Sachsenhausen is a district of Oranienburg, about 33 km north of Berlin. In 1936, the Sachsenhausen concentration camp was established there. It served as a site of forced labor, imprisonment, and violence against people persecuted by the Nazi regime, including political opponents, Jewish people, LGBTQ+ individuals, Sinti and Roma, people with disabilities, individuals marginalized as 'social outsiders' and many others, especially from occupied countries during the war. Thousands were victims of murder and brutal abuse.
Before Sachsenhausen, in 1933, the first state concentration camp was set up in Oranienburg. This camp mainly held political opponents and was later used for Nazi propaganda. It closed in 1934, and many prisoners were transferred elsewhere. Sachsenhausen later became a central camp in the Nazi system, used for SS training and forced labor in industries like brickworks and arms production. In 1945, as the war ended, many prisoners were forced on death marches. Soviet troops liberated the remaining inmates on April 22, 1945.
After the war, part of the site was used as a Soviet special camp. Today, Sachsenhausen is a memorial and museum dedicated to remembering the victims. More information is available at :https://www.sachsenhausen-sbg.de/en/