tljConcentration+camps

A clear distinction must be observed between the death camps, or killing centers, and the concentration camps. In some sense, all of the concentration camps, and there were hundreds of them, were death camps in that thousands of inmates died of starvation, being worked to death, exposure to the elements, epidemics and disease, or simply being executed for alleged crimes. However, the camps are classified on the basis of their primary, or intended, function. Many of the camps were established early in the Nazi regime under the "Protective Custody" law of February 28, 1933 which authorized the police to make arrests on suspicion of criminal activity and incarcerated without benefit of legal counsel or trial. The first such camp was created at Dachau near Munich in the south (1933). In that same year, Buchenwald was established near Weimar in the central part of Germany and Sachsenhausen, near Berlin, in the north. Additional camps were constructed between 1934 and 1941 as the need for them rapidly increased. The first inmates of these camps were Communists, democrats, socialists, political criminals, homosexuals and, of course, Jews.