Extermination camp

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/extermination-camp

1. What is the number of designated extermination camps?
2. What is the geographic focus?
3. What were extermination camps and how were they different from concentration camps?
4. Why did the Nazis build extermination camps in remote places with railway access?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the number of designated extermination camps?Six primary extermination camps (Vernichtungslager) were operated by Nazi Germany
2. What is the geographic focus?Primarily located in German-occupied Poland
3. What were extermination camps and how were they different from concentration camps?Extermination camps were built only to kill people, while concentration camps also had work, imprisonment, and terror. They were called Vernichtungslager in German.
4. Why did the Nazis build extermination camps in remote places with railway access?Remote areas made it easier to keep the camps secret, and trains could bring many people there quickly and quietly.

Vernichtungslager: German term for extermination camp, a facility designed for mass murder.
Aktion T4: Nazi program of systematic, state-sanctioned murder of disabled individuals.
Antisemitism: Hostility to, prejudice toward, or discrimination against Jews.