Key Points
Establishment
Sachsenhausen was opened in July 1936 and was one of the first camps built specifically for political dissidents. It initially housed communists, socialists, and other opponents of the Nazi regime.
Imprisoned Population
Over its years of operation, Sachsenhausen held approximately 200,000 people, including Roma and Sinti, male homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other groups targeted by the Nazis. The number of Jews in Sachsenhausen varied over the course of the camp's existence but ranged from 21 at the beginning of 1937 to 11,100 at the beginning of 1945. In the latter phases of the war, Poles, Hungarians, and Soviet POWs were sent to the camp. Many of the Soviets were shot upon arrival. In 1937, the SS constructed a cell block for the punishment, interrogation, and torture of individuals. Prominent figures included Pastor Martin Niemöller, former Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, Georg Elser, Herschel Grynszpan, and Joseph Stalin's son, Yakov Dzhugashvili.
Conditions
The camp was known for its harsh conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate food, forced labor, and severe mistreatment by guards. Many people died from exhaustion, disease, malnutrition, pneumonia, abuse, and medical experiments.
Medical Experiments
German scientists and medical researchers conducted medical experiments on people in Sachsenhausen. SS doctors conducted around 40 different types of experiments, including sterilizations, castrations, hepatitis experimentation, the insertion of infectious material into incisions of the muscle, and the testing of the effects of potassium cyanide, phosphorus, and other toxins on the human body. These experiments were conducted without consent and often led to suffering and death.
Forced Labor
The SS authorities forced the incarcerated individuals to perform hard labor. Before the outbreak of the war, camp authorities assigned work detachments largely to construction and industrial sites in the vicinity of the camp. Many imprisoned people worked in a brick factory. During the war, forced labor utilizing people imprisoned in concentration camps became increasingly important in German armaments production.
Imprisoned artisans were forced to work in a currency counterfeiting operation producing forged United States and British currency with the goal of undermining those countries’ economies, which was known as Operation Bernhard. Germans introduced fake British £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes into circulation in 1943: the Bank of England never found them. Plans had been made to drop British pounds over London by plane.
Extermination Operations
In the autumn of 1941, the SS murdered at least 10,000 Soviet POWs, many of whom were Jews. About six months later, in the spring of 1942, an extermination unit was built in the industrial yard, with a gas chamber added in 1943.
Liberation
As the Soviet army drew closer to the camp in late April 1945, the SS evacuated some 33,000 people who were sent on a forced march northwest. The SS shot those unable to keep up. Thousands of individuals died on these Death Marches. On April 22, 1945, units of the Soviet and Polish armies liberated the approximately 3,000 emaciated and sick people, many of whom were suffering from the effects of malnutrition and disease.
