Crveni Krst is one of the few Nazi concentration camps in Europe whose facilities have been preserved in their entirety, and the only one in the former Yugoslavia to hold this distinction.

The territory included most of Serbia proper, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo (centred on Kosovska Mitrovica), and the Banat.

This was done to exploit the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, and due to its valuable resources, particularly non-ferrous metals.

[5] The Military Commander in Serbia appointed Serbian puppet governments to "carry on administrative chores under German direction and supervision".

[6] On 29 August 1941, the Germans appointed the Government of National Salvation (Serbian: Vlada Nacionalnog Spasa, Влада Националног Спаса) under General Milan Nedić, to replace the short-lived Commissioner Administration.

[7] A pre-war politician who was known to have pro-Axis leanings, Nedić was selected because the Germans believed his fierce anti-Communism and military experience could be used to quell an armed uprising in the Serbian region of Šumadija.

[10] Jews were also registered with German authorities and forced to wear identifying armbands while Jewish property was confiscated.

[10] When the Germans occupied the southeastern Serbian city of Niš in April 1941, they prohibited Roma from leaving their homes without an identifying yellow armband bearing the word Zigeuner (Gypsy).

German soldiers then went through the Romani quarter and forcibly shaved the heads of all Roma in Niš under the pretext that they had lice.

[13] The camp was officially opened the following month by the German Gestapo on the site of a military barracks in Niš.

[19] During the first month of the camp's existence, between 200 and 300 local and foreign Jews living in Niš were brought to Crveni Krst.

[18] In the spring of 1942, the women and children detained at Crveni Krst were transferred to the Sajmište concentration camp on the outskirts of Belgrade, where they were murdered using gas vans.

[24] Crveni Krst is one of the few Nazi concentration camps in Europe whose facilities have been preserved in their entirety, and the only one in the former Yugoslavia to hold this distinction.