Death Camps vs Concentration Camps
A Death Camp is a place where individuals are collectively sent to be killed, as soon as possible after arrival. A Concentration Camp is a place where individuals are kept and utilized in any way possible. They are given slave-like working conditions, and the food/water supply is limited; torture and pain is the order of the day.
The earliest and biggest death camp initiative has been the crusades, where people were simply butchered at first sight. Over 52 million people were killed in those dark ages. ‘The Camp’ is an invention of the United States of America. In the 1700’s it massacred and enslaved members of the Cherokee Tribe, and made them march 1400 miles to Oklahoma. Then later, the same thing in South Africa, against the indigenous African people, by the British, and the same atrocities were also repeated by American soldiers against Japanese citizens in WW2.
In either case, people arrived there as a result of being conquered by a foreign power, or as a POW fighting a military war. The conditions won’t be according to the Geneva Convention at all. The places where the laws are followed, are called POW camps, or Prisoner Of War camps, and these places are usually filled with opposing soldiers. After cease-fire, all sides exchange POWs. Those who are unfortunate, and not exchanged due to the lack of available POWs on their side, are then sent to what could be called either a Death Camp or a Concentration Camp, depending upon the speed at which your body, as well as your soul, are torn apart. People arrive at a Death Camp as a heterogeneous group, i.e. no sorting or cleaning is required, and they are simply killed right after their arrival by a variety of possible means ‘“ guns, guns to the back of the head, mass beheading while they are on their knees, being placed in graves and set on fire, etc. Mass graves usually mark an abandoned death or concentration camp.
At the Concentration Camp the arrival is different. People are first of all divided into groups. They are then further classified into various work types, and assigned strict duties, which are always guarded by armed soldiers, who could slam the butt of the gun on a person’s temple at a moment’s notice. Most inmates at the concentration camp are stripped naked on arrival, shaved completely, put under a high pressured water pipe, and then showered with germicidal powder. They are then given identification uniforms and put into bunks. The shaving is necessary to prevent the growth of lice, which always infests such places in any part or country of the world.
Summary:
1. Staying alive at a Death Camp is almost impossible, unless you are recruited to help exterminate others of your clan.
2. Staying alive at a Concentration Camp is possible if you work, but you will ultimately die if you do not escape, or are not released or rescued.