25 September 2009, German Historical Institute London

At this conference at the German Historical Institute participants of the major AHRC project ‘Before the Holocaust: Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany 1933-1939’ will present some results of their research and discuss them with some leading scholars. Papers will focus on the development of the concentration camp system, the changing function of the camps within the Nazi dictatorship, the experience of different inmate groups, Camp SS personnel and the relationship between the camps and the German population. This research hopes to shed new light on the intricate relationship between terror, state and society in the Third Reich. It also seeks to uncover the foundations of the wartime concentration camps – sites of slave labour and mass extermination.

Keynote lecture:

Professor Richard Overy (Exeter)
The German Pre-War Concentration Camps: Context and Explanation PODCAST available at: http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2009/09/before-the-holocaust-concentration-camps-in-nazi-germany-1933-1939/ and
Dr Nik Wachsmann: Before the Holocaust: The Nazi concentration camps, 1933-39
PODCAST available at: http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2009/09/nik-wachsmann-before-the-holocaust-the-nazi-concentration-camps-1933-39/