Why did Nazi Germany build concentration camps in Poland?
Answer: Nazi Germany built concentration camps in Poland for multiple
reasons. Poland was made the center of the Nazi's "Final Solution" because it
had the largest Jewish population in Europe. The Nazis believed in the
concept of Lebensraum or "living space", which argued that Germany needed
more territory to establish itself as a great power. In addition, Poland was
meant to be the site of the proposed new German colonies where the
Germans could establish their dominance over the Slavic peoples living in
those areas.
Nazi Germany built concentration camps in Poland as part of its strategy to
eliminate perceived enemies of the state. Concentration camps served as
detention centers for political prisoners, Jews, homosexuals, Romani people,
people with disabilities, and members of other persecuted groups. These
people were often subjected to forced labor, medical experiments, and mass
murder.
The largest and most notorious concentration camp in Poland was AuschwitzBirkenau, where the Nazis exterminated approximately 1.1 million people,
most of them Jews. Other infamous camps in Poland included Treblinka,
Sobibór, and Majdanek.
References:
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Poland: Overview. Retrieved from
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/poland-overview
- Holocaust Educational Trust. (n.d.). Why did the Nazis target the Jews? Retrieved from
https://www.het.org.uk/explore/the-holocaust-and-anti-semitism/why-did-the-nazis-target-thejews
- Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. (2016). The concentration camps.
Retrieved from https://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/economics/camps.html