‘However, the hard will of the RFSS was always behind him. What came from the concentration camps in war arose simply and solely from the aspiration of the RFSS.’[81] The tenor and content of Himmler’s speeches from long before the war leave no doubt that camp Kommandants and guards were fulfilling his express wishes by dehumanising and treating the inmates as fit only for labour and death; he set the example himself by verbal humiliation of the prisoners drawn up for inspection during his visits to the camps.
