The Holocaust was one of the most devastating and tragic periods of time in history. The Nazi party of Germany sought out to find the perfect race. In an attempt to do this, they abused, beat, and killed millions of people. These people included socialists and other political prisoners, Jews, homosexuals, priests and ministers, Poles, Gypsies, and Soviet war prisoners (Kornblum 927). Many people from these groups were taken prisoner at Nazi concentration camps, forced to do strenuous labor, and sometimes were even killed due to Adolf Hitler's desire for what he believed to be an ideal race. This was true of all the groups except for the Jews. The Jewish people were the main target of Nazi persecution. Germans considered Jews to be a threat to their national sovereignty and freedom. It was said that on a per capita basis, Jews were over represented in government. However, this reason is believed to by many to be an excuse and that it was just propaganda for Nazis to justify their killings (The Nizkor Project). No matter what the cause, this time of mass murder cannot be justified in the minds of most people.

The prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were mostly average citizens. When the Nazis decided it was time, large numbers of soldiers would storm into a town and take everyone to a camp. The people were given little time to get as much luggage as they could carry. One Holocaust survivor described it as "twenty minutes to pack forty-five pounds of luggage"(Anthony 2). Once they arrived at the camps, the most dreaded part of the camps awaited them. This was the infamous selektion, or selection process ("Tattoos" Jewish Virtual Library). All of the arriving prisoners were put into a line. One by one, they would be examined, and then sent to one of two lines. The first line was for able body people who looked like they could be productive. These people would work until they became weak or ill, at which point they were killed. The second line was for the very young and very old, women with children, handicapped, sick, and weak people. These people were sent directly to the crematoria to be killed (Kornblum 927). Those who were selected to live had their heads shaved, personal possessions taken, and then were officially registered. Beginning in 1941, the registrations that took place at Auschwitz involved a number tattoo ("Tattoos" JVL).

These tattoos were just another method for the Nazis to dehumanize their prisoners. The day-to-day schedule of a concentration camp prisoner was very demanding. At 4:00 AM, the prisoners were awakened by a kapo, the inmate in charge of a working team. At that point they were required to make their beds, but because the beds were made of a straw mattress, it was almost impossible, which provided the Nazis with another reason to beat the prisoners. Then came the morning role call. It was important to get there on time, otherwise they would be beaten. Breakfast consisted of coffee and ten ounces of bread. This bread was the only solid food for the day, so it had to be conserved. The total amount of food eaten in a day by a prisoner was about 1,300 calories. This starvation led to an organic deterioration called the "Muzulman" state, which lead to death ("Living Conditions, Labor, and Executions" JVL). After breakfast, the prisoners were off to work. The workday was twelve to fourteen hours long, and the laborers were often beaten and insulted (Jewish Gen). Some prisoners worked at the camp leveling ground, erecting new barracks and buildings, laying roads, and digging drainage ditches. Others worked in factories. Due to the pace of work, lack of food, and constant beatings, there was a very high death rate and the concentration camps. Even though the laborers were needed for war industries, they were expendable and there was no hesitation for them to be killed ("Forced Labor" JVL). After the morning shift of work, there was a quick lunch break for soup. The afternoon was filled with ore work. At the end of the day, everyone had to be present for an evening role call, including those who had died during the day. The nighttime role call was the time for hangings and punishments and did not end until all prisoners were accounted for. Dinner was another soup, similar to the lunchtime meal. After dinner, the prisoners were locked in their barracks and went to sleep (JG).

The living conditions at a Holocaust concentration camp were horrible. Epidemics and contagious diseases spread like wildfire. The prisoners lived in old brick and wooden barracks with poor insulation and no heating. In each barrack, there were several hundred three-tier bunk beds. Overcrowding in camps caused basements and lofts to be used as living quarters as well, which made the situation even more uncomfortable ("Living Conditions, Labor, and Executions" JVL).

Medical research projects were yet another horrible and dehumanizing processes that took place at Nazi concentration camps. Most of these projects were conducted at Auschwitz between the fall of 1939 and the spring of 1945. It is estimated that at least 7,000 prisoners were treated against their will. There were three main classes of experimentation. The first class had experiments that were mainly conducted for the German Airforce. These tests dealt with survival, rescue, and the effects of extreme conditions such as high altitude, low temperature, and the ingestion of a large amount of seawater. The second class of experiments was mainly for medical purposes. These tests dealt with the severity of battle injuries, gas attacks, formulation of immunization to certain diseases, and compounds to treat contagious diseases that were effecting the German armed forces. The third and final class of experiments mainly dealt with racial features that the Germans did not understand. They tested dwarfs and twins, conducted serological research, and performed skeletal examinations ("Medical Experimentation" JVL).

There were many well-known camps throughout the Holocaust, but none was more feared than the infamous Auschwitz, located in Oswiecim, Poland. Over one and a quarter million people are known to have died there between its creation in September of 1941 and its liberation in January of 1945, but it is believed that there may have been as many as 2.5 million deaths at the camp. Many of the prisoners there were executed in gas chambers, but most died from starvation or disease. A majority of the prisoners at Auschwitz were Jewish. Auschwitz was divided into three camps. These included Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II, more commonly known as Birkenau, and Auschwitz III, known as Monowitz (Sydnor 892). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the most infamous of the three. This camp contained seven gas chambers and three crematoria. There was also a great deal of slave labor at Auschwitz-Birkenau, mostly the producing of rubber for IG Farben. Another infamous camp of this period was Dachau. Dachau was the first permanent camp in Germany. It was built in 1933. Many brutal experiments were performed on the prisoners at Dachau. It is believed that 25,500 people died or were killed at Dachau (Sydnor 2). Although there were so many deaths at Dachau, the camp had only one gas chamber and it was never used ("Killing People Through Gas" JVL).

Despite popular belief, not all concentration camps execute their prisoners. There were only specific camps, called extermination camps that executed their prisoners. These camps all contained crematoria. The crematoria were originally built to deal with the incredible number of moralities amongst laborers, but later became buildings for mass murder (JG). The first executions involved large numbers of prisoners being shot in empty pits that gravel had been dug from. Beginning in September of 1941, carbon monoxide was used to kill prisoners ("Living Conditions, Labor, and Executions" JVL). The first gas killings took place in Chelmno, Poland. Trucks were loaded with passengers and the deadly gas was pumped into the van where the victims were locked. Later on, gas chambers were constructed for the purpose of mass murder. The victims were stripped of their clothes and then thrown into these underground rooms. After about twenty minutes of being exposed to carbon monoxide, they died. Then their valuables were removed, including gold teeth, and the bodies were burnt (JG). There is still a huge controversy going on because of the argument of where so many bodies could have gone. Deniers say that so many bodies could not have been disposed of, and they give excuses for the building of the crematoria (Holocaust History). Death marches also resulted in large numbers of deaths. As Axis forces began to collapse, Germans frantically moved prisoners out of camps. The prisoners marched long distances with little or no food, water, or rest in the bitter cold. Those who could not keep up were often shot. One in four prisoners died along the way, and large numbers of prisoners were murdered before, during, or after the marches (USHMM).

Between 1941 and 1943, underground resistance movements began to spring up. They were first developed in the Jewish ghettos of Eastern Europe, but quickly spread to the camps. Those who broke out joined partisan units to fight Germans ("Jewish Resistance in Ghettos and Camps" JVL). Once the war had ended and all the camps had been liberated, life finally returned to normal except for the horrid memories of the camps and the impressions left on the survivors lives forever.