Living Conditions In Auschwitz Essay

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In Poland, only a few miles away from the city Oswiecim, was the location of the largest death camp during WWII. The camp is known as Auschwitz. It is estimated that around three million to four million people were slaughtered there (Auschwitz-Birkenau: History & Overview). Auschwitz is recognized as the most horrendous concentration camp created by Nazi Germany. The people in the Auschwitz concentration camp were given cruel and unusual punishment in the living conditions they suffered through, how they were experimented on, and the ways they were executed. In September 1939, Rudolf Hoss wanted to create a concentration camp specifically for experimentation and extermination. “Auschwitz was located at the center crossroads of many Polish …show more content…
The living quarters, which were designed to be stables for horses, were known as barracks. The barracks were meant to fit 52 horses, but the Nazis managed to fit 800 to 1,000 people in one barrack (Auschwitz: The Camp of Death). The barracks lacked heating and were damp from leaking roofs. The sanitary conditions were unimaginable. “The prisoners lay 10 per bed and each person had to lie sideways to fit. Insects and vermin [would] also share the beds” (Auschwitz: The Camp of Death 17). The straw they slept on contained human waste because they were not provided with a suitable place to relieve themselves. Also the shortage of water left them unable to wash themselves. The Auschwitz III resembled the living conditions of Auschwitz II. On top of the unbearable conditions the individuals lived through, they were also deprived of food for the long hours of labor they performed each day (Auschwitz-Birkenau: Living Conditions, Labor & …show more content…
When people would first come into the camp, they would be put in lines. Each line meant different things. One line would be for hard labor, experiments, or they would be in the line for executions. "The Nazi soldiers would make the prisoners shave their heads and strip down to nothing" (Lachendro, Jacek 1). Also it was normal for the soldiers to take valuables such as necklaces and wedding rings. In result, several of the people would swallow their most precious valuables so it would not be taken. The women would go to the specially built wall known as the Death Wall. Then the men would follow soon after. They would line up facing the wall then the executioner would shoot them from behind. (Lachendro,

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