![Major Nazi camps in Europe, January 1944 [LCID: eur72160]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/db2e26ad-3a0a-4946-9ce2-70e513ed39d5.gif "Major Nazi camps in Europe, January 1944 [LCID: eur72160]")
This map shows some of the Nazi camps that existed in German-occupied Europe in 1943–1944. These include killing centers, concentration camps, labor camps, and transit camps.
Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany established tens of thousands of camps. The regime imprisoned millions of people in these camps. The Nazis used these sites for many purposes, including the imprisonment of real and perceived enemies and the mass murder of Jewish people. Nazi camps were sites of cruelty, torture, deprivation, unchecked disease, grueling forced labor, and extreme violence.
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![Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1934 [LCID: ger72050]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/d278031c-3fce-48fc-b7bf-3fe87f85016d.gif "Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1934 [LCID: ger72050]")
The first concentration camps in Germany were established soon after Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933. The Storm Troopers (SA) and the police established concentration camps beginning in February 1933. These camps were set up to handle the masses of people arrested as alleged political opponents. They were established on the local level throughout Germany. Gradually, most of these early camps were disbanded and replaced by centrally organized concentration camps under the exclusive jurisdiction of the SS (Schutzstaffel; the elite guard of the Nazi state). Dachau was the only concentration camp opened in 1933 that remained in operation until 1945, and was the model for the Nazi concentration camp system that replaced the earlier camps.
Item View![Camps in France, 1944 [LCID: fra72050]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/00ec67c6-def3-4941-8a58-de816d3a2cb7.gif "Camps in France, 1944 [LCID: fra72050]")
![Major Nazi and Axis camps in southern Europe [LCID: eur62840]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/927890fa-feac-497a-a7ff-a445e4567ca9.gif "Major Nazi and Axis camps in southern Europe [LCID: eur62840]")
![Nazi camps in the Low Countries, 1940-1945 [LCID: ben72030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/5a5c7599-f8a0-4943-9e16-ca156f520f93.gif "Nazi camps in the Low Countries, 1940-1945 [LCID: ben72030]")
![Nazi camps in the Baltic Countries, 1941-1945 [LCID: bal22030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/26c3ad97-cea3-432e-aa69-9198852a37f3.gif "Nazi camps in the Baltic Countries, 1941-1945 [LCID: bal22030]")
![Major Nazi camps in Austria [LCID: aus72030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/8bc085e3-d362-486c-9d54-995496ddca25.gif "Major Nazi camps in Austria [LCID: aus72030]")
![Nazi camps in occupied Poland, 1939-1945 [LCID: pol72110]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/3482f20c-51c9-4b2e-ab6a-39a202c52f6c.gif "Nazi camps in occupied Poland, 1939-1945 [LCID: pol72110]")
![Major Nazi camps in Greater Germany, 1944 [LCID: gge72050]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e2090857-ff94-4d49-babf-1c7c82f2a849.gif "Major Nazi camps in Greater Germany, 1944 [LCID: gge72050]")
The Nazi camp system expanded rapidly after the beginning of World War II in September 1939, as forced labor became important in war production. Labor shortages in the German war economy became critical after German defeat in the battle of Stalingrad in 1942–1943. This led to the increased use of concentration camp prisoners as forced laborers in German armaments industries. Especially in 1943 and 1944, hundreds of subcamps were established in or near industrial plants. Subcamps were generally smaller camps administered by the main camps, which supplied them with the required number of prisoners. Camps such as Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland, Buchenwald in central Germany, Gross-Rosen in eastern Germany, Natzweiler-Struthof in eastern France, Ravensbrück near Berlin, and Stutthof near Danzig on the Baltic coast became administrative centers of huge networks of subsidiary forced-labor camps.
Item View![Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1939 [LCID: ger72160]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/98bbe43a-8a84-4820-a5e7-bb154084974e.gif "Nazi concentration camps, 1933-1939 [LCID: ger72160]")
The first concentration camps in Germany were established soon after Hitler's appointment as chancellor in January 1933. The Storm Troopers (SA) and the police established concentration camps to handle the masses of people arrested as alleged political opponents of the regime. These camps were established on the local level throughout Germany. Gradually, most of these early camps were disbanded and replaced by centrally organized concentration camps under the exclusive jurisdiction of the SS (Schutzstaffel; the elite guard of the Nazi state). By 1939, seven large concentration camps had been established. Besides Dachau, they were Sachsenhausen (1936) north of Berlin, Buchenwald (1937) near Weimar, Neuengamme (1938) near Hamburg, Flossenbürg (1938), Mauthausen (1938), and Ravensbrück (1939).
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