Talk:Nazi concentration camps

This is the talk page for discussing Nazi concentration camps and anything related to its purposes and tasks.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2: 3 months

Germany Top‑importance

	Germany portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Germany, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Germany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GermanyWikipedia:WikiProject GermanyTemplate:WikiProject GermanyGermany
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Correction and Detention Facilities (defunct)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Correction and Detention Facilities, a project which is currently considered to be defunct.Correction and Detention FacilitiesWikipedia:WikiProject Correction and Detention FacilitiesTemplate:WikiProject Correction and Detention FacilitiesCorrection and Detention Facilities

Jewish history High‑importance

	Judaism portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Jewish history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Jewish history on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Jewish historyWikipedia:WikiProject Jewish historyTemplate:WikiProject Jewish historyJewish history-related
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Politics Top‑importance

	Politics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

European history Top‑importance

	Europe portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: European / German / World War II

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	European military history task force
	German military history task force
	World War II task force

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Benz, Wolfgang; Distel, Barbara (eds.). Die Organisation des Terrors [The Organization of Terror]. Der Ort des Terrors (in German). Vol. 1. C. H. Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-52960-3.
Drobisch, Klaus; Wieland, Günther (1993). System der NS-Konzentrationslager: 1933-1939 [The System of Nazi Concentration Camps, 1933–1939] (in German). Akademie Verlag. doi:10.1515/9783050066332. ISBN 978-3-05-000823-3.
Goeschel, Christian; Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2012). The Nazi Concentration Camps, 1933-1939: A Documentary History. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2782-8.
Knowles, Anne Kelly; Jaskot, Paul B.; Blackshear, Benjamin Perry; De Groot, Michael; Yule, Alexander (2014). "Mapping the SS Concentration Camps". In Steiner, Erik B. (ed.). Geographies of the Holocaust. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01211-1. JSTOR j.ctt16gzbvn.
Orth, Karin (1999). Das System Der Nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager: Eine Politische Organisationsgeschichte [The National Socialist Concentration Camp System: A Political Organizational History] (in German). Hamburger Edition. ISBN 978-3-930908-52-3.
Stone, Dan (2015). The Liberation of the Camps: The End of the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-21603-5.
Suderland, Maja (2013). Inside Concentration Camps: Social Life at the Extremes. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-7456-7955-6.
Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015). "The Nazi Concentration Camps in International Context: Comparisons and Connections". Rewriting German History: New Perspectives on Modern Germany. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 306–325. ISBN 978-1-137-34779-4.
Wünschmann, Kim (2015). Before Auschwitz: Jewish Prisoners in the Prewar Concentration Camps. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-42558-3.

References

^ Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2006). "Looking into the Abyss: Historians and the Nazi Concentration Camps". European History Quarterly. 36 (2): 247–278. doi:10.1177/0265691406062613.
^ Becker, Michael; Bock, Dennis (2020). "Rethinking the Muselmann in Nazi Concentration Camps and Ghettos: History, Social Life, and Representation". The Journal of Holocaust Research. 34 (3): 155–157. doi:10.1080/25785648.2020.1782067.
^ Lambertz, Jan (2020). "The Urn and the Swastika: Recording Death in the Nazi Camp System*". German History. 38 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghz107.
^ Homola, Jonathan; Pereira, Miguel M.; Tavits, Margit (2020). "Legacies of the Third Reich: Concentration Camps and Out-group Intolerance". American Political Science Review. 114 (2): 573–590. doi:10.1017/S0003055419000832. ISSN 0003-0554. Never mind: looks like it failed to replicate

Clarification of Holocaust resposible countries

In article it stays that concentration camps where located in Estonia, Poland etc. Should emphasized that territories of this countries belonged that time to Germans. Each time when it appears in article it must be emphasized that it was German territory. Otherwise it indicates that other countries than Germany took a part in Holocaust which is not true. 5.173.70.62 (talk) 07:21, 18 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Numbers of victims

The article seems to state that the total number of victims was "about a milion", which is in contradiction with many well-established facts. At least 1.1 milion people were killed in Auschwitz only, so the total number of victims must be significantly higher. If the reason for this mismatch is classification of the camps (concentration vs. extermination camps), it should be clearly explained, that the figure "about a milion" includes only a fraction of victims. Otherwise, the article is greatly misleading.

IMHO, using the original Nazi classification of various types of prisoner camps is controversial at least. It might be an interesting detail for some, but the public uses the term "Nazi concentration camp" as an umbrella term for all camps where Nazi crimes were carried out. And it certainly includes Auschwitz II, Treblinka and other extermination camps. For example, in Bergen-Belsen, 70,000+ prisoners died out of 120,000 who were held there. If this is not extermination, then what is?

As a quick fix, I suggest just to clearly state, that the figure "about a milion" does not include many more victims of the Nazi extermination camps. PetrPy (talk) 08:26, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You've stumbled on terminology issues where historians refer to a specific SS-run system of Camps as "Nazi concentration camps" and another as "extermination /death camps", despite the fact that other nazi run camps otherwise meet the general understanding of concentration camp and extermination (crime) and death occurred in the ss-wvha run camps. However we cannot set aside the classification employed by the cited sources. I think the article already clarifies that the death toll is only registered prisoners and does not include those who were killed without being registered, at Auschwitz or elsewhere. (t · c) buidhe 20:52, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tone of the 'prisoners' section

The tone especially of the last sentence in this section ("as many as 200,000 survivors") worries me and I wonder if anyone has an explanation for it, or if it should be flagged for revision? From the vast numbers of victims, 200,000 survivors isn't a great proportion... Sadie694 (talk) 10:23, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2006). "Looking into the Abyss: Historians and the Nazi Concentration Camps". European History Quarterly. 36 (2): 247–278. doi:10.1177/0265691406062613.

[2] Becker, Michael; Bock, Dennis (2020). "Rethinking the Muselmann in Nazi Concentration Camps and Ghettos: History, Social Life, and Representation". The Journal of Holocaust Research. 34 (3): 155–157. doi:10.1080/25785648.2020.1782067.

[3] Lambertz, Jan (2020). "The Urn and the Swastika: Recording Death in the Nazi Camp System*". German History. 38 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghz107.

[4] Homola, Jonathan; Pereira, Miguel M.; Tavits, Margit (2020). "Legacies of the Third Reich: Concentration Camps and Out-group Intolerance". American Political Science Review. 114 (2): 573–590. doi:10.1017/S0003055419000832. ISSN 0003-0554. Never mind: looks like it failed to replicate

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]