Shortly after the Nazi rise to power and the Reichstag Fire, they arrested thousands of their opponents. The scale of these arrests led to the creation of early concentration camps to hold the prisoners.
The early concentration camps primarily held political prisoners as the Nazis sought to remove opposition, such as socialists and communists, and consolidate their power.
In 1933 alone, approximately 200,000 political prisoners were detained.
The early camps were haphazard and varied hugely. This section will explore what these camps looked like, how they were run and how the camp administration and staff treated the prisoners.
