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The Sachsenhausen Memorial is located in the suburb of Oranienburg, a short train ride to the north of Berlin.
Much of the site has been dismantled. Careful study or the right guide is therefore highly recommended to fully understand what happened here and why.
The darkness first known as Oranienburg Concentration Camp began in 1933 when local SA troops took over an abandoned factory and established the first concentration camp in Prussia. Then it was used mostly to imprison political opposition to the Nazi regime.
In 1936, then Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp became the first SS camp established under Heinrich Himmler and the first purpose-built camp of its kind. It housed the Inspector General, making it the administrative center of the entire concentration camp system. The Forensic Institute there researched killing process efficiency, among other things, and on-site SS training included perfecting methods for subjugation and terror.
At the end of World War II, the prisoners were liberated, but the horror continued under the new name of Soviet Special Camp No. 7.
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