Sachsenhausen concentration camp

A couple of weeks ago I visited the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, which is located just north of Berlin. A very somber experience, to be sure, but also very educational and interesting.

One feature of this camp is that it was a work camp, not a death camp. This means that there were no big gas chambers or ovens for mass killing, rather the prisoners were worked to death. Cynically, this camp is the origin of the "Work makes you free" logo, which is located on the iron gate of the camp.


Additionally, this was one of the first camps to be constructed and its population was rather diverse - political enemies, communists/socialists, Christians (especially Jesuits, it seems), Jews (10-20% of the camp population), and anyone else deemed unsavory by the Nazi regime. Examining the history of the camp one is able to trace the progression of the anti-Jew policy in the 1930's and 1940's, from discrimination to "encouraging" Jews to leave Germany to finally trying to kill them all.

Finally, the camp was also used by the Soviets until 1950.