Sachsenhausen had another name - Oranienburg. Oranienburg was originally the "wild camp" and the regime's special holding center. It sprang up under the new Nazi government in 1933. However, throughout 1934, the Nazis reduced the number of old "wild" camps when started to construct modern official camps. The authorities closed Oranienburg in late 1935 but instead, constructed next to it a new camp, Sachsenhausen. It opened for business in September 1936. The SS delivered 200,000 victims to Sachsenhausen during the years of its existence. Amount the victims, half died.

Sachsenhausen was considered as an "easy camp." It was because Himmler designated Dachau, the basic Auschwitz camp, and Sachsenhausen as protective custody camps for prisoners with good record. Sachsenhausen housed many "notables" as inmates. Amount them included the head of Foreign Office Department, the Austrian chancellor, the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and other famous persons. They lived in special isolated barracks or small houses.

As the school of the concentration camp system, Sachsenhausen trained many of the leaders and junior officers who were later appointed to height positions. The concentration camp Inspectorate was located nearby. From 1939 to 1945, it served as the seat of the central administration of concentration camps.

Like the other camps, Sachsenhausen also relied on prisoners to handle some administrative tasks and to be responsible for the direct supervision of inmates. Those prisoners selected as leaders were titled Kapok. The Nazis separated the Jews in their own barracks and treated them with extraordinary brutality. The Nazis specially focused their zeal upon the rabbis, forcing them to work in the quarry and to run with the heaviest loads.