When did the US hear about the Nazi concentration camps?

Answer 1

The first concentration camps were intended mainly for political opponents of the Nazis. One of the very first accounts by Hans Beimler, who escaped from Dachau in May 1933, appeared in the Soviet Union in August 1933 and was translated into several languages, including English. It is a deeply shocking account, which was later supported by the testimony of others. The first news of the extermination camps used largely for mass murder (that is, for the Holocaust) first reached Britain in November 1941 from the Polish Underground. The report related to mass shootings and to Chelmno camp. It met with skepticism in the British Foreign Office. By the spring of 1942 much more information of a similar kind reached Britain and the U.S. However, in both countries the governments were reluctant to publish full details. The motives for this are unclear. Jan Karski, a member of the Polish Underground, who was very well informed about the Holocaust, wrote a book on the subject. It appeared during the war in the U.S. and by the end of the war it had sold about 400,000 copies. Joncey

Answer 2

Usually around an hour or two after arriving to the camps, because within that time period is when they took children under 15 and adults over 40 into "showers" which were really gas chambers. fire and smoke would emit from the chamber after the gas was ignited and people would scream as the gas suffocated them . Then their ashes were dumped behind the buildings. It's pretty gruesome, but because all of the Jews had to wait in line for "showers" whether they liked it or not, it would be hard not to see these key details.

Hope this helped!

Answer 3

1. The existence of concentration camps (punishment and labour camps) was well known already in 1933. One of their key functions at that time was to deter anyone thinking of opposing the Nazis. The existence of camps such as Dachau was never a secret, though precise details of what happened in these camps were not so well known. 2. Information about the existence of extermination camps reached the Allies from December 1941 onwards, but they were very skeptical about the information until mid 1944. 3. On 22 July 1944 the Soviet Army liberated Majdanek - the first major camp to be reached by any of the Allies.

Answer 4

One needs to distinguish between concentration camps and extermination camps. The concentration camps were set up for opponents of the Nazi regime, and an important purpose was to terrify anyone thinking of opposing the Nazis. The existence of these camps was no secret. In fact, Himmler launched the first camp, Dachau, at a press conference in March 1933. Of course, the Nazis denied that they committed atrocities and murders in the camps but made sure that enough information got out. The extermination (death) camps that the Nazis set up in Poland such as Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka II and the Birkenau section of Auschwitz, were 'top secret'. They did their utmost to hush up the Holocaust. However, very few Germans believed that the Jews were really being genuinely 'resettled' in Eastern Europe.

Answer 5

The existence of the Nazi concentration camps were well known. Dachau was launched in 1933 amid much publicity, officially as a 're-education' (!) centre for Communists, Social Democrats and others. Moreover, the Nazi regime made sure enough detail got out to deter most opposition. Obviously, when the concentration camps were liberated the sheer Horror of these places came as a shock. However, the extermination camps - where much of the Holocaust was carried out - were top secret. Reports did, however, reach the Allies, who on the whole didn't want to know about them. On 22 July 1944, the Soviet Army reached Majdanek (just outside Lublin, Poland). One part of the camp was an extremely harsh concentration camp, the other part was an extermination camp ... The Soviet government allowed journalists from the US and Britain to visit the liberated camp ... Gradually, and especially with the trials that followed the end of World War 2, the public became increasingly aware of what had happened in those camps.

Answer 6

The first concentration camp, Dachau, was opened amid considerable publicity on 22 March 1933, and its existence was not secret. It was widely reported outside Germany, too.

The extermination camps, however, were secret. Nevertheless, information did reach Britain and the US about the first extermination camp, Chelmno, in December 1941.

Answer 7

Reports about concentration camps appeared in the American press from about March 1933 onwards. (However, at that stage the camps were for opponents - imaginary as well as real - of the Nazi regime, and it was very rare for people to be sent to concentration camps simply for being Jews. The Nazis did, however, have a particular preoccupation with Jews in the media, so Jewish journalists tended to be sent to camps from the outset). Contrary to a widespread misconception ordinary concentration camps, like Dachau, were not secret, though details of what went on in these camps was supposed to be 'hush-hush'.

Regular reports about the Nazi extermination of the Jewsappeared in the American media from about November/December 1942 on. (The government received reports somewhat earlier). The first reports about extermination camps reached the British and US governernments in December 1941, but were treated with skepticism.

Answer 8

The first Nazi concentration camp opened on 22 March 1933 in Dachau, near Munich. It was intended as a punishment and murder camp for opponents of the regime.

Answer 9

The US did know about the concentration camps prior to Pearl Harbor, they just did nothing about it.