Breitenau concentration camp was one of the first
concentration camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
established by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. It was founded in June 1933 as an addition to the Breitenau Labor and Welfare House, less than six months after the Nazis by a democratic election in Germany became the majority party in the German parliament.
It closed in March 1934 and reopened in 1940 where it remained in operation until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
In 1984, a memorial was constructed on the site of the former camp.
History
In 1133,
Benedictines
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
founded a monastery at
Breitenau.
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (in English: "the Magnanimous"), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestan ...
converted the monastery to an estate in 1527. By 1579, it became a horse stable and warehouse for agricultural products. Between the early 17th and late 19th centuries, it mostly served as a country residence.
It was converted into a prison labor camp for beggars, vagabonds, and so-called "lewd women" in 1874. Three years later, an institution for the rural poor was established alongside the
prison camp. Treatment at the prison was considered cruel with lengthy sentences and hard labor for minor criminal offenses, including
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
.
The Nazis converted the camp into a concentration camp for political prisoners in June 1933. It closed approximately nine months later in March 1934. During this time, the camp held political prisoners from
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
, Germany.
In 1940, the camp reopened and served as a
forced labor
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
camp until 1945. This period marked a shift in which both Germans and foreigners were detained together. It is estimated that approximately 6,500 foreigners and 2,000–2,500 Germans were enslaved here.
Breitenau Memorial
In 1984, a memorial was established in memory of those who were detained, enslaved, and murdered at the Breitenau concentration camp. It was built in a
tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the vi ...
that has been dated to the 15th century when it belonged to the original monastery.
Compensation became available to survivors of the Breitenau concentration camp in 2000 with the memorial helping them apply for compensation.
Other early concentration camps
*
Breslau-Dürrgoy concentration camp
Breslau-Dürrgoy concentration camp or ''KZ Dürrgoy'' was a short-lived Nazi German concentration camp set up in the southern part of Wrocław (german: Breslau), then in Germany, before World War II on the grounds of the old fertilizer factory "Si ...
in
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
, Poland
[David Magnus Mintert]
''Das frühe Konzentrationslager Kemna und das sozialistische Milieu im Bergischen Land''
(PDF) Ruhr University Bochum
The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...
, doctoral dissertation (2007), pp. 232–235. Retrieved January 14, 2012
*
Esterwegen concentration camp
The Esterwegen concentration camp near Esterwegen was an early Nazi concentration camp within a series of camps first established in the Emsland district of Germany. It was established in the summer of 1933 as a concentration camp for 2000 so-c ...
*
Kemna concentration camp
Kemna concentration camp (german: Konzentrationslager Kemna, KZ Kemna) was one of the early Nazi concentration camps, created by the Third Reich to incarcerate their political opponents (ostensibly in protective custody) after the Nazi Party first ...
*
Oranienburg concentration camp
Oranienburg was an early Nazi concentration camp, one of the first detention facilities established by the Nazis in the state of Prussia when they gained power in 1933. It held the political opponents of Nazi Party from the Berlin region, most ...
*
Sonnenburg concentration camp
Sonnenburg concentration camp (german: Konzentrationslager Sonnenburg) was opened on 3 April 1933 in Sonnenburg (now Słońsk in Poland) near Küstrin (Kostrzyn nad Odrą) in a former Neumark prison, on the initiative of the Free State of Prussia M ...
*
Vulkanwerft concentration camp
Vulkanwerft concentration camp in the Bredow district of Szczecin (german: Stettin), also known as the ''KZ Stettin-Bredow'', was one of the early so-called "wild" German Nazi concentration camps set up by the SA (or the SS by different source), ...
in the Bredow district of
Stettin
Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...
See also
*
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
*
List of concentration and internment camps
This is a list of internment and concentration camps, organized by country. In general, a camp or group of camps is designated to the country whose government was responsible for the establishment and/or operation of the camp regardless of the c ...
*
List of Nazi concentration camps
According to the ''Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos'', there were 23 main concentration camps (german: Stammlager), of which most had a system of satellite camps. Including the satellite camps, the total number of Nazi concentration camps that ...
*
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
*
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
*
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
* The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, vol. 1
References
External links
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Website
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Nazi concentration camps in Germany
Reich Security Main Office