Introduction

The first concentration camp in the Nazi system, Dachau, opened in March,
1933. By the end of World War II, the Nazis administered a massive system of
more than 40,000 camps that stretched across Europe from the French-Spanish
border into the conquered Soviet territories, and as far south as Greece and
North Africa. The largest number of prisoners were Jews, but individuals were
arrested and imprisoned for a variety of reasons, including ethnicity and
political affiliation. Prisoners were subjected to unimaginable terrors from the
moment they arrived in the camps; it was a dehumanizing existence that
involved a struggle for survival against a system designed to annihilate them.

Within the camps, the Nazis established a hierarchical identification system and
prisoners were organized based on nationality and grounds for incarceration.
Prisoners with a higher social status within the camp were often rewarded with
more desirable work assignments such as administrative positions indoors.
Some, such as the kapos (work supervisors) or camp elders held the power of
life and death over other prisoners. Those lower on the social ladder had more
physically demanding tasks such as factory work, mining, and construction, and
suffered a much higher mortality rate from the combined effects of physical
exhaustion, meager rations, and extremely harsh treatment from guards and
some kapos. Prisoners also staffed infirmaries, kitchens, and served various
other functions within the camp. Living conditions were harsh and extreme but
varied greatly from camp to camp and also changed over time.

The following bibliography was compiled to guide readers to selected materials

on daily life in the Nazi concentration camps that are in the Library's
collection. It is not meant to be exhaustive. Annotations are provided to help
the user determine the item's focus, and call numbers for the Museum's Library
are given the call number in parentheses following each citation. Those unable
to visit might find these works in a nearby public or academic library, or
acquire them through interlibrary loan. Talk to your local librarian for
assistance.

The Camp SS regarded prisoners as enemies deserving brutal punishment. From

the moment of their arrival, prisoners suffered abuse and humiliation. The SS
wanted total domination and imposed a strict daily schedule. Prisoners were never
allowed enough rest. After the morning roll call, most prisoners marched to work.
At the end of each exhausting day, prisoners fell onto their bunks, already dreading
the next morning.

Living conditions were poor, because the SS believed that prisoners deserved no
better. Before the war, the SS still provided a bare minimum. During the war,
conditions became deadly. Prisoners slept in broken-down barracks with leaking
roofs. They were crammed onto tiny bunks, often without blankets, or directly onto
muddy floors. Some prisoners had to sleep in flimsy tents or damp tunnels. Rations
were cut, causing mass starvation. Hunger and disease turned many prisoners
into living skeletons. Seriously ill prisoners had little hope of survival. Camp
hospitals offered hardly any medical treatment. Instead, sick inmates were
routinely executed or deported to die in other camps.

The hierarchic structure of the concentration camps followed the model established

in Dachau. The German staff was headed by the Lagerkommandant (camp
commander) and a team of subordinates, comprised mostly of junior officers. One
of them commanded the prisoners’ camp, usually after being specially trained for
this duty. Male and female guards and wardens of various kinds were subordinate
to the command staff.
The prisoners had a hierarchy of their own.  Prisoner-supervisors (kapos) were
considered an elite that could wield power. The prisoners had different opinions
about them: most Jewish supervisors tried to treat their brethren well; some were
harsh towards the other inmates.
The appel, the daily lineup that took place every morning after wakeup and each
evening after returning from labor, was one of the horrific aspects of the prisoners’
lives in the camps. They were forced to stand completely still, often for hours at a
time, exposed to the elements in the cold, rain, or snow and to the terror of sudden
violence by SS men, guards or kapos. The camp routine was composed of a long
list of orders and instructions, usually given to all but sometimes aimed at
individual prisoners, the majority of which were familiar yet some came
unexpected. All of one’s strength had to be enlisted to overcome the daily routine:
an early wakeup, arranging the bed’s straw, the lineup, marching to labor, forced
labor, the waiting period for the meager daily meal, usually consisting of a watery
vegetable soup and half a piece of bread which was insufficient for people working
at hard labor, the return to the camp, and another lineup, before retiring to the
barracks.
Despite their terrible conditions, cultural and religious activity continued in the
ghettos, labor camps, and even concentration camps. Literary and artistic works
that survived the war reflect the Jews’ lives, agonies and efforts to maintain their
human and Jewish identity. These works are direct and authentic testimonies and
depict the Jewish victims’ daily life during the Holocaust. Writing a diary on
scraps of paper, producing drawings and illustrations of camp life, making jewelry
out of copper wire, writing a Passover Haggadah, and conducting prayer services
on the eve of Rosh Hashanah are all manifestations of the tremendous
psychological strength maintained by these frail, starving people. Even at the end
of the grueling days they had to endure, they refused to abandon their creative
endeavors. Prisoners in concentration and labor camps exhibited heroism and
resourcefulness in their daily lives, struggling to sustain not only the ember of
physical life but also, and primarily, their humanity and basic moral values,
friendship and concern for others – values that facilitated their survival.