There are Holocaust scholars who made a clear distinction between death camps and concentration camps. Strictly speaking, death camps were primarily built for the extermination of Jewish ghettos and prisoners from other types of camps. Among thousands of Nazi’s camps, hundreds of them were classified as death camps. The most notorious were Auschwitz, Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Majdanek. Those who distinguish concentration camps from death camps argue that even though conditions in the first type of camps were so horrible and the rate of death was so high, no sufficient evidence was found that they were used for extermination purposes.

On the other hand, other scholars understand concentration camps as almost identical with death camps. In the remaining part of this article, we will be using the term concentration camps inclusive of death camps.

Concentration camps were originally designed for the incarceration of political opponents such as communists, socialists, and democrats. Eventually, Jews were included as racial enemies of the Nazi regime. Homosexuals and people with physical deformities were also imprisoned.

Appropriate words that describe the camps are inhumanity, misery, and death. Before entering the camp, people were stripped of their identity and reduced to mere numbers. It was alleged that the camps were designed with “showers” aiming to deceive dependent prisoners (children and the elderly) not knowing that they were actually entering a gas chamber for immediate execution. The able-bodied prisoners were assigned with various tasks like maintaining the camp site, working in the kitchen, building railway tracks, carrying stones and coal in the quarries, sewer repair, latrine cleaning, gardening works, and other assignments depending on their skills.

The prisoners were manned 24 hours of the day. There was fixed schedule for every activity from morning until evening. Typical activities throughout the day include waking up at 3 AM, going outside the barracks, breakfast at 5 AM, roll call at 6 AM, work after roll call until lunch break at 12 noon, resumption of work from 1 PM until dinner at 6 PM. The food was very poor, and torture was common throughout the day. This meant that prisoners worked all day hungry and constantly receiving cruel beatings.

Aside from the scarcity of food and water, the sanitation was extremely poor resulting to disease and death. Typhus was the most common disease.

Nazi officers sexually abused selected prisoners. It was even reported that these officers were competing in shooting the prisoners at will. The height of such inhumanity was displayed by the officers themselves in how they responded to the death of the members of their own families. They already accepted the fact that a similar fate awaited them and behaved as if nothing happened.

Constant fear of punishment, smell of death and thoughts of suicide among inmates were common as a result of seeing the reign of barbaric acts within the camp. In fact, thousands of prisoners ran into the electric barbed wire surrounding the camps to end their misery.

In an effort to survive all the inhumanity in the camp, some prisoners turned to religion. They hoped that somehow there was meaning in all of their suffering. Their only way to maintain their dignity was to live through such inhuman brutalities.

The Nazi killed a total of eleven to seventeen million people, and six million of them were European Jews. These murders took place, not in battle, but inside the concentration camps.

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There were actually three main concentration camps at Auschwitz and forty five smaller satellite camps. Auschwitz 1 served as the administrative center, Auschwitz 2 was an extermination camp, and Auschwitz 3 was a slave labor camp.

Auschwitz 1 – Stammlager as a base camp and administrative center had several unique features. The SS selected German criminals gave them privileges, and assigned as supervisors for other inmates. These “supervisors” were perpetrators of numerous atrocities.

Inside Auschwitz 1, there was this block called “prisons within prison”. They refer to various types of cells like standing cells, starvation cells, and dark cells where inmates were punished in different ways. Standing cells were about 16.1 square feet, and four people would be placed in them doing nothing, but standing. In starvation cells, prisoners were incarcerated and deprived of food and water until their death. Dark cells were utilized to kill inmates by suffocation.

Auschwitz 2 – Birkenau was equipped with gas chambers and intentionally designed for mass killing. There were five crematoria inside this camp. It was estimated that more than twenty thousand people died in this camp per day. It was the most notorious of all Nazi’s death camps.

Auschwitz 3 – Monowitz as a labor camp was less notorious. Life expectancy inside this camp lasted for three to four months. Those working in the mines were less fortunate, for they would only last one month.

