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

Location:

Etter Mountain near Weimar, Germany

Original use:

Constructed by Nazis in 1937

Operational:

July 1937 - April 1945

Operated by:

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

Commandants:

SS Sturmbannführer Jacob Weiseborn
(1937)

SS Obersturmbannführer Karl Otto Koch
(1937 – 1942)

SS Standartenführer Hermann Pister
(1942 – 1945)

Head Supervisor [of women] (and wife of Karl Otto Koch) Ilse Koch
(1937 – 1941)

Estimated deaths:

56,545 Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes, religious and political prisoners, Roma and Gypsies, Jehova Witnesses, criminals, homosexuals and prisoners of war

Liberated:

April 11, 1945 by US 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, U.S. 6th Armored Division, US Third Army