"The three major camps in the Nazi concentration camp system in Germany were Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp in the state of Bavaria. Located just outside Munich, it was opened on March 22, 1933, less than two months after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Also in 1933, another camp was built at Oranienburg, 35 kilometers north of Berlin. The Oranienburg camp was rebuilt in 1936 and named Sachsenhausen. Buchenwald was built just outside the city of Weimar in 1937, and its first prisoners were transferred there from Sachsenhausen.

All three of these camps were built to imprison the opponents of Fascism and all three were located in areas which were hotbeds of Communist and Social Democrat political activity."