Auschwitz Vs Monoschwitz

Regarded as “the most effective concentration camp of World War II”, Auschwitz concentration camp is guilty of the mass murder of 1.1 million Jews. Even though the Nazis tried to fulfill their goal of the extermination of all Jews and did not succeed, Auschwitz was the worst environment to live in, with its many atrocities and wretched living conditions. Auschwitz, being located in Oswiecim, Poland, imported dozens of overcrowded trains with captured humans at the camp everyday (Whiting, 32). Being led into the camp by S.S guards, prisoners were divided into one of the sections at Auschwitz: Auschwitz I (the base camp), Auschwitz II (Birkenau), or Auschwitz III (Monoschwitz). Auschwitz I, the smallest section, held the commandant's office …show more content…
A number was tattooed on their arm and from then on they were known by the Nazis as those digits (holocaust.org). Once they arrived, families were torn apart forever. People were separated into two groups: the elderly, women, and children to one side, and men to the other (Whiting, 32). These innocent people were no longer treated as humans, but as animals (holocaust.org). In Auschwitz’s first months, prisoners were forced to draw their own water from wells and use it as toilet water (auschwitz.org). As time went on, toilet-like holes were added to the camp, but the sanitary conditions were still atrocious. There was no running water or sanitary equipment. Adding to that, access to the toilets were strictly limited. Inmates had 10 seconds to relieve themselves and were monitored while doing so (auschwitz.org, holocaust.org). Setting a list of rules for the toilets allowed the Nazis to force their prisoners to work longer hours. In the 11-12 hour work day, different jobs were assigned to prisoners. One might work in the kitchen, do hard manual labor, clean out gas chambers, or sort through the deceased's belongings for valuables to give the Nazis. Some of the only breaks people received were meals. Breakfast included 10 ounces of bread, a rotten piece of salami, 1 ounce of margarine, and old, tasteless coffee. For lunch, prisoners received “soup”, which was in reality 1 quart …show more content…
His main goal was to exterminate each and every Jew, and tried everything in his power to make that happen (holocaust.org). When arriving to this death camp, many prisoners had already died or were close to dying. Some may consider them lucky because they wouldn’t have to endure the treacherous journey that lay ahead if they had continued to live. Once everyone had settled in to their new “homes”, the Nazis began a process called roll call. Each prisoner was forced to stand outside for hours no matter the weather, while the guards counted the prisoners and did attendance (Whiting, 32). Many people were beaten and some even died during this process due to extreme temperature, lack of sleep, or abuse from an officer. Roll call occurred during the day at assigned times. Prisoners would wake up, have roll call for hours, eat breakfast, then have another roll call. They’d work all day then have another 4 hour roll call in the evening. Some were said to last all night long. Lots of prisoners died, not from being physically murdered, but by the extreme of something. Many times one might wake up next to a corpse and even if you didn’t wake up next to one, everyone around could smell the dead, decaying body (holocaust.org). Another way people died or were badly injured was through a punishment. The most popular crime was attempting to gain more food. A punishment could result in acts like flogging, confinement, or hanging