Extent of Nazi Camps Far Greater Than Realized

[IndianaGreen]

What we are seeing in this project is that all of Europe was a camp."

Extent of Nazi Camps Far Greater Than Realized

Decade-Long Study by Holocaust Museum Scholars Could Alter Public Understanding

By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 4, 2009

A little more than a decade ago, researchers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum decided to create an encyclopedia of concentration camps. They assumed the finished work would be massive, featuring a staggering 5,000 to 7,000 camps and ghettos.

They underestimated by 15,000.

Their ultimate count of more than 20,000 camps -- which they reached after a year of research -- is far more than most scholars had known existed and might reshape public understanding of the scope of the Holocaust itself.

"What's going to happen is that the mental universe of how scholars operate is going to change," said Steven Katz, director of Boston University's Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies. "Instead of thinking of main death camps, people are going to understand that this was a continent-wide phenomenon."

The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos: 1933-1945 "is the first major reference work for Holocaust studies since . . . the fall of the U.S.S.R." and the opening of many European archives, says Paul Shapiro, director of the museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. As a result, more information was available to researchers than had ever been before. Scholars chased footnotes in old books and used Internet mailing lists to find historians who might possess tiny pieces of the puzzle. Volume 1 is scheduled for release June 12.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060303690.html?nav=hcmodule

[KatyMan]

1. Thanks IndianaGreen

for all of the articles posted, all very interesting and informative.

[MadMaddie]

2. This means for every Nazi guard that has been arrested and

prosecuted there are many others that will never be prosecuted for their crimes.

I have always believed the German people knew exactly what was going on in their backyards and they benefited from it.

I am sure there will be more information uncovered.