Extermination Camps

[Wise1]

This area of the forums is to discuss the Extermination camps, they were not the same as the concentration camps, let me explain.

The Extermination camps (German, Vernichtungslager) were set up by the Germans for the express purpose of killing the Jews. This was part of the "Final Solution" to kill all Jews. They were also used to murder other groups that were seen as a threat to the Germans such as "Gypsies".

Extermination camps were all based in occupied Poland, concentration camps were mainly in Germany and intended as places of incarceration and labor for a variety of enemies of the Nazi regime (such as Communists and homosexuals). In the early years of the Nazi regime many Jews were sent to these camps, but after 1942 all Jews were deported to the extermination camps.

Both Extermination and Concentration camps should also be distinguished from slave labor camps, which were set up in all German-occupied countries to exploit the labor of prisoners of various kinds, including prisoners of war. Many Jews were worked to death in these camps, but eventually the Jewish labor force, no matter how useful to the German war effort, was destined for extermination. In all Nazi camps there were very high death rates as a result of starvation, disease and exhaustion, but only the extermination camps were designed specifically for mass killing.