The differing development paths of Second World War concentration camps and the possibility of an application of a principle of equifinality

Although evidence of the existence of Nazi concentration camps had been placed before the Allies during the war, it was not until liberation in the spring of 1945 that the full extent of what had been happening became public knowledge. Initially the camps continued to hold their inmates, ostensibly for medical reasons, but soon they were released. Some camps were then abandoned, but others found new uses, typically as detention camps for Nazi detainees. Westerbork, in The Netherlands, was used for approximately twenty years to house displaced persons from the former Dutch colonies (Land-Weber 1998). One camp – Neuengamme – continues in use as a prison today.