On this day in 1934, the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps was created by SS Chief Heinrich Himmler. SS General Theodor Eicke was appointed as the head of the Inspectorate. This action formalized the SS takeover and centralization of the Nazis’ concentration camp system. Previously, concentration camps that had been created to incarcerate the Nazis’ political enemies were under the control of civilian authorities and the police. The SS created their first concentration camp, Dachau, in 1933. Hitler was impressed by their organization and management and in 1934, authorized the SS, led by Himmler, to take control over all of the concentration camps and centralize them. Once the SS created the Inspectorate of concentration camps, the SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death’s-Head Units) were created to guard the camps. The Gestapo was in charge of choosing who was incarcerated, who was released, and who was officially executed.In 1937 there were only four concentration camps, all in Germany; at the start of World War II, that number increased tremendously. By 1944, over 30 main concentration camps and hundreds of subcamps existed both in Germany and German-occupied territory.