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