The earliest known purposely built prisoner-of-war camp was established at Norman Cross, England in 1797. The prison held around 5,500 French sailors and soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. Norman Cross was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war.
The British built over a hundred concentration camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. Over 26,000 woman and children died in these camps from starvation and disease.
Construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau was completed on March 22, 1933. Originally intended to hold political prisoners, after its opening by Heinrich Himmler, Dachau's purpose was gradually enlarged to include the imprisonment of Jews, German and Austrian criminals, and finally foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded.
The Auschwitz concentration camp was first constructed in German-occupied Poland to hold Polish political prisoners. They began to arrive in May 1940.
The first female prisoners arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp on March 26, 1942.
The Nazis produced a propaganda film inside the Theresienstadt concentration camp to falsely show the International Red Cross and the Vatican that the inmates were being treated humanely, the camp was 'beautified' and wholesome activities were staged. Shortly after the Nazis finished shooting the film, most of the cast members were "evacuated" to Auschwitz, where they were gassed upon arrival.
Witold Pilecki was a member of Polish resistance who volunteered to be imprisoned in the Auschwitz death camp to gather intelligence in 1940. He escaped three years later and was the author of Witold's Report, the first comprehensive Allied intelligence report on Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
A Slovakian Jew, Rudolf Vrba and a fellow prisoner, Alfred Wetzler succeeded in escaping from Auschwitz on April 7, 1944; their report was one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the mass killings in the camp.
Despite overseeing the construction of the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, what specifically shocked SS-Obersturmführer Robert Mulka at the camp was his colleagues' dress sense.
More than $194 million was generated for the Nazi state by slave labor at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
Russian soldiers liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on January 27, 1945.
Many female workers at Ravensbrück concentration were forced to produce army uniforms for the Nazis. They deliberately sabotaged them. An example of this is that they made the heels of socks too narrow or defective, which gave soldiers painful blisters on their feet.
In 1943, the life of a 2 ½ year old Jewish boy named Josef Schleifstein was saved after his father hid him in a large sack when they arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp. He was eventually found, but the guards took a liking to him and saw him as a "camp mascot". He survived the war.
The BBC almost didn't air the first report from the Belsen concentration camp as they couldn't believe its content. They only relented when journalist Richard Dimbleby threatened to resign if they didn't.
Construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau was completed on March 22, 1933. Originally intended to hold political prisoners, after its opening by Heinrich Himmler, Dachau's purpose was gradually enlarged to include the imprisonment of Jews, German and Austrian criminals, and finally foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded.
The Auschwitz concentration camp was first constructed in German-occupied Poland to hold Polish political prisoners. They began to arrive in May 1940.
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| The main gate at Auschwitz . By Michel Zacharz AKA Grippenn[ |
The first female prisoners arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp on March 26, 1942.
The Nazis produced a propaganda film inside the Theresienstadt concentration camp to falsely show the International Red Cross and the Vatican that the inmates were being treated humanely, the camp was 'beautified' and wholesome activities were staged. Shortly after the Nazis finished shooting the film, most of the cast members were "evacuated" to Auschwitz, where they were gassed upon arrival.
Witold Pilecki was a member of Polish resistance who volunteered to be imprisoned in the Auschwitz death camp to gather intelligence in 1940. He escaped three years later and was the author of Witold's Report, the first comprehensive Allied intelligence report on Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
A Slovakian Jew, Rudolf Vrba and a fellow prisoner, Alfred Wetzler succeeded in escaping from Auschwitz on April 7, 1944; their report was one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the mass killings in the camp.
Despite overseeing the construction of the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz, what specifically shocked SS-Obersturmführer Robert Mulka at the camp was his colleagues' dress sense.
More than $194 million was generated for the Nazi state by slave labor at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
Russian soldiers liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on January 27, 1945.
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| Young survivors at the camp, liberated by the Red Army in January 1945 |
Many female workers at Ravensbrück concentration were forced to produce army uniforms for the Nazis. They deliberately sabotaged them. An example of this is that they made the heels of socks too narrow or defective, which gave soldiers painful blisters on their feet.
In 1943, the life of a 2 ½ year old Jewish boy named Josef Schleifstein was saved after his father hid him in a large sack when they arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp. He was eventually found, but the guards took a liking to him and saw him as a "camp mascot". He survived the war.
The BBC almost didn't air the first report from the Belsen concentration camp as they couldn't believe its content. They only relented when journalist Richard Dimbleby threatened to resign if they didn't.
In 1942 about 80,000 US citizens of Japanese ancestry, were, without any trial, detained in concentration camps by the US itself.
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the forced relocation and internment of over 112,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
With an average of 9,000 prisoners at any one time, the Minidoka War Relocation Center was the third largest settlement in Idaho during its World War II operation. It housed thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast who were rounded up by the U.S. War Authority after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
Star Trek star George Takei spent three years in a Japanese internment camp as a child during World War II. His father told him they were on a vacation.
With an average of 9,000 prisoners at any one time, the Minidoka War Relocation Center was the third largest settlement in Idaho during its World War II operation. It housed thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast who were rounded up by the U.S. War Authority after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
Star Trek star George Takei spent three years in a Japanese internment camp as a child during World War II. His father told him they were on a vacation.
The internment of Japanese Americans is now widely regarded as a grave injustice, and in 1988, the US government formally apologized for this action and provided reparations to surviving Japanese American internees.
Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurred in 1944 when 545 Japanese Prisoners of War attempted to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia during World War II.
In the Irish World War II Curragh Prisoner of War camp, prisoners were allowed leave the camp for pub visits, dances with the locals, fishing, golfing trips and fox hunts. On the condition that they promised not to escape.
Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurred in 1944 when 545 Japanese Prisoners of War attempted to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia during World War II.
In the Irish World War II Curragh Prisoner of War camp, prisoners were allowed leave the camp for pub visits, dances with the locals, fishing, golfing trips and fox hunts. On the condition that they promised not to escape.
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