Hello, I am hoping to get clarification from this forum, on my posted thread title. Why didn't the Germans set up concentration/prison camps in western Europe; i.e. Belgium, France, while they had numerous prison/death camps in the east; i.e. Poland, USSR? Did the Germans feel they could control communications more successfully in the East, vs the West? Thank you. Regards, Easy Company
I think it it'll be more interesting to understand why all the labor camps situated in Germany and most of all the concentration camps were in Poland! German production lines demanded more labors and it surprisingly increased by the end of '43 and onwards; for which They setup labor camps within Germany. Poland was found very suitable since : ** Its remoteness ** Higher Jewish population ** East European rail roots been extremely busy to carried out Nazi War Effort, rather then carrying in Jews !
Also there was a high degree of anti-Jewish sentiment in Poland. Historically parts of Poland was German. Remember there was a time when Poland did not exist as a political entity but was divided between Germany, Austro-Hungaria and Russia. And as a part of the masterplan as revealed in "My Struggle" (Mein Kamph) there was to eventually be resettlement of German-Aryans onto the fertile lands to the East of Germania.
I would suggest that making the detection of the camps difficult for RAF/US aircraft by virtue of their distance from the UK, together with the fact they could not be kept secret if they were in occupied Western Europe had a lot to do with it. Eastern Europe had a lot of remote, reasonably low populated area's where these camps could be built without advertising it to the allies.
I agree to both of you. If we go through the Holocaust Timeline, we see how the Nazis started their activities there in Poland, just before and immediate after dividing The Country with Soviet Russia, by the end of Sep'39. Notable date lines for the thread here to follow since Mid Oct'38. Der Stumer (Nazi newspaper) wrote ........."" ...... Jewish people ought to be exterminated root and branch ...... "" not to mention .... there in Poland! Members, who are interested, may look into :: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html
I would have to say racial beliefs of the SS had a play in the decision of the locations of the facilities mentioned. The SS considered the Eastern people inferior Untermenchen, thus the camps less off an eye sore for them as apposed to the western peoples of Europe. A greater population of Jews in the east may have been a factor in considering location of the camps as well. All reasons stated are sound in my opinion.
