Vaivara was the largest of the 22 concentration and labor camps established in occupied Estonia by the Nazi regime during World War II.

Some 20,000 Jewish prisoners passed through its gates, mostly from the Vilna and Kovno Ghettos, but also from Latvia, Poland, Hungary and the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

[1] On 21 June 1943, Heinrich Himmler ordered the liquidation of the remaining ghettos in the Baltic states.

Subsequently, German occupation authorities met under the auspices of the Commander of the Security Police and SD in Reval (the German name for the Estonian capital Tallinn) to plan the establishment of forced labor camps for the oil-shale extraction operations of Baltöl, an IG Farben subsidiary.

Beginning in August 1943, a series of concentration camps was established all over Estonia by Organisation Todt.

[dubious – discuss] Prisoners in the concentration camp had to work in the nearby forest, a quarry, or in oil shale extraction.

[citation needed] In twenty more selections, approximately 500 more Jewish prisoners were killed, including a group of children.

[citation needed] From Bodmann's reports, the camp population in the whole complex was 6,982 in October 1943, 9,207 in November 1943, 8,210 in February 1944 and 6,662 in June 1944.

The inmates had to walk for three days in bad winter weather with poor clothing, footwear and food.