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Opening of the first concentration camp
The concentration camp was opened on this day, It was initially meant for the internment of Hitler's political enemies, mainly communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It was eventually expanded to include forced labor and the imprisonment of Jews, Romani, Germans, and austrians that the Nazis regarded as criminals. It also imprisoned nationalists from occupied or conquered countries. -
Buchenwald concentration camp is opened
Buchenwald concentration camp was established before World War 2, and was one of the largest inside German borders. It had many satellite camps and was constructed in 1937, about 5 miles northwest of the city of Wiener, It was open to male prisoners, though the presence of female prisoners increased significantly in 1944. In 1938, almost 10,000 Jews were sent here and nearly 250 of them died from mistreatment during their arrest or from recent arrival to the camp. -
Lodz Ghetto is established
In early February 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in Lodz, which held about 160,000 Jews in a 1.6 square mile area. -
Germans declared the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw
In late 1940, the Germans, after taking the capital, Warsaw, declared the establishment of a ghetto, and then decreed that all Jews were required to live inside said ghetto. It ended up holding a max of 500,000 Jews. -
Establishment of Auschwitz II
Auschwitz was established for the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Roma, Poles, and Germans. that was only one of it's functions. It also functioned as a concentration camp and was the place of over 1 million deaths.