Prelude to terror - early concentration camps under National Socialism

Over 90 years ago, on January 30, 1933, the National Socialists took over the government in Germany. They established a terrorist dictatorship and disenfranchised, persecuted and murdered millions of people.
The concentration camps (KZ) played a central role in enforcing and securing National Socialist rule. Today, many people know the names of the large concentration or extermination camps such as Buchenwald or Auschwitz, but few have ever heard of early concentration camps such as Ahrensbök or Breitenau.

The early concentration camps were set up in the first few months of the Nazi dictatorship and some were closed again after just a few weeks or months. The National Socialist regime tested instruments of violence there. The path to mass murder by the millions was not yet mapped out, but it was paved. The early concentration camps marked the beginning of the terror.

At eleven themed stations, the "Prelude to Terror" exhibition sheds light on the role and function of the early concentration camps during the National Socialist era. Using numerous biographies of those persecuted, it shows how these camps contributed to the establishment and safeguarding of National Socialist rule. The starting point is formed by the 15 camps commemorated in the memorials participating in the exhibition. They are exemplary for the more than 90 early concentration camps in the German Reich.

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