''Lagerführer'' (Camp Leader) was a paramilitary title of the SS, specific to the '' Totenkopfverbände'' (Concentration Camp Service). A ''Lagerführer'' was the head SS officer assigned to a particular

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

, serving as the commander of the said camp. The term ''Lagerführer'' was distinct and separate from the position of ''Kommandant''. ''Lagerführers'' were typically employed in camp complexes, where a main camp would be divided into one or more smaller camps. The most recognizable example of this was the Auschwitz command and control system, in which a single ''Kommandant'' oversaw the activities of three subordinate ''Lagerführers'', each in charge of one of three main

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

s. The title of ''Lagerführer'' was typically ''not'' used to denote commanders of "sub-camps". Sub-camps were considered satellite work areas of a single Concentration Camp, often overseen by a senior SS-NCO or a junior SS officer who in turn either answered to their own ''Lagerführer'' or the ''Kommandant'' of the main camp.

Sources

* Zentner, Christian & Bedürftig, Friedemann, ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', (Macmillan), New York (1991) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagerfuhrer Nazi paramilitary ranks Nazi concentration camp occupations