Abstract
Most concentration camp inmates were political opponents, so-called
enemies of the race, common criminals, homosexuals, or “asocials” whom
the Nazi leadership would not tolerate in the new German national
community [Volksgemeinschaft]. The
goal was not to rehabilitate prisoners, but rather to punish them by
means of daily humiliation, arbitrary violence, and forced labor.
Additionally, camps were supposed to have a deterrent effect on the rest
of the population. The surveillance, torture, and exploitation of
inmates was carried out by special SS units, the so-called SS Death’s
Head Units [Totenkopfverbände or
SSTV] under the leadership of Theodor Eickes.