Camp Language

Language In Concentration, Labor and Death Camps

There were 44,000 Concentration Camps; 35,000 Forced Labor Camps and 6 Death Camps in German-Occupied Europe during World War 2.

German-Occupied Europe included: The British Channel Islands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Czechoslovakia (Present Day: the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Italy, Norway, Denmark, Albania, Hungary, Romania, Poland, French Tunisia (Present Day: Tunisia), French Algeria (Present Day: Algeria), Greece, Yugoslavia (Present Day: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro), Monaco, Finland and the Soviet Union (Present Day: Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus – there are more Countries of the Former Soviet Union, but these are the only ones occupied by the Germans during the War.)

In every single one of the Concentration, Labor and Death Camps in German-Occupied Europe during World War 2 the “Official Language” was German.

There were a total of 15 Million Men, Women and Children held in German Concentration and Death Camps (this doesn’t include the Men, Women and Children who arrived at the Camp and were immediately gassed to death  - only those admitted and registered to the Camp.)

There were a total of 26 Million Men, Women and Children held in German Forced Labor Camps.

Prisoners knew approximately 40 Different Mother Languages other than German at any one Concentration or Death Camp.

It did not matter if the German Concentration Camp was in France, Norway, Yugoslavia or in Poland the German Language was the only means of Communication allowed.

If a Prisoner did not speak and understand German it could mean their death.

German was used by all the German Officials (the SS, Wehrmacht, etc.), the German Collaborator Guards (Russians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Norwegians, Dutch, French, etc.) and the Kapos (Prisoners who ensured the Barracks were clean, the Other Prisoners behaved, Punishments were done and the Forced Labor was carried out) to give orders and punishments.

Many of the Non-German Collaborator Guards and the Prisoner Kapos did not understand German before entering the Camps and so they had to also learn  German in order to speak to the German Officials and to give their Orders to the Prisoners.

A Prisoner could only speak to a Camp Official in German.

All Prisoner Mail had to be written in German.

A Prisoner had to memorize their Camp Number in German and recite it to any Camp Official at any time (Morning Roll-Call, Afternoon Roll-Call, during a Selection, etc.)

In most Concentration, Labor and Death Camps a Pidgin German (called "Lagerszpracha”) was often used mixing German with whatever Language the Prisoner Spoke between the Prisoners themselves.

Jews in Eastern Europe (especially Poland) who spoke Yiddish as their Mother Language had better odds of surviving a Concentration Camp since Spoken Yiddish is close to Spoken German (but not Written Yiddish which using the Hebrew Alphabet whereas Written German uses the Latin Alphabet.)

13 Million Jewish Men, Women and Children spoke Yiddish as either their Mother Language or their Second Language in 1939.

Non-Jewish Prisoners (especially the Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, Italians, French and Greeks) rarely understood German before entering the Concentration, Labor or Death Camp and so had a much harder time understanding the Orders given to them and the whole Camp System leading to higher proportions of them killed (after being registered into the Camp.)

Jewish Prisoners (especially from France, Greece, Hungary and Italy) rarely understood German before entering the Concentration, Labor or Death Camp and so had a much harder time understanding the Orders given to them and the whole Camp System (after being registered into the Camp.)

You could be beaten, tortured or killed for not quickly carrying out an Order screamed at you in German (ie. “Hats Off!”, “Hats On!”, “Faster!”, etc.)

When a large Transport came from a certain Country to a German Death Camp the Germans oftentimes used Prisoner Interpreters who spoke both German and whatever Language of the arriving Transport to speed things up.

This was done in the 6 Death Camps of Chełmno, Bełżec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau so that the newly Arrived Men, Women and Children would be reassured and quickly go from Selection to Undressing to Death in the Gas Chamber in an hour. Language In Concentration, Labor and Death Camps

After the War many Former Prisoners (including those whose Mother Language was German) refused to speak the German Language or listen to anything in German (Movies, TV Shows, Music, etc.) because it reminded them of the horrors they had experienced.