Starvation and slave labour of Auschwitz prisoners

The transcript of the podcast

Two extremely important factors in the exhaustion, deprivation and destruction of prisoners in Auschwitz were hunger and slave labour. Dr. Jacek Lachendro of the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center talks about this aspect of the camp’s functioning.

In vast majority of their accounts, survivors refer to the topic of starvation that actually became their reality. How did the aspects connected with feeding camp prisoners look like?

Prisoners were given meals three times a day. In the morning, they would receive, and it should be already at this moment put in quotation marks, “coffee” or “tea”, as these beverages had nothing in common with those that are familiar to us. As far as so-called “coffee” is concerned, it was kind of a liquid boiled with some substitute of cereal coffee without sugar. When it comes to this “tea”, prisoners often use in their accounts the word “herbs”, as it was some kind of herbal infusion – bitter in taste. A lot of prisoners said that at first, they were even unable to swallow it, but later, in the course of weeks and months, they would of course get used to it. When it comes to their taste, the beverages were awful, but warm, so it was the only benefit, to warm up from inside. During the break at work, at some time around noon, prisoners were served so called “lunch”. It was usually soup, in fact some stock brought in large-capacity thermoses to labour sites. If the prisoners worked within the camp, they could eat there. While reading the accounts, swede is quoted as basic ingredient used for preparing the stock, so-called “soup”. Potatoes were also used while preparing it, and “avo”, a kind of food extract. It was some sort of fish bone powder and added while preparing soups of this kind. When it comes to the main camp or Birkenau, there was no official menu preserved, but there was one from the Trzebinia sub-camp, where according to the included information, prisoners were supposed to be given meat soups, so containing some meat portion, four times a week, while vegetable soups three times. In the main camp probably also, but it is hard to determine how many times a week some fat was added to the soup, or bones or meat, but according to prisoners’ accounts, it was hard to identify any traces of this fat or meat. This probably resulted also from distribution rules, how the soup was given out to prisoners. They were supposed to form a line and prisoner functionaries were responsible for distributing portions. Prisoners were standing in line with a bowl or other dish in their hand, and a prisoner functionary holding a ladle or another pot with the capacity of about a litre, would pour the soup. Usually, the soup from the top was served, and it was the most watery there, the most nutritious ingredients, so vegetables or meat would remain at the bottom. And again, according to prisoners’ accounts, servings from the bottom were usually reserved for prisoner functionaries, or as I discovered in one of the accounts, a prisoner functionary would sell it to other prisoners, exchange it for an item found within the labour site, or something more valuable that they possessed. In the evening, prisoners were given so-called “supper”; it was usually bread, but again, in their accounts prisoners described it as clay-like, dry inside, and of course it was black bread. In theory, one loaf of bread of about 1 kg was assigned to four inmates, but very often, prisoner functionaries responsible for bread distribution would first cut it in half, take one or two slices themselves, and then give the rest to four prisoners who had to share it. They were also given a small cube of margarine or a spoon of marmalade, or a slice of cheese, optionally some kind of – as referred to in the camp – horse sausage, so called Blutwurst, depending on the region of Poland, blood sausage or black pudding. Those who worked harder were also given sausage rations or additional portions of marmalade or cheese. It looks on the first sight that if an inmate was given 250 grams of bread, it was not so little, but we need to remember that it was the ration for the entire day. In theory, some of this bread should be kept for breakfast, but most prisoners were so hungry that they would immediately eat it all already in the evening; the other would eat it because they were afraid that at night, another starving inmate could simply steal it. At the same time, while talking about food, we need to remember that most prisoners were forced to really hard labour, which also resulted in higher energy consumption, burning more calories, and these meals were low-energy ones, with insufficient content of fat, protein, vitamins, mineral salts. For this reason, many prisoners were starving, permanent hunger was a huge problem for most of them. Those who had no possibility to get additional food rations or did not receive packages from home, would lose weight very quickly. The functioning of their digestive system would deteriorate, their immune system weaken, so they would get sick. One of the biggest problems connected with digestion was so called “Durchfall”, starvation diarrhoea, that accelerated wasting and many of these people, called Muselmänner, were dying relatively fast.

