The Campo de Concentración Sachsenhausen, also known as Sachsenhausen concentration camp, was one of the Nazi concentration camps established during World War II. Located near the town of Oranienburg, Germany, it was in operation from 1936 until its liberation in 1945. This blog post aims to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of Sachsenhausen, including its purpose, conditions, and historical significance.
1. What was the purpose of Sachsenhausen concentration camp?
Sachsenhausen concentration camp served multiple purposes under the Nazi regime:
Political persecution: Most of the camp’s inmates were political dissidents of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi Party. It had a major role in containing any form of rebellion.
Slave labor: They were put to work in manufacturing industries, building projects, and as labour in quarries to build for the Germans during the Second World War. The camp was used for SS operated and utilized free labor for their purpose.
Racial persecution: Further, the Sachsenhausen also detained people for the racially motivated practices of Nazi such as Jews, gypsies and other people whom the Nazi considered unfit for existence.
2. Population density and dwelling situations in Sachsenhausen
The living area of Sachsenhausen was in the worse state it could be and made an attempt to demoralize the prisoners. Some key aspects were:
Overcrowding: Originally designed to accommodate approximately 6,000 prisoners, at its operational time the inmate population exceeded this number significantly.
Forced labor: This has been evidenced through detention of prisoners in cramped areas in which they worked for long hours without proper feed, or with hard labour styles thatOperating.
Mistreatment and abuse: Sachsenhausen guards were some of the most violent with prisoner’s physically and mentally abused in this concentration camp.
Insufficient hygiene: Lack of hygiene, dirty water supplies, and overcrowded shelter prevented the people from avoiding the diseases.
3. Distinctions and recognitions of the Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen witnessed several significant events during its existence:
Medical experiments: The camp was also used in conducting medical experiments on prisoners and particularly in testing vaccines and cure.
Training center for SS: Sachsenhausen was developed as training centre which was used by the SS, the German’s paramilitary organization that administered the grounds of the concentration camp.
Death marches: During the last years of the Second World War inmates were subjected to forced evacuations when the Soviet Army was closing in on the camp; they had to walk long distances in extreme conditions so many of them died.
4. Liberation and legacy
Sachsenhausen was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in April, 1945. Some of the prisoners starved and suffered from diseases and many died even after liberation of the camp. Soviet itself used the camp as a special camp till 1950 and the various record show that during the Soviet rule of Poland the number of camps increased many folds.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is a vivid illustration of the Nazi cruel practices and acts as museums to the holocaust victims. Today it is a museum and a memorial complex which gives people an idea of what was going on during The Second World War.
Conclusion
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was one of original concentration camp established by Nazi Germany to perpetrate oppression and persecution. It was used as a house of political prisoners, a supplier of cheap labor and the house of racial discrimination. The living standards of the prisoners were terrible and most of them received inhuman treatment. But the liberating of Sachsenhausen and transforming it into a museum and Memorial Site make certain that the Holocaust victims are remembered and more to the point, sure that such horrific event is not repeatable in the future.
