Otherwise known as the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg Concentration Camp was one of the favourite concentration camps used by the Nazis in the Second World War and is situated in Oranienburg, Germany. It started as a prototype of other camps and existed from 1936 to 1945 years till freeing of the camp. Now it’s time to look at what happened within these walls, at the history of the place.

The Establishment and Purpose

The first camp of the new type was built in 1933 when Hitler came to power, near Oranienburg, north of Berlin. Originally called “Sachsenhausen”, it was designed as the model camp and is still considered an important administrative centre of the SS and the senior officer of the Rohr branch Heinrich Himmler.

Sachsenhausen began with political prisoners and grew as a multiple use camp during the war years. labeling them as ‘enemy of state’ it later transformed into a prison for different categories of people such as Jews, Intellectuals, homosexuals, Jehovah witnesses and so on.

Housing and Cruelty

The camps’ accommodation in Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was terrible with an aim of humiliating… Barracks and washing amenities were cramped, latrines available were insufficient and minimal rations dominated their existence. Torture, executions, and concentration camps, and general abuse from the side of the SS guards were the norm.

Sachsenhausen as a forced labor camp contained production facilities in which inmates received forced labor while fuelling Germany’s warfare. Due to extreme weather, physical fatigue; combined with a lack of food and a spread of sickness, the toll reached the thousands.

The Camp Organization

Sachsenhausen had a complex structure, with various areas dedicated to specific functions:

• Administration Area: This section contained headquarters of the commandant, living quarters for the SS personnel, and various sectional buildings.
• Prisoner Barracks: These were small barracks and offered little room to confine the prisoners.
• Appellplatz: The assemble ground where roll-call formations were’label withmaid severe punish or executions .
• Death Camp Area: This was a closed section where the gas chamber and crematorium where genocide was committed were located.
• Special Camps: These were situated in the periphery of the main concentration camp; those detained here were political decision-makers, scholars or senior military officers.

Surviving Sachsenhausen

These conditions were horrific in Sachsenhausen and to live was a fight every day. But all the same, there are some inmates who were suicidal but remained alive regardless of the situation. Here are a few strategies employed by survivors:

• Maintaining Social Bonds: These were not isolated coping mechanisms, but I could ally myself with other inmates and by helping them in turn, be helped in dealing with unpleasant situations.
• Finding Work Opportunities: Those who were engaged in working details at other points had a better prospect of staying alive.
• Acquiring Skills: Mastering probable skills, for example, carpentry, or sewing, might help one get better opportunities for being posted to better stations.

The Liberation of Sachsenhausen

During April 1945, finally, SS began to move most of the remaining Gypsies in a death march towards other concentration camps. But, the Soviet army freed the camp on the 22 of April, 1945. The liberators identified the real face of genocide by witnessing the conditions inside Sachsenhausen concentration camp for themselves.

Remembering the Victims

Today, Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg is a memorial and it is a museum so everybody would remember the victims. The grounds of the former camp can be toured, exhibitions can be seen and memorials dedicated to victims of the Holodomor, and other atrocities can be visited.

In Conclusion

The Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg Concentration Camp is one of the clearly witnessed monuments reflecting the horror of the Second World War. Its historical background is a useful lesson in intolerance and in the defense of human rights. As we know, through remembering victims, their voices never die and it becomes critically important in the fight against reliving these horrible experiences.