| While the Nazis were hosting the 1936 Olympic games, slave laborers were being forced to build a huge new concentration camp just north of Berlin, intended to hold political opponents of the regime. Soon, homosexuals, trade unionists and members of the religious groups swelled prisoner ranks.
Sachenhausen was one of the main concentration camps in Nazi Germany, purposely built in 1936 by the SS. The second major camp to be built after Dachau, it was set up to detain all 'enemies' of the regime - political, racial and 'asocial'. Of the 200,000 people interned, over 50,000 lost their lives by execution, systematic brutality and appalling living conditions. See the main exhibits inside and learn why this camp was built.
Following Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of Jews were sent to the camp where they faced especially brutal treatment. Thousands of Soviet POW's were murdered immediately after arriving at Sachsenhausen in 1941, and it is estimated that over 50,000 people died here before the camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945.
The camp was then used by the "liberators" until 1950 to detain former Nazis, German soldiers and political opponents of the communists. Many thousands more died from malnutrition and disease.
Inside the camp you will see the "Appellplatz" - parade ground, the Jewish Barrack, punishment cells, execution grounds and crematorium, "Station Z", the Pathology Laboratory and camp hospital.
This tour was researched by historian Gabriel Fawcett who is publishing in English the most important witness account of the camp. All tour guides have their own special insights into the history of Sachsenhausen, and are experienced in unraveling the complex history of the Holocaust. |
