Nazi activism, early SS membership, and exile Eicke's views on the Weimar Republic mirrored those of the
Nazi Party, which he joined as member number 114,901 on 1 December 1928; he also joined the
Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi Party's
paramilitary street organization led by
Ernst Röhm. Eicke left the SA by August 1930 to join the
Schutzstaffel (SS) as member number 2,921, where he quickly rose in rank after recruiting new members and building up the SS organization in the Bavarian
Palatinate. In 1931, Eicke was promoted to the rank of SS-
Standartenführer (equivalent to
colonel) by
Heinrich Himmler, the
Reichsführer of the SS. In early 1932, his political activities caught the attention of his employer IG Farben, who subsequently terminated his employment. At the same time, he was caught preparing bomb attacks on political enemies in
Bavaria for which he received a two-year prison sentence in July 1932. However, due to protection received from the Bavarian Minister of Justice
Franz Gürtner, a Nazi sympathizer who would later serve as
minister of justice under
Adolf Hitler, Eicke was able to avoid his sentence and flee to
Italy on orders from
Heinrich Himmler. Italy at the time was already a
fascist state under the rule of
Benito Mussolini, and Eicke was entrusted by Himmler with running a "terrorist training camp for
Austrian Nazis" at
Lake Garda, and once even had the privilege of "showing Italian dictator Benito Mussolini around." On 28 October 1932, he officially met with Italian Fascists in the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the
March on Rome, at the newly erected
Bolzano Victory Monument.
Return to Germany In March 1933, less than three months after
Hitler's rise to power, Eicke returned to Germany. Upon his return, Eicke had political quarrels with
Gauleiter Joseph Bürckel, who had him arrested and detained for several months in a
mental asylum in
Würzburg. During his stay at the mental hospital, Eicke was stripped of his rank and SS membership by Himmler for having broken his word of honor. Also during the same month, Himmler set up the first official
concentration camp at
Dachau; Hitler had indicated his desire that this not be just another prison or
detention camp. In June 1933, after the mental asylum's director informed Himmler that Eicke was not "mentally unbalanced," Himmler arranged his release, paid his family 200 Reich marks as a gift, reinstated him into the SS, and promoted him to SS-
Oberführer (equivalent to
senior colonel). On 26 June 1933, Himmler appointed Eicke
commandant of the Dachau concentration camp after complaints and criminal proceedings were brought against the camp's first commandant, SS-
Sturmbannführer Hilmar Wäckerle, following the murder of several detainees under the "guise of punishment". Eicke requested a permanent unit and Himmler granted the request, forming the
SS-Wachverbände (Guard Unit).
Development of concentration camp system Eicke was promoted on 30 January 1934 to SS-
Brigadeführer (equivalent to
Generalmajor in the German Army and a
brigadier general, in the US Army), and began to extensively reorganize the Dachau camp from its original configuration under Wäckerle. Eicke fired half of the 120 guards who had been
billeted at Dachau when he arrived, and devised a system that was used as a model for future camps throughout Germany. He established
new guarding provisions, which included rigid discipline, total obedience to orders, and tightening
disciplinary and punishment regulations for detainees. Uniforms were issued for prisoners and guards alike, and it was Eicke who introduced the infamous blue and white striped pyjamas that came to symbolize the Nazi concentration camps across Europe. The uniforms for the guards at the camps had a special "
death's head" insignia on their collars. While Eicke's reforms ended the haphazard brutality that had characterized the original camps, the new regulations were very far from humane: heavy-handed discipline, including death in some cases, was instituted for even trivial offenses. Eicke was known for his brutality, detested weakness, and instructed his men that any SS man with a soft heart should "... retire at once to a
monastery". Historian Nikolaus Wachsmann asserts that while it was Himmler who established the "general direction for the later SS camp system," it was Eicke who "became its powerful motor." Eicke's
antisemitism, anti-
bolshevism, as well as his insistence on
unconditional obedience towards him, the SS, and Hitler, made a positive impression on Himmler. By May 1934, Eicke had already styled himself as the "inspector of concentration camps" for Nazi Germany. '' ("Work sets you free") slogan commonly featured at Nazi concentration camps
Night of the Long Knives In early 1934, Hitler and other Nazi leaders became concerned that
Ernst Röhm, the SA Chief of Staff, was planning a
coup d'état. On 21 June, Hitler decided that Röhm and the SA leadership had to be eliminated, and on 30 June began a national
purge of the SA leadership and other
enemies of the state in an event that became known as the
Night of the Long Knives. Eicke, along with hand-chosen members of the SS and
Gestapo, assisted
Sepp Dietrich's
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in the arrest and imprisonment of SA commanders, before they were subsequently shot. After Röhm was arrested, Hitler gave him the choice to commit
suicide or be shot. Eicke entered the cell and placed a revolver on Röhm's prison-cell table and informed him that he had "ten minutes to make good on Hitler's offer." When Röhm refused to kill himself, he was shot dead by Eicke and his adjutant,
Michael Lippert, on 1 July 1934. Eicke proclaimed that he was proud for having shot Röhm, and shortly after the affair on 4 July 1934, Himmler officially named Eicke chief of the
Inspektion der Konzentrationslager (Concentration Camps Inspectorate or CCI). Himmler also promoted Eicke to the rank of SS-
Gruppenführer in command of the
SS-Wachverbände. As a result of the Night of the Long Knives, the SA was extensively weakened, and the remaining SA-run camps were taken over by the SS. Further, in 1935, Dachau became the training center for the concentration camps service. At the
March 1936 parliamentary election, Eicke was elected as a deputy to the
Reichstag for electoral constituency 30,
Chemnitz-Zwickau, and retained this seat until his death.
Camp inspector In his role as the Concentration Camps Inspector, Eicke began a mass reorganisation of the camps in 1935. On 29 March 1936, the concentration camp guards and administration units were officially designated as the
SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), and the introduction of
forced labour made the camps one of the SS's most powerful tools. This earned him the enmity of
Reinhard Heydrich, who had already unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the Dachau concentration camp in his position as chief of the
Sicherheitsdienst (SD), but Eicke prevailed due to his support from Heinrich Himmler. In April 1936, Eicke was named commander of the
SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head Troops) and the number of men under his command increased from 2,876 to 3,222; the unit was also provided official funding through the Reich's budget office, and he was allowed to recruit future troops from the
Hitler Youth based on regional needs. Ideological and military training for new recruits working the camps were both intensified under Eiche's command. The numerous smaller camps in the system were dismantled and replaced with new larger camps. Dachau concentration camp remained, then
Sachsenhausen concentration camp opened in summer 1936,
Buchenwald in summer 1937 and
Ravensbrück (near
Lichtenburg concentration camp) in May 1939. Following the
Anschluss, the annexation of Austria, new camps were set up there, such as
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, opened in 1938. Sometime in August 1938, Eicke's entire supporting staff was moved to
Oranienburg (near Sachsenhausen) where the
Inspektion office would remain until 1945. Nonetheless, Eicke's role as the person designated to inspect concentration camps placed him within the framework of Heydrich's SD secret state police; whereas his command of the Death's Head units made him accountable to the
Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) of the SS. All regulations for SS-run camps, both for guards and prisoners, followed the model established by Eicke at the Dachau camp. ==SS Division Totenkopf==