What was everyday life like in concintration camps?

Question

from the prisonars point of view not hitlers

Answer 1

well, picture ur worst day ever, and now magnify that by 10. and u might not even make it very long after arriving. alot of the prisoners were immeditely killed, either shot, or gassed. then those bodies would be burned in the ovens. usually, a person in a concentration camp didnt last very long. depending on which camp they were in, the every day routine was diff. they could be made to dig very long deep trenches w/o food or water or breaks (these were usually their death trenches, the bodies were buried there, imagine havin to dig ur own grave). roll call is also infamous. no matter what the weather, they would have to stand in formation outside for hours, not movin. if they did, time would start all over again, and in most cases, the one who moved would be beaten or killed. there was very little food or water, no personal hygeine to speak of, and they were forced to live like animals, worse. the camp "doctors" would perform horrible experiments on them, such as injecting a baby with typhoid to see how long it would survive, or pulling on arms or legs to see how far it could stretch b4 breaking. overall.... not a place ud like to visit.

Answer 2

First you were stripped naked and showered. Your hair was cut off to help keep the lice down. Although the tiers of mattresses in barrack like rooms were licey anyway. You were put to work with little food and none of it palatable. And if you slowed down or collapsed you were eliminated right then and there in front of everyone, or sent off to the next gas chamber cremation. You became thin to the point of gauntness, and beyond, little more than flesh and bone and organs moving, ever more slowly. You became aware that the work camps were death camps and you wondered and waited for your turn to die. If you had certain things about you you might be used as a subject of experimentation by the doctors, undergoing painful procedures without any anaesthesia (as you weren't human in the true sense what did it matter to the doctors). A young woman might become what the Japanese used to euphemistically call a comfort woman for the troops, or for some higher up, until you got pregnant or otherwise ceased to be desirable, and then you'd be thrown back in with the others.
Families were split up, and I would think the pall of death over everything and cruelty of the captors made it extremely difficult to retain hope or dignity. You were made bury your own in pits.
arms and limbs piled together, and maybe a few not yet dead in all that.

If you had gold fillings they were removed for the war effort.
Experiments were made with the skin of the Jews--they made nice lampshades (that is so sick it's hard to write, but it's true and you wanted to know).

Some people tried hard to cling to hope, faith, decency, kindness, and their God. Others became informers for better treatment and sold their soul for continuance of life. Others became hopeless, turned their face to the wall, or the next bunk anyway, and laid down and died.

The miracle is that there were any survivors left. And they weren't all Jewish, either. Hitler had a fairly comprehensive list of the types he wanted to eliminate.

Maggie

Answer 3

Read a first-hand account or something if you really want to know. Like Night by Elie Wiesel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, etc.

Answer 4

Unbearably painful and desolate, I imagine.

Answer 5

Read "If this is a man " by Primo Levi

Answer 6

Try these sites:

Answer 7

very critical and intensive.