Two infamous marks of Auschwitz concentration camp were secrecy and cruelty. The geographical location was strategic and suitable for official secrecy. Nazi officers also used intricate and deceptive languages to hide the real intent behind the literal meaning of those words. Two examples of these were “Sonderbehandlung” and “Badeanstalten”. The literal meaning of the first word is “special treatment” while the real meaning was to take the Jews through the death process. The second word conveys “bath houses” as the obvious meaning hiding the existence of “gas chambers”.

Cruelty was evident through segregation of inmates and medical experiments. Prisoners in Auschwitz concentration camp were divided into three groups. The dependents were immediately sent for extermination in the gas chambers. The second group was composed of slave laborers. And the inmates of third and last group were selected for medical experiments. They were used as human guinea pigs for various types of experiments.

It was reported that screaming and moaning of prisoners sent to the gas chambers could be heard for fifteen to twenty minutes despite thick concrete walls. Attempting to cover the noise, two motorcycle engines were set to full throttle, but the sound of yelling could still be heard.

The practice of medical experiments inside Auschwitz concentration camp was another evidence of barbaric cruelty. The two most notorious doctors were Dr. Carl Clauberg and Dr. Josef Mengele. The latter was popularly known as the “Angel of Death”. Dr. Clauberg focused his experiment on finding ways to sterilize women. He was utilizing unorthodox methods like X-rays and injecting chemicals into women’s uteruses. Dr. Mengele’s particular interest was on experimenting identical twins to find the secret to cloning in search for a perfect genetic material. He intentionally generated diseases in one twin causing the latter’s death. Seeing this, he would kill the other to perform comparative autopsies.

Due to such cruelty inflicted upon prisoners of Auschwitz concentration camp, it was not surprising to see revolts and escape attempts. By 1943, a resistance was organized inside Auschwitz 2 – Birkenau. On October 7, 1944, inmates “attacked the SS with stones, axes, hammers, other work tools and homemade grenades”. The guards were unprepared and overpowered. Hundreds of prisoners escaped, but were all soon captured and executed. Other escape attempts were successful. It was reported that there were 144 successful escapes out of at least 802 attempted escapes.

Finally, when the Nazis realized they were losing the war, before leaving the camps, they destroyed all evidences of their atrocities including crematoria and burned their documents. They buried the human ashes in huge pits and covered with grass. This is one primary reason why it is almost impossible to determine the precise number of victims at Auschwitz concentration camp. Different numbers were given from 2.5 and 4 million, 1 million, and 800, 000 to 900,000. Finally, Franciszek Piper using timetables of train arrivals combine with deportation records, he came up with 960,000 Jewish deaths, which has been received as recent consensus by other scholars.

On January, 27, 1945, the Russians arrived and found 7,650 abandoned prisoners and at last Auschwitz concentration camp was finally set free.

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She displayed such quality in writing her diary. Her diary later published into a book served as a powerful tool to combat anti-Semitic sentiment. This happened as a response to Holocaust deniers and to those who question the real existence of this noble woman.

Anne Frank was a real historical figure. She was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her father took pleasure in scholarship and was able to build an extensive library for the family. Both her parents motivated Anne and her sister to develop the habit of reading books. Anne delighted to spend reading and studying books. Perhaps, maintaining this passion for learning greatly contributed to the quality of her thoughts reflected in her diary.

Anne Frank lost her German nationality when Nazi passed the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws. As Jewish persecution started, Anne’s family went into hiding in a secret annex room of her father’s office building, but soon discovered after two years. The Frank family was transferred to the concentration camps where all of them died except for Anne’s father.

An unexpected, important event took place after Anne Frank’s death. Though her life had been stopped, but her thoughts lingered, and history has demonstrated the extent of influence they exerted in the minds of succeeding generations. Anne’s diary became widely known after its publication. It underwent several publication stages. It was first published in Dutch in 1947, in Germany and France in 1950, and in the United Kingdom and America in 1952.

