The Nazi camps still in existence as memorials and museums.
Visiting Concentration Camp Memorials can be an extremely emotional event. Seeing the place where some of humanity’s worst crimes were committed is not easy. However, it is important to remember the events that took place. A visit to one of these memorials is a sobering testament to man’s inhumanity. And a reminder for us to consider our responsibilities in protecting the rights of all humankind
The memory of what happened to the Holocaust’s six million victims is not lost. Through the work of many of the educational sites listed below continue to discover facts and information about the holocaust covered up or forgotten. The dual purpose of these sites helps to reinforce the importance of the people that were imprisoned in them and the unthinkable amount of lives lost.
“We hope, to share our conviction that when war and genocide unleash hatred against anyone people or peoples, all are ultimately engulfed in the fire.”
President’s Commission on the Holocaust -1978
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”
― Elie Wiesel
writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor
Visiting Concentration Camps from World War II
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
Oswiecim, Poland
Auschwitz was a complex of over 40 concentration and internment camps. It was by 1942 the largest Extermination camp in the Nazi empire. It was a major site in the “Final Solution” the Nazi plan to murder European Jews. Auschwitz is broken down into 3 main camps Auschwitz-I, Auschwitz-II, and Auschwitz-III with many sub-camps surrounding them. Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror all over the world and visiting the massive complex today is a reminder of an almost unthinkable past.
The Offical Auschwitz Website and tours can be found here.
http://auschwitz.org/en/history/
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
Dachau, Bavaria, Germany
The Dachau concentration camp was set up just weeks after Adolf Hitler had been appointed Reich Chancellor in 1933. The camps were set up to hold “political Prisoners” but quickly developed into a forced labor camp and grew in size to over 100 sub-camps. The camp was used as a model for all other Nazi forced labor camps, It was also used as a “school of violence” for the SS Nazi forces. 200,000 people were imprisoned here from 1933 until the American liberation in 1945. After the war, the camp served various purposes including an American Military base until 1965 when it became a memorial.
You can visit the Official Dachau Concentration Camp webpage and find tours here.
https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/en/
Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum
Oranienburg, Germnay
The Sachsenhausen Concentration camp was the closest to the Nazi capital of Berlin and held prisoners that the Third Reich wanted dead. The camp operated from 1936 until the end of the war in 1945. The camp was then reused by the Soviets from 1945 -1950 who also committed crimes against humanity at the camp. The camp is now a memorial open to visitors and also acts as a research center. Our trained and Sachsenhausen Liscneds guides offer the best way to see the camp. Private Sachsenhausen tours can be found here, and open daily tours here. The official Sachsenhausen website can be found here. https://www.sachsenhausen-sbg.de/
Mauthausen Memorial
Mauthausen, Austria
Located just outside the Austrian city of Linz. Mauthausen Concentration camp was the main camp of over 100 other sub-camps located throughout northern Austria and Germany. It operated during the time of the Nazi- Austrian agreement called the Anschluss, from August 1938 to May 1945. The camp became one of the largest forced labor camps in the German-controlled part of Europe. It was also one of the very last to be liberated. The camp was declared a national memorial site in 1949. and 30 years after its liberation the Mauthausen Museum was opened.
You can visit the Offical Mauthausen Memorial website and find tours here.
https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/en
Terezín Memorial
Terezín, Czech Republic
Terezin is a former Military fortress that turned into a concentration camp under Nazi occupation of Czech lands. In 1939 the Prague Gestapo Police prison was set up in the fortress and later in 1941, a Jewish ghetto was created. The camp was not built as an extermination camp but the conditions lead to over 33,000 deaths with many prisoners later being transported to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. The Czech government retained a military garrison on the site until 1996. When the fortress was decommissioned and abandoned. However, in 1994 a permanent exhibition was installed and today the site is a memorial, museum, and also acts as a research center.
you can visit the official website of the Terezin Memorial and Museum here.
https://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/
Treblinka extermination camp
Wólka Okrąglik, Poland
The Treblinka camp was located in the forest east of Warsaw. It operated from 23 July 1942 until 19 October 1943. The camp was made and used for operation Reinhard a deadly phase of the “final solution.” The Nazi plan was to exterminate Polish Jews in the General Government district of German-occupied Poland. In the 16 months of operation, it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers. A larger estimation than any other Nazi Concentration camp outside of Auschwitz. After the war, in 1959 the Polish Government set up a large stone memorial consisting of over 17,000 stones. Later in 1964, Treblinka was declared a national monument of Jewish martyrdom. Today, there is an exhibition center at the camp and it is a branch of the Siedlce Regional Museum. You can visit the official Museum website here.
https://muzeumtreblinka.eu/en/for-visitors/
We hope you found this article on Visiting Concentration Camps from World War II helpful. For our Sachsenhausen and other tours check out our main private tour page