solidarity
But still, there were numerous cases of inmates’ resistance, mutual support in this camp of Sachsenhausen. Inmates wored how to sustain help one another in the areas of feeding, medical, emotional, etc.
It will be pertinent to note that conspiratorial societies were established for espionage, journalism, and conspiracy. Although these were done at a personal perils, they acted as minor rebellions against the Nazi regime.
Slavery and Genocide-Death Marches
Slavery was the main pillar of the camp’s system of functioning. Peoples in concentration camps were compelled to do hardship work, many serve in factories inside the camp or in industries outside the camp all under the supervision of the SS. The labor planned to force the self-effacement, hence extinction, of the prisoners.
When Soviets approached Sachsenhausen in 1945, in order to prevent prisoners from being liberated by the Soviets, the Nazis conducted death marches. No parece exagerado afirmar que estas marchas forzadas dejaron un gran numero de fallecidos debido a la falta de agua, comida, inferioras y maltratos hasta su liberacion.
Sachsenhausen Today
Nevertheless, after the liberation of Sachsenhausen, the camp was occupied by Soviet authorities who transferred the concentration camp into detention facility, so the camp didn’t lose its sinister motif. But after 1993 the complex has been preserved as a memorial, which is visited today as the museum dedicated to the memory of people who perished in the camp.
Tourists can only get to know such concentration camp as Sachsenhausen and feel the pain of era of the Holocaust, and pay a tribute to the victims.
In Conclusion
The Sachsenhausen concentration camp is one the testimonies to the suffering of millions of people during the Second World War. Thus learning the history and the circumstances that prisoners had to go through we get a feel of the suffering they had to go through. One of the reasons people need to recall and get acquainted with the details of how Nazi concentration camp officers treated prisoners is that this experience should not be repeated in the future.
