Concentration camps are prison camps in which members of minority groups, political enemies or people of physical irregularity are kept. In most cases it is a permanent imprisonment. The concentration camps of Hitler's era and of the Nazi regime are normally associated with mass death, torture and gruesome scientific experimentation. In reference to the Holocaust, about three fourths of the prisoners were killed never seeing freedom again. The first concentration camps were set up in 1933. In the early days of Hitler, concentration camps were places that held people in protective custody. Victims for protective custody included those who were both physically and mentally ill, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, Jews and anyone against the Nazi regime. Gypsies were classified as people with at least two gypsy great grandparents. By the end of 1933, there were at least fifty concentration camps through out occupied Europe(Israel 152). .
At first, the camps were controlled by the Gestapo (police), but by 1934 the S.S. (Hitler's personal security force) were ordered by Hitler to control the camps(Prince 518). Camps were set up for different purposes. Some for forced labor, others for medical experimentation. Later on, some became death/ extermination facilities. Transition camps were set up as holding places for death camps. Henrick Himmler, chief of the German police, thought that the camps would provide an economic base for the soldiers. This did not happen. The work force was poorly organized and working conditions were inhumane(Williams-Internet). Therefore, productivity was minimal. Camps were set up along railroad lines so that the prisoners would be conveniently close to their deportation destination. As they were being transported, the soldiers kept telling the Jews to have hope. .
On the trains, Jews were starved for days. Many people did not survive the ride to the camp. When the camps were finally opened, most of the families who were shipped out together ended up being separated; males in one camp and females in another.
