Final answer:
The concentration camps during Nazi Germany were unspeakably brutal, serving as sites of detention, forced labor, and mass extermination for over six million Jews and other minorities. Auschwitz was the most notorious, combining both immediate death for most and slave labor for some. Upon liberation, Allied troops discovered the extent of the horrors, leading to evidence for war crime trials.
Step-by-step explanation:
During World War II, concentration camps were established by Nazi Germany as places of detention, forced labor, and mass execution. Controlled by the SS, these camps were often unsanitary, inadequately supplied, and the scenes of horrendous human rights abuses. The majority of the camps served dual purposes as both labor and death camps. Over six million Jewish people and millions from other minority groups were systematically exterminated through methods such as gas chambers and mass shootings.
The most notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz, was comprised of both extermination and labor facilities. At this camp, approximately 80% of new arrivals were sent directly to their deaths, with the remaining 20% temporarily forced into slave labor. In other camps like Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec, victims were mainly murdered upon arrival. Shockingly, the survival rate from these camps was astoundingly low, with the exception of a small number who survived due to slave revolts.
As when Allied troops began liberating camps, the true extent of the horrors revealed left a long-lasting psychological impact on the world. Liberators provided immediate assistance to survivors and collected evidence for subsequent war crime trials. However, much of the exact experiences and the total death toll in the camps remain elusive and deeply complex.