You have mentioned work and it is a paradox that the inmates lived in crowded, disastrous conditions, they did not receive enough food or appropriate clothes, so they were deprived of the possibility to meet their elementary needs, and still they were obliged to work very hard. What types of work were performed in the camp and how did an inmate’s working day look like, as they all had to work?

Yes, work was obligatory for everybody. Most of them would perform very hard physical tasks, only some inmates were lucky enough to be assigned to so-called “good Kommandos”, so those which worked indoors, or their tasks were not so hard. Camp inmate’s working day used to begin very early – according to the accounts, wakeup call was at half past four, the inmates had to tidy up their rooms, do their physiological needs, wash themselves, eat this “breakfast”, but once again I’d like to draw quotation marks here as it was again in great hurry, in great rush, and then go to roll call square for the roll call to take place. If the numbers of prisoners were correct, orders were given to form working columns and the inmates would form groups of five in a pre-defined order and leave the camp. Within the first stage of the operation of the camp, prisoners would perform different works here within main camp premises, adjusting it to their own needs, then they would extend it and build next blocks; in the immediate neighbourhood there was so-called “Bauhof”, the area where construction materials were stored. Prisoners used to work there outside or in warehouses, unloading different kinds of materials, transporting them to the camp or to construction sites. In 1941, SS and civilian German authorities performed huge displacement campaign of Polish and Jewish people residing in the area surrounding the camp as well as in villages to the west, south-west and north from the main camp and at that time, prisoners were directed to those already deserted villages or to the area near the camp, where they would get involved in the demolition of buildings, in sourcing construction materials. These items, which were still usable, were transported to the camp or Bauhof, for example timber to the so-called “Holzhof”, being timber storage square, and there, prisoners’ labour again consisted in transporting and storing these beams and boards. The items which were no longer appropriate for reuse were cut, chopped up and used as fuel in prisoners’ blocks. In the course of time, the scope of labour performed by prisoners grew. Here, a lot of them were assigned to the construction of the Birkenau camp, so these were again ground works, construction works, transport tasks. From 1942, and in particular from 1943, and in biggest numbers in 1944, a lot of prisoners were directed to sub-camps, with some of them located in the vicinity of the main camp or Birkenau. These were agricultural and animal breeding sub-camps, where the inmates used to work in the field, or in animal or fish breeding, as the region is abundant in the complexes of fish ponds. A lot of prisoners were directed to sub-camps situated in the vicinity of factories, ironworks, or mines. Those working in mines would often treat their labour as punishment, as most of them were not used to so hard conditions. Labour in mines used to be considered the hardest, but apart from those working in extreme conditions, there were also so-called “good Kommandos” that I’ve already mentioned. These were the Kommandos in which the inmates would work, as it was called in the camp, “under the roof”, so they were not exposed to extreme heat or cold. “Good Kommandos” worked in camp kitchens, warehouses, offices, where they would perform various tasks. Prisoners used to come back to the camp in the evening. The hour for finishing the labour and coming back to the camp would depend on the season. I’ve already mentioned that they were woken up at half past four and would start work at six. It was the period more or less from the spring to early autumn, while in the winter, they would get up an hour later, begin their labour at about seven and also finish earlier. In the summer, the labour continued until six, in the winter until four or five. They had a break during their working day to rest a bit and have lunch. Its length would also depend on the season, and it was from about an hour to two hours. Upon their return, call would take place and again, if the number of prisoners was correct, they could come back to their blocks and were served so called “supper”. After supper they had a little time to meet their friends. A day in the camp used to finish with a gong at nine and then, so-called “Blocksperre” began, when the inmates were not allowed to leave their blocks. It lasted until half past four, half past five the following day.

