What was life like in concentration camps?
Men, women, and children are confined without normal judicial trials for an indeterminate period of confinement. Camp authorities usually exercise unlimited, arbitrary power. Although many kinds of facilities have served as concentration camps, they usually consist of barracks, huts, or tents, surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire. Concentration camps are also known by various other names such as corrective labor camps, relocation centers, and reception centers. During World War II (1939-1945) more than 6 million people died in German concentration camps, but there have been other camps throughout history. In Germany, the Nazis established concentration camps almost immediately after assuming power on January 30, 1933. A decree in February removed the constitutional protection against arbitrary arrest. The security police had the authority to arrest anyone and to commit that person to a camp for an indefinite period. The political police, known as the Gestapo, imposed “protective c
