During the War, officials at the killing centers had Jews entering the camps give up all belongings including shoes, clothes, brushes, and other personal items. These items were given up as soon as the prisoner arrived on the property. The officials would steal anything that they found to be valuable and sent all the other items to a higher power. Most of the items were given up because the Nazi's told them they were going to take showers so they needed to discard of any personal items. We learned later that the prisoners didn't go take showers, instead, they went to the gas chambers.
This little "hole in the wall" was used as a gunman's hideout. Anyone who attempted to escape in the middle of the night would immediately be shot by these men. The hideouts were manned at all times during the night from dusk until dawn. At night, the prisoners couldn't see the dimly lit hideouts and attempted to run right passed them. A many as 5,000 prisoners alone were killed in Auschwitz from these gunman hideouts.
As little as the prisoners had to eat, there was in fact a dining hall in Auschwitz. Meal times were the most important times of the day for these people. Because the food was so rationalized, they took whatever they were given. After roll call, they were given breakfast which was immigration coffee or herbal tea, then sent back out to work. Lunch was a liter of watered down soup, then they were sent back out to work. Dinner consisted of 300 grams of black bread with a side of butter. The bread was supposed to hold them off until morning. The prisoners would even take bread from dead bodies that didn't get enough time to eat their own.
“The dead body had a piece of bread...” “... I’m taking this piece of bread from this dead body... ... and I’m taking this one pair of boots and I can sell it. With this I can buy myself a place to live. I can buy myself a place to sleep. With this bread I bought myself a bit of access [to wash]. Your bowl was your life, without your bowl you didn’t eat.” -Kity Hart-Moxon
"Arbeit macht frei" is a German phrase meaning "work makes you free." Prisoners were assigned to a whole range of different work duties. Some of
these were within the camp, but most prisoners worked outside in one of the many
factories, construction projects, farms or coal mines, owned by German companies
and for whom they now provided free slave labor. Those who were too young, too old, or unable to perform work were killed immediately. With horrible working conditions, no pay, and no food, prisoners lost their mind.
The Nazi flag was and still is a very symbolic element today. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the colors of this flag are brought up a lot. Because Death is so infatuated with color, he describes the Nazi flag in a very in depth way throughout the entire story. The Nazi flag is a recognizable symbol by people from all over the world and not for the right reasons.
I looked out at life with Holocaust eyes
And what better did I know that I had been
looking through the lens of guilt and affliction,
Seeing life amiss and askew through my Holocaust guilt,
This fatal flaw was burning in my eyes
and how it lay siege to my Jewish heart,
A Greek tragedy in the making all of these years,
The guilt rose from deeply sealed vaults
inside my Jewish eyes and heart,
I could not help but see life through my Holocaust eyes,
Until these Holocaust pangs smoldered and burned
its acrid smoke in my eye sockets,
I peeled away its painful gauze and ace bandages,
My eyes had once lamented over the Holocaust afflictions,
But now I could see with clarion eyes and feel anew
with my Jewish heart by virtue of Holocaust healing balm,
As it clarified the lens, fluid and muscles of my eyes,
And now this healing balm paved a shimmering path within me,
For my Jewish heart to emerge and then shine its splendor
outwards on straight and forward path of life." -Alana Freshman