How did the Nazis kill people at concentration camps?

Answer 1

The main way to kill people in the concentration camps was to gas them in the gas chambers. They could hold up to 2000 people at a time. However, many of the Nazi soldiers used their own methods of killing people such as shooting them, beating them to death, even performing medical experiments on them; which included injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, the removal of organs. One man in particular had a fascination over twins and performed disgusting operations that were too cruel to mention. One thing's for sure, the Nazis were cruel people. And all this happened because of Adolf Hitler.

In a lot of cases, the Nazis simply pretended that the prisoners were going for showers, told to strip down from their 'Striped Pyjamas' and were forced into the gas chamber. They were gassed. They were also tortured, shot, died of exhaustion, died of starvation. But the main problem in the unhealthy conditions they slept in was Typhus.

At concentration camps some inmates were:

• Worked to death on grossly inadequate food.
• Used for medical experiments, which were often fatal.
• Hanged for minor breaches of camp rules.

At extermination camps - Auschwitz II, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek (part of the camp), Sobibor and Treblinka II the majority of new arrivals were gassed as soon as practical after arrival. Firstly, the genocide that happened to Jews was the first known one in the world's history and it was covered up for a few years before other countries could believe that such a thing could happen.

Comments:

Yes, homosexuals have received rough times and also 'gay bashing' has occurred, but, not over six million of them went to gas chambers or were killed in a short period of time. No race or sexual orientation should EVER be treated any different than anyone else and genocide is something sick that is happening all over the world. One of the worst genocides going on today is taking place in the war we are in now and also the Congo (Africa ... the forgotten continent!) If you want to know that the information we have received in the past regarding the extermination of over 6 million Jews is true, just ask a WWII War Vet! These photos were smuggled out of Germany and one of my best friend's father was killed for doing so. They never recovered his body. Even today reporters are risking their lives in this war to bring home the news of what is actually happening. Of course there is Propaganda to a degree, but pictures speak a thousand words and all we have to care about is, why is it the citizens of the villages or towns that have the highest mortality (women, children, the elderly) that didn't ask for a war and have the highest casualty rate!

There were some cases of genocide before the Nazi Holocaust, for example, the slaughter of the Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915-17, and the genocide of the Hereros in German South-West Africa. One can also make out a case for regarding the treatment of the Native Americans by the British, the Americans and the Spaniards as genocide.

It's also worth mentioning that it's so offensive that people don't believe that the holocaust really happened when it did. Such beliefs can lead to another one. If you need any more proof that this happened, ask the survivors. My grandfather, for example. He has a truly unique story and still has a map that he drew from memory to help him escape, at his house. The Holocaust did happen, 6 million Jews and countless other people were murdered.

Answer 2

There were different kinds of camps, and the function of the older camps changed over time.

Some short, simplified answers:

• Initially, the camps were used to terrorize opponents of the Nazi regime.
• Later, (from about 1938-39 on), they provided slave labour.
• From late 1941 on, extermination camps were set up as mass killing facilities for the 'Final Solution'.

The progression of Nazi camps:

1. The first concentration camps were set up in 1933. They were punishment camps set up in order to terrorizeopponents of the Nazi regime. They soon became notorious for horrific brutality. In addition to genuine opponents, some other people were also sent there; for example, people who had offended local Nazi party bosses and so on. Since the purpose of these camps was to terrorize would-be opponents of the regime, information about what went on there was allowed to get out. Most of the camps established in the early months were temporary and were closed down within a few months. However, Dachau remained. The existence of these camps was not secret, though the precise details of what went on were 'hush-hush'. In fact, Himmler launched Dachau amid considerable publicity.
2. In the late 1930s a section of the SS set itself up as a business entreprise. It was at this stage that the systematic use of prisoners as slave labour on loan to business began.
3. Following the 'Night of the Broken Glass' (9-10 November 1938) about 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. By Christmas 1938, two thousand of them were dead. The main purpose was to bully them into leaving Germany.
4. The Nazi invasion of Poland meant that the Nazis made what they called their 'Jewish problem' much bigger. They also had to deal with the Polish resistance. Initially, Jews were herded into ghettos, which were sealed off from the surrounding areas.
5. In 1940 the first big concentration camp in Poland - Auschwitz - was established, initially as an exceptionally harsh forced labour camp for uncooperative Poles and members of the Polish intelligentsia and resistance.
6. From late 1941 onwards, extermination camps ('death camps') were set up, mainly in Poland. These were intended solely for the extermination of the Jews and Romanies (gypsies). Most of the extermination camps were small: the aim was to kill newly arrived prisoners within 24-48 hours. This was 'assembly line' murder.
7. Several transit camps were established, which held prisoners till they could be transferred to concentration camps or extermination camps. However, a few prisoners were kept in transit camps for years.
8. As the Soviet Army drew close to the camps in Poland some of the inmates were transferred to camps in Germany. For example, Anne and Margot Frank were moved from Auschwitz Women's Camp to Bergen-Belsen, and Elie Wiesel was transferred from Auschwitz III (Monowitz) to Buchenwald.
9. In addition to the concentration camps (run by the SS), there were several labour camps run by a variety of organizations. Civilians from various Nazi-occupied territories (including Poland and Ukraine) were in effect kidnapped and sent to Germany as very cheap labour. Conditions in these camps varied but were never good. In some cases the inmates were paid in vouchers, some of which could be sent home.

Cinematic references include Schindler's List (1993), The Pianist (2002), and Red Dawn (1984).

Recommended reading:

1. Elie Wiesel, Night
2. Eugen Kogon, The Theory and Practise of Hell

Please also see the related questions.

Answer 3

Hitler was trying to create a "perfect race" so he put everyone he thought to be inadequate in concentration camps and killed them unless he used them for labor.

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His particular targets were the Jews, whom he regarded as an inferior race responsible for the world's problems, plus to a lesser extent coloured people, gypsies, the mentally-ill and homosexuals. A concentration camp is simply a large-scale prison camp, but Hitler engaged his architect, Albert Speer, to design extermination camps to kill these people on a horrifyingly industrial scale.

Answer 4

Hitler wanted all Jews dead so he worked them til they couldn't work any more and then he killed them. just like cows :(

Answer 5

Because they were brainwashed.

no because Hitler convinced them that they should be the absolute rulers of the world

Answer 6

The main reason is: because they could. There was a certain change in 1943, but generally there was no punishment for the killing of an inmate.

Answer 7

We all know that the germans hated jews, so they sent them to concentraition camps to die. hope that helped.