By Katelyn Begley and Ashleigh Taylor

Special Features Editor and Staff Writer

Imagine waking up every morning at 4 a.m. to the sound of guards shouting orders to prepare for an eleven hour work day. Everyone gets out of their crowded, uncomfortable bunks and quickly puts their shoes on. If they are not fast enough they will be beaten or even worse killed. The guards usually would beat the inmates with their hands but sometimes they would use whips or crowbars.

The most common reasons why inmates were punished were failure to report to work, avoidance, leaving, sabotage, preparation of meals during work, and smoking in non-smoking places. If one was subjected to violating any of those rules, they would get beaten by getting flogged. Flogging would cause so much pain it would get to the point where they couldn’t move their legs.              Another punishment just as painful as the flogging was known as the “pillar”, which the captive’s hands would be tied behind their back and their feet could not touch the ground. Most prisoners lost consciousness from the pain. If the prisoner was on the pillar too long then their arms could tear and eventually lead to death.

In most concentration camps all captives had to wear a uniform of a striped button up shirt and striped pants. Most of the time, each captive only would get one outfit. Washing clothes was not a luxury they had; their uniforms would build up dirt and blood over time.

When people wanted to get clean, they would need to run outside after the wake up call to get to the washing facilities. There were only a few facilities for hundreds of captives. Unfortunately, there was always the chance that the Nazis might replace the water with poison gas.

There was ten minutes to wash and prepare for roll call. This would take hours of calling out names to see who is still alive from the night before. Everyone was forbidden to move or talk. If they did they would begin all over again.

The captives would then walk to the work yard strolling along to the sound of the orchestra coming from the camp. If one was lucky, they would get to work with a shovel or pickax; otherwise they would have to work with their hands. This was unfortunate considering they would have been killed if they didn’t work fast enough.

Work went on for 11-12 hours and by that time people were beginning to get weak from exhaustion and lack of nutrition. They didn’t think about stopping or slowing down; if they did they would get beaten to death.  There was a slight break in the afternoon but then it was back to work. People continued to lose strength and die off. When it was time to return to camp their dead bodies were carried back.

There was more roll call to count all the deaths and any who have escaped. If there was anyone missing, all would stand perfectly still in their lines until the person was retrieved. Then they would be forced to watch as that person was hung in the gallows.  This form of killing was used as a warning, but other methods were used to exterminate the captives. Other than death by exhaustion, they were shot, put in giant ovens, put in gas chambers, starved, whipped, tested with medical experiments, and the guards sometimes unleashed hungry dogs on them.

Captives sometimes received three meals a day, if they were lucky.  For breakfast, they would receive tea or coffee that was usually unsweetened. For lunch they could choose to eat the soup that was offered that was watery and foul tasting. Dinner, which was served after roll call was a “soup” or just dishwater heated up. Those who have saved their bread throughout the day would eat this too.

Captives were to return immediately to their bunks. The guards would check to see if every prisoner was in their shelf-like beds. There were usually about 10 to 15 people in a bunk. With roll call being so long, there was only about two to three hours of sleep before the next day. There was always less people going to bed then there were waking up in the morning. All were wondering if they would survive the next day in those horrific unfair conditions. Life in a concentration camp was no life to dream about.