3. Perpetrators

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the role of the SS in running the concentration camp system. We begin by examining the establishment of the camps as permanent institutions under SS management in 1935. Then, we consider the expansion of the concentration camp system across Nazi-ruled territory during World War Two and think about the main reasons for this expansion. Finally, we look at the SS guards themselves, exploring their backgrounds and possible motivations for participating in the crimes committed inside the Nazi concentration camps.

To find out more about the history of the Nazi concentration camp system, visit this free online resource hosted by Birkbeck, University of London.

Course

In this course, Professor Nik Wachsmann (Birkbeck, University of London) explores the history of the Nazi concentration camps. We begin with a general introduction to the Nazi concentration camp system in module one. The second module considers the origins of the camp system in more detail, focussing in particular on the emergence of the early camps after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. In the third module, we think about the role of the SS in running the camps and explore possible reasons that motivated the perpetrators’ actions, before moving on in the fourth module to the experience of the prisoners inside the camp. The fifth module considers the role such camps as Auschwitz played in the Holocaust. Module six concludes the course with a discussion of the relationship between the Nazi concentration camps and the contemporary public.

To find out more about the history of the Nazi concentration camp system, visit this free online resource hosted by Birkbeck, University of London.

Lecturer

Professor Wachsmann joined the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck in 2005. He previously worked as a research fellow at Downing College (University of Cambridge) and as a lecturer at the University of Sheffield.