Types of Nazi camps


The phrase "Nazi concentration camp" is often used loosely to refer to various types of internment sites operated by Nazi Germany. More specifically, Nazi concentration camps refers to the camps run by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. The Nazi regime employed various types of detention and murder facilities within Germany and the territory it conquered and occupied, while Nazi allies also operated their own internment facilities.
The editors of Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos estimate that these sites totaled more than 42,500 locations, of which 980 were Nazi concentration camps proper.

Nazi Germany

Types of detention and murder facilities employed by the Nazi regime included:
TypeGerman nameDescription
Civilian workers campGemeinschaftslager
Custody campHaftlager
Civilian internment campInternierungslager ''''Camp to hold Allied civilians caught in areas that were occupied by the German Army
Camp for JewsJudenlager , Umschulungslager, Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden
Concentration campKonzentrationslagerCamp for the mass detention without trial of civilians, ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc.
Early camps
Aktion T4 Euthanasia centerEuthanasie-Tötungsanstalt, T4-TötungsanstaltCenter for murder of mentally ill or physically disabled people by involuntary euthanasia
Extermination campVernichtungslagerSix killing centers for the dedicated purpose of systematic mass murder, primarily of Jews
Forced labor campZwangsarbeitslager
Jewish ghettoJüdischer Wohnbezirk
Germanization facilities
Gestapo camps
Gypsy campsZigeunerlager
Housing campWohnlager
Labor campArbeitslager
Military brothels
National Labor Service campRAD -Lager
Penal or punishment campStrafgefangenenlager and Straflager
Preferential campVorzugslager
Prisoner-of-war campKriegsgefangenenlagerImprisonment camp for Allied military personnel captured and held under the terms of the Third Geneva Convention
Police custody campPolizeihaftlager
Prisons
Satellite campAußenkommandoOutlying camp under command of a main concentration camp; main camps were Stammlager and subordinate camps were Außenlager
Security campSchutzhaftlager
Special campSonderlager
Workers education campArbeitserziehungslager
Work houseArbeitshaus
Transit campDurchgangslagerCamps where prisoners were briefly detained prior to deportation to other Nazi camps.
Youth protection campJugendschutzlager
Youth detention campJugendverwahrungslager

Nazi Allies

Nazi allies also operated their own internment facilities, including:
  • Internment camps in Bulgaria
  • Concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia
  • Internment camps in Finland
  • Internment camps in France
  • *Internment camps in French North Africa
  • Internment camps in Hungary
  • Internment camps of Italy
  • Concentration camps in Norway
  • Internment camps of Romania
  • Internment camps in the Slovak State
  • Concentration camps in Tunisia