Concentration and Death Camps Chart

From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis ran camps within Germany and Poland to remove political dissidents and anyone they considered Untermenschen (subhuman) from society. A few of these camps, known as death or extermination camps, were specifically built to kill large numbers of people quickly. What Was the First Camp? The first of these camps was Dachau, built in  1933, just months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Auschwitz, on the other hand, was not built until 1940, but it soon became the largest of all the camps and was both a concentration and a death camp. Majdanek was also large and it too was both a concentration and death camp. As part of Aktion Reinhard, three more death camps were created in 1942  -- Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. The purpose of these camps was to kill all the Jews remaining in the area known as the Generalgouvernement (part of occupied Poland). When Did the Camps Close? Some of these camps were liquidated by the Nazis starting in 1944. Others continued to operate until either Russian or American troops liberated them.   A Chart of Concentration and Death Camps Camp Function Location Est. Evacuated Liberated Est. No. Murdered Auschwitz Concentration/Extermination Oswiecim, Poland (near Krakow) May 26, 1940 Jan. 18, 1945 Jan. 27, 1945by Soviets 1,100,000 Belzec Extermination Belzec, Poland March 17, 1942 Liquidated by NazisDecember 1942 600,000 Bergen-Belsen Detention;Concentration (After 3/44) near Hanover, Germany April 1943 April 15, 1945 by British 35,000 Buchenwald Concentration Buchenwald, Germany (near Weimar) July 16, 1937 April 6, 1945 April 11, 1945Self-Liberated; April 11, 1945by Americans Chelmno Extermination Chelmno, Poland Dec. 7, 1941;June 23, 1944 Closed March 1943 (but reopened);Liquidated by NazisJuly 1944 320,000 Dachau Concentration Dachau, Germany (near Munich) March 22, 1933 April 26, 1945 April 29, 1945by Americans 32,000 Dora/Mittelbau Sub-camp of Buchenwald;Concentration (After 10/44) near Nordhausen, Germany Aug. 27, 1943 April 1, 1945 April 9, 1945 by Americans Drancy Assembly/Detention Drancy, France (suburb of Paris) August 1941 Aug. 17, 1944by Allied Forces Flossenbrg Concentration Flossenbrg, Germany (near Nuremberg) May 3, 1938 April 20, 1945 April 23, 1945 by Americans Gross-Rosen Sub-camp of Sachsenhausen;Concentration (After 5/41) near Wroclaw, Poland August 1940 Feb. 13, 1945 May 8, 1945 by Soviets 40,000 Janowska Concentration/Extermination Lviv, Ukraine Sept. 1941 Liquidated by NazisNovember 1943 Kaiserwald/Riga Concentration (After 3/43) Meza-Park, Latvia (near Riga) 1942 July 1944 Koldichevo Concentration Baranovichi, Belarus Summer 1942 22,000 Majdanek Concentration/Extermination Lublin, Poland Feb. 16, 1943 July 1944 July 22, 1944by Soviets 360,000 Mauthausen Concentration Mauthausen, Austria (near Linz) Aug. 8, 1938 May 5, 1945by Americans 120,000 Natzweiler/Struthof Concentration Natzweiler, France (near Strasbourg) May 1, 1941 Sept. 1944 12,000 Neuengamme Sub-camp of Sachsenhausen;Concentration (After 6/40) Hamburg, Germany Dec. 13, 1938 April 29, 1945 May 1945by British 56,000 Plaszow Concentration (After 1/44) Krakow, Poland Oct. 1942 Summer 1944 Jan. 15, 1945 by Soviets 8,000 Ravensbrck Concentration near Berlin, Germany May 15, 1939 April 23, 1945 April 30, 1945by Soviets Sachsenhausen Concentration Berlin, Germany July 1936 March 1945 April 27, 1945by Soviets Sered Concentration Sered, Slovakia (near Bratislava) 1941/42 April 1, 1945by Soviets Sobibor Extermination Sobibor, Poland (near Lublin) March 1942 Revolt on October 14, 1943; Liquidated by Nazis October 1943 Summer 1944by Soviets 250,000 Stutthof Concentration (After 1/42) near Danzig, Poland Sept. 2, 1939 Jan. 25, 1945 May 9, 1945by Soviets 65,000 Theresienstadt Concentration Terezin, Czech Republic (near Prague) Nov. 24, 1941 Handed over to Red Cross May 3, 1945 May 8, 1945by Soviets 33,000 Treblinka Extermination Treblinka, Poland (near Warsaw) July 23, 1942 Revolt on April 2, 1943; Liquidated by Nazis April 1943 Vaivara Concentration/Transit Estonia Sept. 1943 Closed June 28, 1944 Westerbork Transit Westerbork, Netherlands Oct. 1939 April 12, 1945 camp handed over to Kurt Schlesinger