Why did Germany have concentration camps?

Answer

The concentration camps were originally established to terrorize opponents of the Nazi regime, especially Communists, socialists, liberals, labour leaders - and others. The first concentration camp was set up at Dachau in March 1933.

When the Nazis embarked on the wholesale extermination of entire populations, it was simply more efficient to round them up and ship them to a camp where they could be controlled and murdered with industrial efficiency rather than to try to shoot them individually in every city and town in Europe.

Answer

Hitler's plan was to exterminate Jews. The old the young the crippled were the first to go. The ones that were healthy he used as laborers. I guess slaves would be the better word. His extermination, the 'Final Solution' took time.

Reason for Nazi camps

There were concentration camps, forced labor camps, and extermination or death camps. Search for 'Auschwitz' (Krakow, Poland), and you'll get the largest camp ever established by the Nazi government. It was a combination of a forced labor camp, and a death camp. Basically all the residents worked until they were deemed unfit, then they were gassed, or murdered by a firing squad. They adopted an ideology that Aryan, (white, European, blond, blue eyes, etc.), people were superior, and all other races were inferior, with Jews as the most inferior. It was just a way of keeping them locked up, out of Nazi Germany. The Nazi party wanted all Nazi supporters to stay, work, and aid Germany to prosper. Hitler just wanted to be admired, and treated as a god. But basically they just hated non-Germans/anti-German allies.

Answer

There were three basic camp types, transit, labor and extermination. The prisoners were forced to labor with very meager food provision and those that were not
suitable were passed directly to a death camp. The SS rented prisoners
out as labor for local industries and had a new supply of laborers in the
pipeline as replacements for those weakened by hunger or disease.

Comments

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

1. The first camps were set up in 1933. They were all punishment camps mainly for opponents of the Nazi regime. They soon became notorious for horrific brutality. In addition to genuine opponents, some other people were sent there - for example, people who had offended local 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. Most of these camps were not secret, though the precise details of what went on were 'hush-hush'. In fact, Himmler launched Dachau at a press conference.
2. In the late 1930s a section of the SS set itself up as a kind of 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 resistance.
6. From late 1941 onwards extermination camps were set up in Poland. These were intended mainly for the extermination of the Jews.

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First answer by ID1205938483. Last edit by Joncey. Contributor trust: 1935 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 75 [recommend question]