According to Bernhard Schäfer, writing on Dachau KZ blog, Markt Schwaben was chosen as the new location of the Munich branch of the SS Adjutantur, a main department of the Reichsführer SS (RFSS) Personal Staff, located in Berlin. The branch, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Alfons Schnitzler, had been located in Karlstrasse 10, Munich, but increasing allied air raids in 1944, particularly the air raid of 25th April, which had caused serious damage to the branch's office building, provoked the decision to move the branch to a safer location.

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Markt Schwaben, located about 20 kilometres east of Munich in the district of Ebersberg, was chosen as the new location of the branch. The town is located on the Munich to Simbach railway line. There was a branch station in the direction of Erding. In 1939, the town was already the location of several state and party offices and facilities. By 1944 the population had reached more 3,400, including personnel from various bombed out factories in Munich, prisoners of war and forced labourers, accommodated in barracks and shelters.

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The Munich branch of SS Adjutantur occupied a 2,500 square metre premises located about 250 metres north-east of the railway station on what is now Finsingerstrasse. A sub-camp of Dachau was established by the central construction unit of the Waffen SS in order to construct the office buildings for the SS Adjutantur. This was located near the railway level crossing on the road to Finsing. Two pre-existing barracks on this site, which had previously accommodated prisoners of war, were utilised, but further buildings were constructed by a total of 19 prisoners from Dachau who arrived on 2nd September 1944 and were organised into an SS-Arbeitskommando. The prisoners unloaded building materials from railway wagons at the station and took them to the site. They were were from a number of occupied European countries and were of various ages. Most of the time, these prisoners merely worked at the site, being transported by truck from Dachau in the morning and returned in the evening. Occasionally, however, they were required to stay at the site, sometimes for several days, when they were confined in one of the pre-existing barracks, which were equipped with bunks and which had barred windows. The prisoners were provided with a straw bag as a mattress, a pillow, blankets and bed linen. Food rations were similar to those the prisoners received at Dachau.

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The sub-camp guard at Markt Schwaben consisted of only two men, who were accommodated in the other pre-existing barrack, where Alfons Schnitler also had a room. According to one prisoner account, the site was surrounded by a non-electric, double-stranded barbed wire fence with an entrance near the railway. The site was also equipped with a single watchtower for the guards located on the southern perimeter of the camp. A lantern illuminated the space between the two barracks at night.

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The prisoners at Markt Schwaben were not poorly treated. There were no beatings or any deaths. Some of them were allowed to work for a local farmer in exchange for food and were also allowed to sleep in his barn. At one point, two prisoners were employed painting the wooden building near the railway station that served as the office of SS Anton Hartmann, who commanded the Schwaben SS equipment and clothing store.

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The Arbeitskommando was dissolved on 23rd April 1945 and seven prisoners returned to Dachau. Construction of the buildings at the site had not yet been completed when US troops arrived in the town on 1st May 1945. The two barracks were demolished later that summer.

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Leslie Schwartz, who was nicknamed ‘Lazarus’ during his confinement at Auschwitz, was one of the prisoners brought to Markt Schwaben. In 2012, he spoke to German students about his experience there.

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“When we arrived, it was heaven, like a summer camp,” he said, talking about his arrival at the site at the age of 14, after 10 days confinement at Auschwitz. “We had our own beds. The commander gave me small jobs, and I was left alone much of the time.”