The Nazis set up a system of concentration camps that encompassed the whole Reich. In Germany and each of the occupied countries, they set up an extensive system of camps and subcamps. The structure of the camp system comprised 16 basic or main camps and hundreds of subcamps that fit into a variety of categories. One such category of subcamps was the Judenarbeitslager (Jewish work camp).

The Judenarbeitslager utilized Jews as slave laborers. The work consisted largely of manual labor, but sometimes their skills were put to use to produce a product or clothing. Most of the time they were worked to death.