Revier was a term
used in Nazi camps to designate the medical facility for inmates. It was abbreviated from the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
word (
infirmary
Infirmary may refer to:
*Historically, a hospital, especially a small hospital
*A first aid room in a school, prison, or other institution
*A dispensary (an office that dispenses medications)
*A clinic
A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambul ...
). The Reviers were managed by
Capos who most often did not have medical training. The conditions in reviers varied drastically,
in most camps, a trip to the Revier was virtually a death sentence.
Extermination camps
In
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...
s (as well as in many
labor camp
A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
s, where
extermination through labor was practiced) the name revier was immediately associated with death in many respects. Death was to be expected immediately upon entrance to a revier: An "insufficiently" sick person could be classified as
malingerer, who was avoiding labor. The penalty was death. Even being admitted into the revier gave little hope: while the medical personnel (inmates) could be highly qualified doctors, they could not offer any help beyond very basic
first aid
First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...
. For example, the supply of
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
was very limited. In addition, rations for the sick were lower than for the inmates who could work and no
hygiene
Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...
was maintained. Finally, at any moment the residents of a revier were subject to extermination for various reasons (e.g. a threat of an
epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...
, due to overcrowding or deemed incurably sick).
References
{{reflist
Sources
Medicine in the concentration camps of the Third Reich
Terminology of Nazi concentration camps