KZ Sachsenhausen

The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is one of the most sobering and emotional things to see in Berlin. It was one of the most infamous camps of the Nazi era. It imprisoned some 200,000 people between 1936 and 1945. The camp originally included only people considered enemies of the Nazi regime but expanded to include those considered racially inferior as well as citizens from occupied European countries. Tens of thousands died of starvation, disease, and mistreatment, or were exterminated. The camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945 and turned into a prison camp until 1950. The mass graves of the prisoners were discovered in 1990, and a museum on the site now documents the history of the two totalitarian regimes that controlled the camp.