Barrack 38 and 39 were originally built as part of the “Small Camp” (an expansion outside of the original camp grounds) in 1938. Among the first groups of people imprisoned here were Sinti and Roma. For a while after the “Kristallnacht” in November 1938, the Small Camp was almost completely occupied by over 6,000 Jewish internees. Up to 400 people were crammed into barracks that had been planned for 150. One group of prisoners here were known as the Standing Unit. They were forced to stand motionless all day. In October 1942, Heinrich Himmler ordered all of the camps to begin deporting their Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz. After that, the SS mainly used barrack 38 and 39 to accommodate prisoners from Poland and the occupied parts of Western Europe.

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