Anne Frank discussed in her book her experiences during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. There, she narrated her sufferings, her intimacy to her father, her “contempt” and her change of attitude towards her mother, her ambition to become an actress and a journalist, her romance, her belief in God and her view of human nature.

Anne’s diary became very influential and has been used for several plays and films. It won a Pulitzer Prize and introduced into the educational curriculum. It was well-received in France, Germany, United States, and Japan. The book has been admired for its literary quality. Not a few influential political personalities made use of the book in their speeches. Known examples are John F. Kennedy, Hilary Clinton, and Nelson Mandela.

In 1963, Anne’s father set up a charitable foundation in her name. Upon the death, of her father, the book’s copyright was willed to the foundation with a provision that specific income each year would go to his heirs, and any income above it could be used for whatever deserving projects.

With the growth of Anne’s popularity, she became an important figure representing those who suffered the cruelties of World War 2. She was considered the icon for the youth who suffered war, the voice of six million Jews, and the symbol of Holocaust and persecution. In June 1999, Time magazine included Anne Frank among the most important people of the 20th century.

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Among Holocaust survivors and scholars, the name of Elie Wiesel is the most popular. In his book, Night, he describes his experiences and emotions at the hands of the Nazis. He raised the most difficult theme centering on theodicy, the theological discussion resolving to reconcile the existence of evil and the prevailing concept about God. He would never forget the curses that fell upon that very long night in the camp, the smoke, the faces of children, the dead bodies, and the indescribable suffering that murdered his God. For Wiesel, the question about the presence of God in the face of evil and inhumanity suffered by Auschwitz prisoners remains unresolved to this very day. As a result of those traumatic experiences, Wiesel devoted his life to fight for human rights and global peace.

The present and future generations have a lot to learn from Holocaust survivors to secure that similar sinister event would never happen again. It is necessary that they come to the open, share their stories in order to dispel the growing Holocaust denial. Louise Lawrence-Israels, a woman Holocaust survivor, shared her experiences and lessons to learn from the tragic event.

Louise witnessed a generation full of hate and a time when nobody has the courage to stand opposing the reign of evil. The business of her family was confiscated. They were not allowed to use public transportation and could not travel on public parks. Against their will, they were forced to wear the Star of David for them to be easily identified. Despite of her sufferings, her admonition is to put a stop on hatred and learn to question if there is something that is going wrong.

Louise is just a representation of the voices of many women whose sufferings have been overlooked. From this point on, let us hear the testimonies from several women Holocaust survivors as they record their miseries in their monographs. There we will find the struggle between the barbaric acts of Nazi officers and the strength of the detainees to maintain human dignity through various means.

Grete Salus described her experience of the sadistic roll calls. Inmates had to stand in rows for several hours, and there were times that entire groups of prisoners due to a particular “offense” were forced to kneel for long hours. Unfortunate individuals were selected to strip themselves naked, and the sick inmates were immediately sent to gas chambers.

Lucie Begov observed that due to long hours of waiting during sadistic roll calls there were detainees who would begin to hallucinate and talk to themselves. On excremental assaults, Begov recalled she was forced to empty large wagons filled with human excrement from latrines all over the camp.

Anja Lundholm is another one from the Holocaust survivors, and she narrated her experience of pointless, hard labor. Prisoners were forced to fill huge containers with sand, saturate them with water to make them heavy, carry them for long distance, and then return them back to their original place. Those who fell out of exhaustion were beaten to death.

Lundhom also recalled psychological tortures given to women. They were ordered to go through fruits and vegetables intended for guards and tasked to throw away the spoiled ones. On penalty of death, they were forbidden to eat any of them, but since they were starving some women would give in to their hunger resulting to severe penalty.

Ruth Kluger recorded her observation of inmates who lost the will to survive, withdraw from what was happening, and turned insanly. Since they were no longer functional, they were sent to gas chambers to be exterminated.

Officers and guards of concentration camps were masters of inventing new forms of tortures. They preferred to assign tasks appropriately described as more of psychological in nature than physical ones. The primary purpose of all these barbaric treatments was to dehumanize and degrade the prisoners for them to give up the will to survive.

