July 12, 1936
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Opens
Historical context
On this day, July 12, 1936, the SS transferred 50 prisoners from Esterwegen to begin building Sachsenhausen, the principal camp for the Berlin area.
Archive record
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- Date
- July 12, 1936
- Verified sources
- 1
- Archive threads
- 4
On this day, the SS transferred 50 prisoners from Esterwegen to a site near Oranienburg, north of Berlin, to begin building Sachsenhausen. USHMM dates that transfer, and the camp’s opening, to 12 July 1936. By the end of the year the camp held about 1,600 prisoners. It became the principal concentration camp for the Berlin area and later a training site for SS guards.
More than 200,000 people were imprisoned there between 1936 and 1945. After Kristallnacht about 6,000 Jewish men were sent to Sachsenhausen. Estimates of Soviet prisoners of war killed there range from 11,000 to 18,000. The Red Army reached the camp in April 1945.
Research trail
Sources and further reading
- Sachsenhausen · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · Holocaust Encyclopedia View source
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