On 12 March 1945 , ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt was told by SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner that the ICRC 's delegates could visit the concentration camps , but the delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war . On March 12 , 1945 , ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC 's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps . This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war .