However, despite extreme sufferings, prisoners were able to maintain their human dignity through religion, literature, and informal instruction. Informal discussion groups were organized to receive appropriate words like the belief that the Nazi would not last forever. Recollecting favorite books, reciting memorized poems, storing original poems to memory were used to defeat fear and for motivation that continually living amidst miseries was a worthwhile goal. Even writing of autobiographies was really an act of courage. All of these tools helped Holocaust survivors to maintain their humanity, their will to survive, and their lessons to give succeeding generations not to repeat such dark pages in human history.

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The list of names propagating Holocaust denial includes Willis Carto, Revilo P. Oliver, Robert Faurisson, Arthur Butz, David Irving, Henri Roques, Bradley Smith, Mark Weber, Ernst Zundel, and David McCalden. Even though these people were considered propagandists by mainstream scholarship and lacking the necessary academic credentials, the issues they raised became central on the debate about the very existence of the Holocaust itself.

The first issue is about the absence of a unified master plan to annihilate the Jews. It is argued that there is no sufficient evidence that Hitler ordered the extermination of the Jews. Despite of the seizure of tons of German documents after World War 2, no one can identify the existence of such document.

Holocaust proponent responds that lack of a single document does not mean absence of annihilation plan. The mass murder of the Jews should be understood as a gradual process developed out of numerous directives. Hitler’s speeches on several occasions revealed his real intent against the Jews and the Holocaust was just realization of those speeches.

Holocaust denial also capitalizes on the absence of gas chambers in concentration camps proving that genocide did not really happen. It was claimed that sources for the study of gas chambers were unreliable. Testimonies of such gas chambers remain in memory of survivors and most of what was known happened during postwar trials. Deniers assert that such sources were largely influenced by subjective and complex factors.

Among the issues raised by Holocaust deniers, the absence of gas chambers was easily dismissed by numerous evidences about its existence. The fact remains that gas chambers were the primary tools used to execute the Jews during the Holocaust.

The credibility of the outcome of Nuremberg trial is also in question. The confessions of Rudolf Hoss, commandant of Auschwitz before the Nuremberg international military tribunal were considered false, for they were obtained by beating Hoss himself and threatening his family.

Holocaust advocates responded to this by explaining that the procedure in prosecuting Nazi war criminals was lengthy and complex. Differing legal traditions and political agendas were represented. The defendants had access to 206 attorneys and 136 of whom came from Nazi party. If ever there were excesses, it was on the side of too much leniency toward the Nazis.

Holocaust denial includes the unreliability of the testimony of survivors among its issues. It was contended that objective documentation proving the genocide was non-existent. These revisionist scholars proposed that the testimonies of survivors should be settled through free inquiry and open debate for the public to know what really happened to European Jews during World War 2.

On the other hand, refuters claim that no serious Holocaust scholar has entirely depended on survivors’ testimony as conclusive evidence. Instead, they based their conclusion on primary sources including German documents, numerous published sources, writings of Nazi policy makers, and large volume of correspondence.

The primary issue central to Holocaust denial is the lack of basis for the death of six million Jews. Various sources conjecture different data such as 5.1 million and 4.6 million. Even the statistical death from Auschwitz differs. The Allied forces reported 4 million deaths. This was contradicted by revisionists and gave different figures like 1.1 million, 775,000, and 120,000.

Defenders of Holocaust claim that revisionists manipulate relevant references claiming that Jewish population remained stable before and after World War 2. This made the 6 million deaths a fabrication. Refuting this claim, demographic studies of European Jewry demonstrated that nearly 6 million Jews perished under Nazi’s control. Many scholars have confirmed this number. After nearly 50 years of study, many historians agree about the essential accuracy of this data.

After knowing the basic issues denying the Holocaust and their refutation, one wonders about the difference in report. Which camp serves as faithful reporters of historical evidences? Is it the camp of Holocaust denial or the camp of those who affirm it?

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