Horrors of War: Concentration Camps

German storm troopers force Jewish people from the Warsaw ghetto to move with their hands up; Warsaw Ghetto — May, 1943, from "The Stroop Report: The Warsaw Ghetto is No More"

German storm troopers force Jewish people from the Warsaw ghetto to move with their hands up; Warsaw Ghetto — May, 1943, from "The Stroop Report: The Warsaw Ghetto is No More"
Courtesy The Holocaust History Project

One horrible by-product of war is that crimes against humanity sometimes occur away from the battlefields. A very sad example was the creation of concentration camps by Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist political party. Racist, nationalistic, imperialistic, anti-communist, and militaristic, the "Nazis" claimed that Jewish people were members of an "inferior race".

Zyklon B, one type of lethal gas used by the Nazis to murder people in concentration camps

Zyklon B, one type of lethal gas used by the Nazis to murder people in concentration camps
Courtesy Thomas J. Dodd Papers
Long provided this photo of concentration camp victims lining up to receive clean, new clothes after the Allies liberated their camp

Long provided this photo of concentration camp victims lining up to receive clean, new clothes after the Allies liberated their camp
Courtesy Roy Long
Roy Long, First Lieutenant, 66th Infantry, 71st Division helped liberate some of the camps

Roy Long, First Lieutenant, 66th Infantry, 71st Division helped liberate some of the camps
Courtesy Roy Long

The Allies declared Victory in Europe (V-E Day) on May 8, 1945. Nebraskan Roy Long was one of the troops who helped liberate the Concentration Camps.
An NET Television’s THE WAR: NEBRASKA STORIES interstitial.
Courtesy 2007 NET Foundation for Television

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In order to accomplish this horrible task more "efficiently", the Germans shipped Jews (and other "undesirables", such as Gypsies or disabled people) to concentration camps. Here, killing was carried out in systematic ways, mostly with poison gas.


Six-year-old war orphan with Buchenwald badge on his sleeve, June 19, 1945

Six-year-old war orphan with Buchenwald badge on his sleeve, June 19, 1945
Courtesy National Archives & Records Administration, 531302
Roger Peters served in Germany when the camps were liberated; Corporal, Technician 5<sup>th</sup> Grade, 1143rd Engineer Combat Group

Roger Peters served in Germany when the camps were liberated; Corporal, Technician 5<sup>th</sup> Grade, 1143rd Engineer Combat Group
Courtesy Roger Peters

When Nebraskan soldier Roger Peters had a small accident with a motor scooter in Germany after the Allied victory, he came across an ex-detainee of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and discovered a new meaning for the word, Freedom.
An NET Television’s THE WAR: NEBRASKA STORIES interstitial.
Courtesy 2007 NET Foundation for Television

The conditions in the camps were terrible. The prisoners had been starved, were often physically harmed, and suffered from disease due to neglect — no heat, no water for bathing, no health care, etc. It was a difficult sight for U.S. soldiers who helped liberate the camps.


Map of German concentration camps in Europe during World War II, United States War Department, 1945

Map of German concentration camps in Europe during World War II, United States War Department, 1945
Courtesy Library of Congress, g5701s ct003445, & NET Learning Services

There were hundreds of concentration camps created by the Germans to house "undesirables". This map shows the location of the major camps, including the Gunskirken Lager concentration camp in Austria that Roy Long helped to liberate and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany near where Roger Peters found a helping hand.