Scene during a visit by SS officer Theodor Eicke to the Lichtenburg camp in March 1936.
Lichtenburg was one of the first concentration camps established in Germany were established soon after Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933.
When SS chief leader Heinrich Himmler centralized the administration of the concentration camps and formalized the camp system, he chose SS Lieutenant General Theodor Eicke for the task. Himmler appointed him Inspector of Concentration Camps, a new section of the SS subordinate to the SS Main Office. Eicke had been the commandant of the concentration camp at Dachau since June 1933.