About Paul K Harker Expertise I'm the author of "Directive 19 the Memoirs of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rolf Otto Schiller". I can answer questions regarding the Third Reich, Holocaust, SS, World War II, Nazi policies, the concentration camps and the administrative system behind the deportations and liquidations.
Experience Published Author (Directive 19 - The Memoirs of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rolf Otto Schiller 2006, Outskirts Press Library). Owner of Mad Dog Memoirs. Expertise in Modern Warfare with focus on Third Reich strategy and tactics.
Organizations Mad Dog Memoirs
Publications Directive 19
The Memoirs of SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rolf Otto Schiller
Outskirts Press Library 2006 - ISBN # 1-59800-392-5 (Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com)
Education/Credentials Modern Warfare
Ancient Roman/Medieval Warfare
Awards and Honors Directive 19 book nominated for EWY Award 2006
Past/Present Clients Rolf Otto Schiller (Former SS Officer)
Karl Werner Von Metzger (Former SS radio operator)
Wilhelm Groener (Former Luftwaffe Officer and Pilot)
Expert: Paul K Harker Date: 5/4/2007 Subject: Concentration camps
Question Hi! I am doing an independant project on concentration camps focusing on Auschwitz.
1) What where the events leading up to concentration camps?
2) I know that they were treated badly, but can you expand on that?
3) Which was the first concentation camp?
4)Did Auschwitz ever close?
Thank you for your time!!!
Robyn
Answer Hello Robyn,
The events leading to the establishment of the concentration camps were political laws (The Nuremberg Laws) that legalized sanctions against criminals, asocials and groups of people deemed "dangerous" ie. the Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses and gypsies. Hitler's plans for military conquest and expansion determined the need to conserve national resources and make more available by denying common amenities such as food, housing, social services and daily provisions to masses of people.
Treatment depended largely on the facility. Camps such as Esterwegen and Flossenberg were established as Red Cross inspection points and in camps such as these the prisoners were treated kindly, fed the proper nutritional values and were paid wages.
In the Action Reinhard Camps, treatment was much more severe. There's a debate over how this treatment was meted out and argued that Himmler and Hitler objected to arbitrary mistreatment of the prisoners although this took place regularly in camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Plaszow. Mistreatment included but was not limited to punishments such as: beatings, sensory deprivation, hanging a person by his arms or legs, starvation, electrocution and mental stresses.
The first concentration camp established was Dachau in 1933. The complex was an old ammunition and cannon factory that went out of business at the end of World War I.
Auschwitz closed in February 1943 until April 1943 in terms that it did not accept new inmates. A typhus epidemic in the camp suspended operations for 7 weeks. The camp officially closed in late 1944 as the Russians were sweeping through Poland. The inmates were forced on long death marches but this official closing was only administrative. Part of the garrisons and thousands of the inmates were left behind to be liberated by the Soviets.
I hope this helps,
Sincerely,
Paul K. Harker
