Types of Nazi camps

The phrase "Nazi concentration camp" is often used loosely to refer to various types of internment sites operated by Nazi Germany. More specifically, Nazi concentration camps refers to the camps run by the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. The Nazi regime employed various types of detention and murder facilities within Germany and the territories it conquered, while Nazi allies also operated their own internment facilities on their territories.

The editors of Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos estimate that these sites totaled more than 42,500 locations, of which 980 were Nazi concentration camps proper.