Prisoners were forced to work from Monday to Saturday. Sunday was a day off. How did the schedule of the day look like on Sunday?

Usually Sundays or holidays were days off for prisoners, but in some industrial facilities they had to work on Sundays as well. One of camp punishments consisted in the work on Sunday under supervision – let’s say, ten Sundays of work, but if the prisoners didn’t work, they had more time for themselves, so they had the opportunity to spend time with their friends. If it was warm outside, in the main camp, so-called Birkenallee, birch avenue, was this kind of meeting place. In fact, this avenue was a little street surrounded on two sides by birch trees, behind the last row of blocks, from block one to block eleven. If weather conditions were not favourable, they would gather in the chambers of subsequent blocks or in the barracks in Birkenau and could talk and write letters to their families. They often also had to take care of their looks, so it was for example shaving time. When it comes to men of course – it was face shaving or head shaving (as the hair could not be too long). Here in the main camp, but also in Birkenau in both parts of the camp, camp orchestras consisting of prisoners performed on Sundays. These prisoners were often forced to play, give concerts to camp staff, but after these concerts for staff, they were also given the consent to play for prisoners, so they could listen to such concerts. Camp authorities would also agree for, let’s call it sports games, so football matches or boxing fights that the prisoners could watch.

What was of major importance for the prisoners? What would increase their chances of survival? In the accounts written down or recorded after the war some survivors mentioned the right moment of arriving in the camp, someone that they had known before and who was already a camp inmate and could introduce them into camp reality. The others said that they found themselves in the so called “good Kommando”. There were many factors, but can we make some kind of a list of what could help a prisoner survive?

It is hard to provide here a model reason or group of reasons, a lot used to depend on an inmate’s psychological and physical characteristics, but as survivors would emphasize, it was also the question of good luck. Here it is for sure easier to enumerate various factors enabling the survival. Many inmates point to the very first moments at the camp, when these people were arriving completely shocked by what they saw while leaving the cars, by this extremely brutal behaviour and acting of the SS men. They were in horror, fear, sometimes they were already on the verge of mental breakdown and at that time it was sometimes enough when some inmate incarcerated for some longer time already said some word of comfort, gave good advice – it was really encouraging for them. Another positive moment consisted in meeting someone they knew in the camp, who originated from the same village, district or neighbourhood, or a schoolmate, fellow soldier from the same military unit. Psychological profile of a given inmate was for sure also important here, but prisoners would also point to such factors as age, having practical professional skills, practical from the perspective of the camp, as it was often very hard to adjust to these conditions, and as a result to survive, for the intellectuals, members of intelligentsia who used to work in offices, had not performed hard work before. While it was a lot easier for those who were trained workers, for example artisans, experts in the field of electricity, ironwork, carpentry and so on. Knowledge of German was appreciated, as it was much easier for those speaking this language to become aware of what was going on in certain circumstances. The SS men would give orders in their own language. A lot of prisoners felt lost as they did not understand at all what they were being told, which exposed them to beating that could result in serious injuries, cuts or even death. Coming back to office workers, they could sometimes benefit from their pre-war skills in the camp, but on condition that their handwriting was clear and careful, they had typewriting skills or just, as I’ve mentioned before, they spoke German. Then they could be employed in camp offices. In numerous cases the factor making it easier to survive consisted in faith, and again, many accounts include information that the faith in God, praying used to make the inmates stronger, but there are also those who say that they had arrived to the camp as believers, but on the other hand, when they saw what was going on around them, they would ask the question: “Where is God?”. They would claim that they actually lost their faith in the camp, so it was not a universal factor. As I’ve mentioned it before, according to survivors’ accounts, as they emphasize, a bit of good luck was necessary, and to find oneself in the right place at the right moment, or vice versa, do not find oneself where something bad was taking place.