Death camp

This article is about concentration camps created to commit genocide, not about concentration camps in general.

A death camp (extermination camp or death factory) is a concentration camp which has been deliberately set up in order to commit genocide. The most famous death camps are the Nazi Vernichtungslagern, used during World War II.

Nazi Germany

The death camps of Nazi Germany were part of the Holocaust and "Endlösung" (final solution), a systematic industrialized killing of Communists, Gypsys, Homosexuals, Jews, and other groups. Approximately 12 million people were killed in the camps, about half of those individuals were Jewish. Unlike concentration and slave labour camps, such as Dachau, where there was a great deal of starvation and ill treatment, the extermination camps were designed specifically for execution via gas chambers (or other means).

All six German extermination camps were built in occupied Poland. Of these, Auschwitz and Chelmno were located within western Poland - the other four were located within the General Government area.

• Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau)
• Belzec
• Chelmno (Kulmhof)
• Majdanek
• Sobibór
• Treblinka

Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibór were constructed as part of Operation Reinhard.

Croatia

The Croat Ustaše regime also operated a death camp, at Jasenovac.

See also: Holocaust denial