Subcamp ( SS ) The term subcamp in the context of Nazi Germany ( ) refers to those outlying detention centres ( " Haftstätten " ) that came under the command of a main concentration camp run by the SS within the Third Reich . It enables a distinction to be made between the main camps ( or " Stammlager " ) and the subcamps ( " Außenlager " or " Außenkommandos " ) subordinated to them . Survival conditions in the subcamps were , in many cases , poorer for the prisoners than those in the main camps . Emergence of the concept . Within a concentration camp prisoners had to carry out various tasks . They were not supposed to be idle whilst interned . The work could even be pointless and vexatious , without any useful output . Based on military language the SS designated such prisoner task forces as " details " or " Kommandos " ; the generic term being the " works details " ( " Arbeitskommandos " ) of a camp . For example , in Dachau concentration camp there was a " Crematorium Works Detail " ( " Arbeitskommando Krematorium " ) which was put together from a group of concentration camp prisoners ; they were separately accommodated and were to have no contact with the other prisoners . " Kommandos " that were charged with construction tasks were overseen by prisoner functionaries known as Kapos . Whether a prisoner was assigned to a physically easy or difficult " Kommando " affected his chances of survival . A " Kommando " within a building , for example carrying out technical work , was more bearable for prisoners than " Kommandos " who found themselves working in the open in winter during freezing temperatures " KZ Außenkommandos " . Dachau was the first concentration camp ( known as a " KZ " ) that Reichsführer - SS Himmler had built . It was already in existence in 1933 and developed into a prototype for subsequent concentration camps such as Buchenwald , which appeared in 1937 . But even Dachau concentration camp was not geographically restricted to Dachau itself . In addition to the " Kommandos " that had to be formed within the camp itself , were soon added " Kommandos " that worked outside the camp , for example the herb plantation detail ( " Kommando der Kräuterplantage " ) or the works details assigned to peat cutting . The SS increasingly deployed prisoners outside their concentration camp and made them build installations such as roads , ditches , barracks or SS recreation homes . Concentration camp prisoners were even used for the private purposes of senior Nazi officers : for Oswald Pohl ' s country house of " Brüningsau " , for Himmler ' s Hunting Lodge and also for the country house of Hans Loritz , the commandant of Dachau . Even Eleonore Baur , a personal friend of Hitler ' s , was given her own " Kommando " . Many of these works details were only established for weeks or months and their strength varied . In the language used at the time for " Kommandos " whereby prisoners stayed overnight outside the concentration camp were also called " Außenkommandos " . In several cases " Außenkommandos " developed into new , independent concentration camps : Mauthausen concentration camp began in August 1938 with the arrival of the first prisoner details from Dachau . Niederhagen concentration camp was also formed from a KZ Außenkommando . Mittelbau - Dora concentration camp was initially a subcamp of Buchenwald and later became an independent concentration camp . " KZ Außenlager " . At the onset of war the SS increasingly employed concentration camp prisoners in armaments factories . In some cases the prisoners were accommodated in diverse , makeshift sleeping areas ; in other cases the SS had them erect their own camp with watchtowers and fences . Many such subcamps ( " KZ - Außenlager " ) were laid out in similar fashion to the concentration camps . There were also SS camp commanders ( " SS - Lagerführer " ) and prisoner functionaries such as the " camp senior " ( " Lagerältester " ) or " block senior " ( " Blockältester " ) . Today the camps are known as subcamps ( in German either as " KZ - Außenlager " or " Nebenlager " ) . Sometimes the colloquial abbreviation " KZ " is used , but this can also refer to a main camp . In the hierarchy of the Nazi camp system , subcamps were subordinated to a concentration camp that , for example , held the prisoner records and the death registers . Often the supply of food was poorer than that of the main camp , quite apart from the condition of the sanitary facilities or sleeping arrangements for the prisoners . In subsequent Nazi documents the subcamps are sometimes also referred to as works camps ( " Arbeitslager " ) . Lists . The following articles list the subcamps under individual main camps of a particular concentration camp :