Location:

Oświęcim, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany

Original use:

Army barracks

Operational:

May 1940 – January 1945

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS); the NKVD (after WWII)

Commandants:

SS Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höess
(May 1940 - November 1943)

SS Obersturmbannführer Arthur Liebenschel
(November 1943 - May 1944)

SS Sturmbannführer Friedrich Hartjenstein
(November 1943 - May 1944)

SS Hauptsturmführer Josef Kremer
(May 1944 - November 1944)

SS Sturmbannführer Richard Baer
(May 1944 - January 1945)

Estimated deaths:

1,100,000; mainly Jews, Poles, Roma and Soviet

Liberated:

January 27, 1945 by Soviet troops

Location:

Occupied Poland, 47 miles north of the major city of Lvov

Original use:

Constructed by Germans in 1941 in connection with Aktion
Reinhard, specifically for the murder of Jews

Operational:

October 1941 – June 1943

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS)

Commandants:

SS Sturmbannführer Christian Wirth
(December 1941 – August 1942)

SS Obersturmführer Gottlieb Hering
(August 1942 – December 1942)

SS Unterscharführer Josef Oberhauser
(November 1941 – August 1942)

Estimated deaths:

600,000 Jews, Gypsies, Poles and Roma

Liberated:

Closed by Nazis in 1943 and converted to a farm to disguise the site and prevent locals from digging up human remains

Location:

Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle

Original use:

Originally established as the prisoner of war camp Stalag XI-C, in 1943 it became a concentration camp on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, where Jewish hostages were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war held overseas

Operational:

April 1943 – April 1945

Operated by:

German Schutzstaffel (SS)

Commandants:

SS Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer
(December 1944 – April 1945)

SS Hauptscharführer Ernst Balz
(October 1944 – April 1945)

SS Unterscharführer Karl Egersdörfer
(April 1945)

Irma Grese [over female prisoners]
(March 1945 – April 1945)

Estimated deaths:

50,000 Jews, Czechs, Poles, anti-Nazi Christians, homosexuals, Roma and Gypsies

Liberated:

April 15, 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division