The Nazi camp system expanded rapidly after 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. This led to the
increased use of
concentration camp prisoners as
forced laborers in
German armaments industries. Hundreds of subcamps, generally smaller
camps administered by the main camps,
were established in or near industrial plants and supplied them with the required
workers. Camps such as
Auschwitz,
Buchenwald, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler-Struthof, Ravensbrueck and Stutth
became administrative centers of huge networks of subsidiary forced-labor
camps.
