Upon arriving at the camps from cattle trucks and trains, men and women were separated and children went with their mothers. After registration, prisoners were stripped of their clothing and had to shave their hair off before showering. They were given a striped uniform. The prisoners were identified by a number printed on their clothing and also an inverted triangle with lettering to signify the reason for imprisonment. These things were done to remove any remnants of human dignity or personal identity. Criminals were marked with a green triangle, political prisoners with red, homosexuals with pink, whilst Jehovah’s Witnesses wore a purple triangle and asocials (including Roma) wore a black triangle. In some camps, Jews were usually marked …show more content…
Women would be supplied a smock type dress. Clothes would be changed approximately every six weeks. As prisoners would have to work and sleep in the same clothes, they would be very dirty. For shoes, prisoners would wear wooden or leather clogs. As there was no socks, the clogs would run on feet and ankles causing foot sores. As the conditions of the camps were quite poor, it was easy to get an infection which could then lead to death. The morning started with Appell, the morning roll call in which the prisoners were forced to stand for hours at a time wearing thin clothing in all weathers. Anyone unable to stand was taken away to his or her death. Roll calls were often used as punishment, especially the evening roll call which took much longer than the morning one. Every single prisoner had to be at roll call, even the dead ones who had to be carried by mates. If a prisoner had not worked hard enough he or she would be punished; if a prisoner had attempted some form of resistance, he or she would be punished; if a prisoner tried to escape, he or she would be punished. Punishment usually meant …show more content…
The rations were merely intended to keep the prisoners alive. The Nazis did not provide prisoners with sufficient nutrition to carry out heavy manual work. Many thousands died from starvation or illnesses brought on by lack of nutrition. The type of work done in the camps by the prisoners depended on the type of camp. Many of them worked in factories, construction projects, farms or coal mines. Their work day would be 12-14 hours, with no break. If the prisoners slowed or stopped work, they were beaten. Others processed the belongings that had been taken away when prisoners arrived at camp. They sifted through and found valuables to be sent back to Germany. These prisoners were considered privileged as they were able steal extra food, a pair of shoes or extra clothing to help them survive. A typical concentration camp consisted of wooden or brick-built barracks surrounded by barbed wire, watchtowers and guards to prevent escape. The inmates usually lived in overcrowded barracks and had to sleep in overcrowded bunk beds. These barracks we usually built to house 250-400 inmates but ended up holding 700-1200. Diseases and epidemics spread very quickly in these crowded conditions. The inmates lived