Concentration Camps

• By 1939, 150,000 people were under ‘protective arrest’ for ‘political crimes’. Very quickly the space in existing prisons had run out so new prison camps, known as concentration camps, were set up to cope with the numbers.
• The first camp set up in 1933 was at Dachau, near Munich. It was followed by Sachsenhausen, just outside Berlin and Moringen, a camp for women
• The camps were built in isolated areas outside major cities, but their existence was publicised to strike fear into potential opponents.
• There were 20,000 people in six camps by the beginning of 1939. Most of the inmates were political opponents, particularly Communists and Socialists. There were also ‘undesirables’ such as alcoholics and homosexuals and minority groups such as the Jews.