Roma were often classified as “criminals” and/or “asocials.”Īlthough in reality most Roma in Germany were settled and somewhat integrated into German society, the SS and police saw them in terms of traditional negative stereotypes of Gypsies as petty criminals and persons who engaged in anti-social behavior. In 1937, there were only four concentration camps in Germany by 1944, there were approximately 30 main camps and hundreds of subcamps located throughout the Greater German Reich and German-occupied Europe.īefore 1938, the vast majority of concentration camp prisoners were political opponents of the Nazi regime with minorities of Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, repeat criminal offenders and so-called asocials. Although the Security Police ( Gestapo and Kripo) had exclusive authority to incarcerate, release, and “officially” order the execution of prisoners, the daily life of prisoners lay in the brutal and merciless hands of the camp commandants and these SS Death's-Head Units, which were not part of the police forces. Units known as SS Death's-Head Units ( SS-Totenkopfverbände) guarded and administered the camps. Himmler established (in the SS Main Office) an SS Inspectorate of Concentration Camps under the leadership of Dachau camp commandant and SS General Theodor Eicke.Īfter 1934, SS officers commanded all concentration camps in Germany and in German-occupied territory. Impressed with the Dachau concentration camp established by the SS in March 1933, Hitler authorized Himmler to centralize these camps under SS leadership. Throughout Germany, various civilian authorities and police agencies had established concentration camps during 1933 to incarcerate political enemies of the Nazi government. In 1933-1934, SS chief Heinrich Himmler secured SS control over a centralized concentration camp system.
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