Oranienburg was an early
Nazi concentration camp
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 ...
, one of the first
detention facilities established by the
Nazi
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 ...
s in the
state of Prussia when they
gained power in 1933. It held the political opponents of
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 ...
from the
Berlin region, mostly members of the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
and
social-democrats, as well as a number of
homosexual men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, ...
and scores of the so-called undesirables.
It was established in the center of the town of
Oranienburg on the main road to Berlin when the
SA took over a disused brewery grounds. Passers-by were able to look inside the prison perimeter. Prisoners were marched through the town to perform
forced labour
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 ...
on behalf of the local council.
The prison was taken over by the ''
SS'' on 4 July 1934, when the SA
was suppressed by the regime. It was closed and subsequently replaced in the area by
Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1936. At closure, the prison had held over 3,000 inmates, of whom 16 had died.
See also
*
List of Nazi-German concentration camps
*
Standing cell
A standing cell is a special cell constructed so as to prevent the prisoner from doing anything but stand. The ''Stehbunker'' was used in Nazi concentration camps during the Third Reich as a punishment. Standing cells were also used during Jos ...
used in
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 ...
during the Third Reich
References
*
{{Authority control
Nazi concentration camps in Germany
Oranienburg