Death camp
A death camp (extermination camp or death factory) is a concentration camp which has been deliberately set up in order to kill those imprisoned there; such camps are not intended as punishment for criminal actions, rather, they are intended to facilitate genocide. The most famous death camps are the Nazi Vernichtungslagern, used during World War II. The term is sometimes used to describe concentration camps which opponents wish to deride, such as the Guantanamo Bay military prison. The term has also been applied to refugee camps, which have suffered a relatively high mortality rate.
Nazi Germany
The death camps of Nazi Germany were part of the Holocaust and "Endlösung" (final solution), a systematic industrialized killing of Communists, Gypsys, Homosexuals, Jews, and other groups. Approximately 12 million people were killed in the camps, about half of those individuals were Jewish. Unlike concentration and slave labour camps, such as Dachau, where there was a great deal of starvation and ill treatment, the extermination camps were designed specifically for execution via gas chambers (or other means).
All six German extermination camps were built in occupied Poland. Of these, Auschwitz and Chelmno were located within western Poland - the other four were located within the General Government area.
Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibór were constructed as part of Operation Reinhard.
Croatia
The Croat Ustaše regime also operated a death camp, at Jasenovac.
See also: Holocaust denial
