Sophie Hemker

Ms. delRio

Lit & Comp. 10

17 May 2016

The Causes and Effects of Concentration Camps

The Holocaust was one of the most devastating periods in history. The things that went

on during this time were unspeakable horrors, and the devices and buildings that were used to

create these horrors were scary as well. Concentration camps were one of the biggest, if not the

biggest, devices used during the Holocaust. Used as death camps, anyone who was sent to one of

these camps had a very small chance of surviving them. The chances of seeing a loved one after

leaving a concentration camp were very slim.

One cause of the concentration camps starting was the over-population of jews, or

Hitlers excuse for getting rid of them. Hitler claimed that jews were the reason why Germany

lost WWI, and that they had to get rid of them, so they didn't cause any more trouble. The

problem with that was that it was not the jews fault Germany lost WWI, it was the country's

government itself, which Hitler knew, just refused to admit it. How he gained supporters of the

camps was by showing them clips of people in the camps looking happy, having fun, eating a lot

of good food, and living in peace. What they really were, though, is the opposite of what Hitler

said they were. The people in the camps were really unhappy, working very hard to build

buildings that would lead to more death, not getting very much food, and dying in agony.

Another cause of concentration camps is the amount of hatred toward the jews. Nobody

believed the jews pleas of innocence, and that they did not cause WWI, but, of course, Hitler led

Works cited- www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gascamp.html

https://www.ushmm.org/.../en/article.php
the Germans to believe that jews were truly bad. This led to a lot of discrimination towards the

jews, which led to ghettos. After the ghettos were the concentration camps, and they were

claimed to be good places to live. The ghettos were not nearly as bad as the concentration camps,

yet they were still not the best place to be or live in. In a ghetto, the jews could at least still leave

if they had a job, and get some money for food, but in a concentration camp, the jews could not

leave, and did not get a lot of food.

A few months after the concentration camps were introduced, the whole business took a

huge turn. The Nazis started to build gas chambers, which had already been started, just not

used as much with the little people that were in the camps at first. As the gas chambers became

more popular with the Nazis, the jews all became skeptical of where their friends and family

were disappearing to. All that they knew for sure was their loved ones were being taken away,

and told that they were going to get showered. Of course, everyone now knows what really

happened. With the gas chambers included in the Holocaust, the death rate went up.

One big effect of the concentration camps was the death rate. Almost all of the deaths in

the holocaust were in a concentration or death camp. As said in the previous paragraph, when gas

chambers were created, they started off a little unused, and they they quickly became a big hit.

They were being used many times a day, so, naturally, the death rate shot up. By the time the

holocaust ended, more than 2,300 people were killed in a gas chamber. Even though that number

is a small portion of the amount of lives taken during the holocaust, it was still a lot of lives that

could have been spared.

Another effect of the concentration camps was the marches that the jews took everyday.

They would march around the camp, and it was basically created to kill more people who were

Works cited- www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gascamp.html

https://www.ushmm.org/.../en/article.php
too weak to do anything, and it was a pretty efficient weapon. In Auschwitz alone more than

15,000 were killed just because of the death marches, and that was from them either falling or

getting shot by one of the nazis. When returning from the death marches, if any men who were

too weak hadnt died yet, they would either be shot, or sent to take a shower, basically being

sent to the gas chambers. Many of the death marches were to another camp, if the nazis couldn't

get a train to take them. Those could last days, and many times they were not allowed to stop at

night to sleep. If they couldn't make it, they would die, hence the name death camp.

One last thing that was a major weapon in the concentration camps was the death camps

themselves. They were built kind of similarly to the concentration camps, but much less people

came out of them alive. They were death camps, and they took after their name. If you were sent

to a death camp, you had about a 20% chance of surviving. That percent was mostly when the

war ended, and the russians and allies took over the camps and set all of the jews free. When/if

the jews were set free, they were sent to take a real shower, and were given nice clothes, and

some money and stuff, and sent to train stations to look for families. Many already had families

in America, so they were sent overseas to meet up with their families.

If you made it out of the concentration camps alive, the chance of seeing a family

member again was extremely small. Even the chances of getting out of a concentration camp was

small, so any jew would be lucky to see any family member again. Upon liberation, the jews

were free to do anything, go anywhere, as long as they had the money, but all many wanted to do

was catch up with friends and family members, and find out if certain people lived. After the

holocaust, many family members were never taken for granted again, and many survivors had

amazing stories to tell about the horrors they experienced.

Works cited- www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/gascamp.html

https://www.ushmm.org/.../en/article.php