Near the end of 1941, the transportation of thousands of people from the ghettoes in Poland to the concentration camps had begun. When Jews and others were taken to the concentration camps, they were packed into tiny train cars with no moving room. It took a few days to reach the destination and they were given no food and no water. They stood for days and when they finally arrived, families were separated and most never saw each other again. Groups were separated into men, woman and children, elderly, sick etc. Those who were transported first were people deemed useless in the camps. People that were considered most useless were the elderly, the sick, and very young children. “The first mass gassings began at the camp of Belzec, near Lublin, on March 17, 1942.” (Holocaust) Mass killings consisted of many concentration camp prisoners being crammed into what they thought were showers. They were stripped of their clothes and forced inside a chamber and gas was pushed through the pipes and showerheads and carbon monoxide poisoning would claim their lives.
Reflection: The lives of the Jewish people did not matter to the Nazi party. They were no longer viewed as humans, but as cattle that needed to be herded and slaughtered for the "betterment" of mankind. The betterment of mankind being the opinion of Adolf Hitler and his "supreme race" of white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair.
Reflection: The lives of the Jewish people did not matter to the Nazi party. They were no longer viewed as humans, but as cattle that needed to be herded and slaughtered for the "betterment" of mankind. The betterment of mankind being the opinion of Adolf Hitler and his "supreme race" of white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair.
Jews being loaded onto train cars for deportation to concentration camps
The food they were given in the camps was most likely not fit to eat, but the soldiers didn’t care. “After several weeks on such starvation rations in the camp, most prisoners began to experience organic deterioration that led to the so-called "Muzulman" state, extreme physical exhaustion that ended in death.” (The Jewish Virtual Library) A quote from the famous book Night written by Elie Wiesel gives the reader a glimpse into what the prisoners dealt with on a regular basis; “That night, the soup tasted of corpses” –Elie Wiesel. Living conditions made the prisoners wish for the end of life so that they could find peace. Crammed into sheds made of brick or wood, prisoners slept with barely any room to move because the dwellings were so overcrowded. “Sanitation was almost non -existent there was no type of heating or cooling systems.” (JewishVirtualLibrary) The damp air and roofing leaks led to prisoners falling ill. Lots of prisoners suffered from diarrhea and being that there was a large lack of running water and a large amount of disease carrying rodents roaming through the living quarters and camps, the situation was only made progressively worse.
Reflection: Again, lives of Jewish people no longer mattered, and their health didn't either. They were given barely anything to eat with any nutritional value, and they were crammed into tiny spaces with multiple other prisoners to "sleep".
Reflection: Again, lives of Jewish people no longer mattered, and their health didn't either. They were given barely anything to eat with any nutritional value, and they were crammed into tiny spaces with multiple other prisoners to "sleep".
Food in the concentration camps
Living quarters in concentration camps
The Prisoners worked and slaved all day and if something wasn’t done correctly or wasn’t done up to standards by Hitler and his Nazi party, the prisoners would suffer atrocious consequences. If they disobeyed or their work was not satisfying to the Nazis, they were beaten and abused, being brought close to the brink of death, and in some cases, executed where they stood. The prisoners would work for ten hours a day. When they were not working, they would find themselves in lines waiting for food, use of a bathroom or being disinfected after working in the fields. “A WVHA decree of March 31, 1942 established a minimum working day of eleven hours in all concentration camps” (JewishVirtualLibrary) Due to the extensive labor requirements, harsh abuse, and starvation, Prisoners found themselves extremely weak and watched many of the friends and even family wither away. Executions were the second main way that the Nazi Regime would exterminate the prisoners. While the prisoners dug their own graves as a product of labor, they would find themselves at the end of the barrel of a gun with seconds left in their lives. Along with executions and the use of gas chambers, public hangings were also a form of killing in the concentration camps. An excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s book Night shows an account where three young men were hanged for trying to escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau; “Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: "For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows...” If a hanging was going to take place, it was almost always done in front of the prisoners. The goal from the public hangings was to put fear in the prisoners and to make sure that they never tried to disobey the soldiers and are rather seen and not heard. Those who were typically hanged were prisoners trying to escape or those aiding in helping others escape.
Reflection: Prisoners were tortured and murdered if their work was not up to standard to the opinion of an officer. Those who were not being tortured were made to watch the beatings, hangings, mutilations, and shootings. The gruesome details make it hard to believe that people actually survived the Holocaust.
Reflection: Prisoners were tortured and murdered if their work was not up to standard to the opinion of an officer. Those who were not being tortured were made to watch the beatings, hangings, mutilations, and shootings. The gruesome details make it hard to believe that people actually survived the Holocaust.
Gas Chambers where millions of Jews were executed
Victims of execution in concentration camps
Gallows in concentration camps for execution