Concentration Camps Inspectorate

Concentration Camps Inspectorate

Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße in Berlin, 1933. The CCI moved into these offices in May 1934
Operation
Formed	May 1934
Disbanded	1945

The Concentration Camps Inspectorate (CCI) or in German, IKL (Inspektion der Konzentrationslager) was the central SS administrative and managerial authority for the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Created by Theodor Eicke, it was originally known as the "General Inspection of the Enhanced SS-Totenkopfstandarten", after Eicke's position in the SS. It was later integrated into the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt as "Amt D".

SS-Oberführer Theodor Eicke, became commandant of Dachau concentration camp on 26 June 1933. His form of organization at Dachau stood as the model for all later concentration camps. Eicke claimed the title of "Concentration Camps Inspector" for himself after May 1934. As part of the disempowerment of the SA through murder during the "Night of the Long Knives" he had personally shot Ernst Röhm on 1 July 1934.

The factional police functions of the SS was dissolved on 20 July 1934 with the subordination of the SA. Shortly thereafter, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler officially named Eicke "Concentration Camps Inspector" and promoted him to the rank of SS-Gruppenführer in command of the SS-Wachverbände. Additionally, the Concentration Camps Inspectorate (CCI) was established as a department for Eicke. These had had a de facto existence beginning May 1934. The CCI moved into offices at the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8 in Berlin. The CCI was subordinate to the SD and Gestapo only in regards to who was admitted to the camps and who was released. What happened inside the camps was under the command of the CCI.