L07: The Holocaust: Life in concentration camps

Question 1

work done by forced laborers

Answer 1

• outside camp = forced manual labour to support war effort (worked in all conditions + walk kms to work)
• inside camp = support Nazi agenda within camp (took blood to keep Gr alive)
• Sonderkommando = Jewish prisoners forced to complete hard labour inside the camp around gas chambers

Question 2

what happened to those selected for gas chambers

Answer 2

• preparation like calming Jews + told them to undress for a shower and leave clothes as they will ‘return’
• locked entrance once Jews were in
• gas administered by button or level = x see victim
• after gassed, bodies removed by Sonderkommandos

Question 3

work and living conditions for sonderkommando

Answer 3

• carry deads, remove metal work in teeth, shave hair, collect fat, crush bones, place in crematorium, keep fire going etc.
• better living conditions bc imp role
• slept in own barracks
• allowed to keep goods from dead
• x usually subjected to random killing
• x mix with others & every 3-4 months = killed and replaced (as they knew most about FS)

Question 4

overall living conditions for those forced to work

Answer 4

-strict timetable (begin ~ 4am)
- 2000 share 100 toilets
- dirty water/ no clean clothes
- rations = black bread, watery soup, fake coffee
- hunger = greatest problem as only given enough to be alive