PROBLEMS OF THE CONCENTRATION CAMP SALASPILS HISTORY (1941–1944)
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2017-9-24-30
The article discusses debatable issues related to the history of the Nazi concentration camp Salaspils. Appeal to these problems is relevant in connection with repeated attempts to revise the history of this camp in European historiography, as well as in connection with the lack of Russian generalizing works on Salaspils. The source of the research was unpublished materials of the Extraordinary State Commission (State Archives of the Russian Federation), materials on the criminal case of Friedrich Eckeln (Central Archive of the FSB), Nazi documents on Salaspils (Russian State Military Archive) testimonies of former prisoners kept in the Yad Vashem archives (Jerusalem), as well as published documents. The article examines the status of the Salaspils and proves the term “concentration” in regard to this camp. It means the camp had two main functions – exploitation and destruction of prisoners. The structure of camp management is characterized, as well as the problem of the number of children who have passed through the concentration camp and experiments on them. The number of prisoners and the death toll in the camp are considered. The author concludes that the number of victims in Salaspils could reach the figure indicated by the Extraordinary State Commission – about 50,000 people. About 7,000 of these victims were children.
Keywords: Nazism, Concentration camp, Third Reich, Occupation, Great Patriotic War, Salaspils
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Issue: 9, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 9
Rubric: WORLD HISTORY
Pages: 24 — 30
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