![Auschwitz subcamp system, Upper Silesia 1941-1944 [LCID: auc72074]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f967b4e3-1432-4992-b14c-2edaa0ac9a95.gif)
Between 1941 and 1944, the SS authorities at Auschwitz established almost 50 subordinate camps, also called subcamps. These subcamps varied in their design and purpose, but all supported the economic and ideological goals of the SS. At the subcamps, prisoners were forced to work in farming, animal husbandry, forestry, construction, and various industries (such as coal mining, armaments production, and chemical factories).
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