Entrance gate to Auschwtiz

     Auschwitz was the main concentration camp in Poland, during the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler imprisoned so many innocent people throughout those few years. People in these camps either went straight to the gas chambers or were sent to work. Prisoners died from starvation, torture, gas chambers, disease, medical experiments, and so many more horrendous ways. If they were "lucky" enough to go to work, they worked for eleven or twelve hour days with hardly any breaks. During the Holocaust, the concentration camp Auschwitz had very harsh conditions such as the horrid living conditions, meager supplement of food, and treacherous work and death sections of the camp.

     The housing in Auschwitz was atrocious. The prisoners were crowded into unheated barracks. These barrack had wooden bunks stacked one on top of the other, to make a total of three ("Children"). They did not have mattresses or blankets ("Children"). The beds looked like shelves stacked on top of each other. In Auschwitz, “Prisoners slept on straw-stuffed mattresses laid on the floor [at first]… so overcrowded that prisoners could only sleep on their sides” (Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau)("Living"). The prisoners of this concentration camp had to wake-up at the extremely early time of four A.M. (Lawton)

Beds in Auschwitz

   To add to the bedding conditions, they also had no proper water or sewage. The dirty drinking water and improper restroom facilities lead to typhoid and dysentery (Lawton). They also got to shower once a month ("Children''). But sometimes they were not showers they were stepping into…

           The treacherous conditions did not only occur in the barracks. They were everywhere. When they arrived at the camp, their heads were shaved, they were tattooed on their left arm, and their clothing and possessions were taken from them ("Children"). In the death portion, prisoners were killed with gases such as carbon monoxide or Zyklon B  ("Children").

                                                                       This is a photo of the entrance to Auschwitz

    Working in Auschwitz was horrific. They worked from six in the morning to five in the evening with half-hour breaks for food (Downing). The prisoners worked in nearby coalmines, factories for steel and shoes, or cement plants. Fritzie Fritshall declares,” They would take us outside to move huge rocks. One day we would take these huge rocks from this side and carry them to that side… By the time they took us back to the barracks at night we could barely crawl. But we needed to show that we could still walk, that we were strong enough to give one more day,”(Lawton, Clive W. 29)("Auschwitz").

     The food that was given to the prisoners in Auschwitz was a very small supplement. They received watery turnip soup in the morning, and a little piece of bread in the evening (Downing). The meager supply of food affected many prisoners chance of living, making it slimmer. Nahum Hoch stated,"I asked for a little extra in the evening... the upper part of my body was put in the oven...I was beaten on the lower part of my body" (Auschwitz 27) ("Auschwitz"). Sometimes the people in camps received bread or coffee ("Children"). Most people who were new to the concentration camps could not even eat the small amount of food provided to them without throwing up ("Living").

Used bowls and utensils from Auschwitz

          Prisoners on the cattle car to Auschwitz received no food and there was no restroom facilities ("Children"). At the camp, disease was easily spread. Typhus, was spread by lice and contaminated the prisoners drinking water ("Children"). This seriously impacted the life span of captured people in Auschwitz.

     “Auschwitz: The Camp of Death.” Holocaust Teacher Resource Center. Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birknau w Oswiecimiu, 1999. Web. 5 May 2010. Source # 6

     Benedict, Susan, and Jane M. Georges. “Nurses and sterilization experiments of Auschwitz: a postmodernist perspective.” Ebsco host. blackwell publishing, Dec. 2006. Web. 31 Apr. 2010. source #2

     “Children in the Holocaust.” Sirs Discoverer. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Nov. 1993. Web. 31 Apr. 2010. <http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/‌discoweb/‌disco/‌do>. source # 1

     Downing, David. The Nazi Death Camps. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print. source# 5

     Emmanuel Dyan. Auschwitz- Poland. 24 Oct. 2004. Flickr. Yahoo, 16 Dec. 2005. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌emmanueldyan/‌74211424/>.

     Hkxforce. Railway to Auschwitz. 22 May 2008. Flikr. Yahoo, 25 May 2008. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌hkxforce/‌2519868609/>.

     Lawton, Clive A. Auscwitz. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2002. Print. source #4

     “Living Conditions .” Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Panstwowe Muzeum Aschwitz-Birkenau w Oswiecimiu, 1999. Web. 5 May 2010. source #7

     Muddyclay. Auschwitz. 17 Sept. 2008. Flickr. Yahoo, 17 Sept. 2008. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌billhunt/‌2864693677/>.

     Paolo camera. Auschwitz Camp Gates. 27 Feb. 2007. Flickr. Yahoo, 18 July 2007. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌vegaseddie/‌846403402/>.

     Ryarwood. Auschwitz. 2005. Flickr. Creative Commons. Web. 10 May 2010. <http://www.flickr.com/‌photos/‌yarwood/‌28791794/>.

     “WWII: Freeing The Death Camps.” Sirs Discoverer. Scholastic, 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 3 May 2010. <http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/>. source3

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