The SUFFERING of the PRISONERS in Auschwitz | the MANY PUNISHM3NTS in the N4zi camp
Since its Liberation in January 1945 the Auschwitz complex has become synonymous with brutality and in human Horrors within those walls some of the most Savage crimes in human history were committed thousands of people managed to survive that hell and made known the aberrations that took place there in this new military history video we are going to learn about some of the punishments and penalties that were used within the most infamous extermination camp of World War II Auschwitz was the largest Camp established by Nazi Germany
it was a huge complex within which two forced labor camps and one death camp operated for its operation it was divided into Auschwitz 1 Auschwitz 2 or birkenau and Auschwitz III known as monowitz more than a million people lost their lives in these gigantic facilities and nine out of 10 were of Jewish origin hell began before entering above the entrance to the camp there was a sign announcing arbite mocked free or work makes you free a Macabre irony since the exact opposite was true work became another form of genocide
that the Nazis called extermination through Labor that is destroying people while taking advantage of their productive capacity those who thanks to their health escaped immediate death at birkenau were prepared for the tortuous life of work their heads were shaved and an identification number was tattooed on their left forearm stripping them of their identity was the first of many tortures that Auschwitz inflicted on them men were forced to wear ragged pants and striped jackets women wore work dresses both genders were given shoes that were
not the appropriate size causing foot deformities and lacerations the prisoners did not have any change of clothes and they slept in the same Rags they worked in during the day for this reason diseases and infections proliferated that ended up claiming the lives of thousands in this context it was common for prisoners to make mistakes or try to improve their disastrous quality of life any such activity was severely punished the regulation of forced labor in Auschwitz was based on written orders drawn up by the camp director as well as
recommendations from the SS the most common violations were related to attempts to obtain additional food as well as failing to work satisfactorily even trivial things like smoking resting at inappropriate times or wearing clothes not approved by Nazi Germany were cause for reprimand even suicide attempts were punished within the facilities if a prisoner made that decision to escape from hell it was best to get the method right if he survived the penalties were severe although there was a regulation known as
the penal and disciplinary code where the punishment corresponding to each offense was specified the penalties were usually arbitrary and depended on The Morbid imagination of the directors and jailers usually prisoners received different punishments for identical offenses the most frequent of the scourges was confinement in Block 11 a facility within the main camp that became Infamous for its living conditions in Auschwitz block 11 was a kind of prison within a prison there were those who committed some type
of infraction but also people who were waiting to be eliminated through the most varied methods in fact it was in that portion of Auschwitz that the first executions using zyklon B Gas were carried out there were also several torture chambers for the most varied techniques of physical destruction this could include confinement without food or staying in the stazel cells in which prisoners could only stand up they were only one square meter and had a small hole to breathe prisoners could spend up to 20 days in
these facilities being forced to work during the day even without being able to get adequate rest in this context the Auschwitz guards and officials had a free hand to implement the most infamous torture methods Wilhelm Bulger also known as the Auschwitz tiger was a Gestapo officer responsible for the creation of the Bulger hammock it was an iron bar suspended by chains The Prisoner naked was placed in the structure with his wrists tied to his ankles the hammock Suede and the Prisoner was beaten while Bulger interrogated him
the dizziness and shock ended in fainting and after a while in death the floors of the block were littered with the teeth and skin of bulger’s victims the smell of cleaning chemicals and blood creating an unbearable atmosphere other truly Infamous proper names are those of Maria Mandel and her Apprentice Irma Greece both were in charge of the female population of Auschwitz and they like to punish the prisoners sexually constant abuse whipping and even attacks with dogs were the price to pay for the slightest offense or error in daily
tasks as we previously mentioned inside Auschwitz there were three camps number two being the one destined for extermination Auschwitz birkenau was established in 1941 three kilometers from the main facility with the aim of accelerating the extermination process carried out by the Germans as the war progressed the need to purge prisoners increased and there was not enough work to exhaust the prisoners to death at Auschwitz birkenau there were four crematoriums with gas Chambers each capable of holding up to 2 500 prisoners
per shift after the execution a harshest punishment carried out by the Nazis was forcing other Jewish prisoners to search for gold teeth and valuables among the remains of the recently deceased this group was known as the Saunder Commandos and their tasks included cutting and collecting the hair of murdered women also that of escorting future victims to the gassing Chambers people with whom they shared ethnic origin and even family relationships the Saunder Commandos for many years were seen as collaborators but in
reality they were forced to fulfill these functions if they failed in their collection of valuable items the person responsible was thrown into the flames going back to the main building block 10 operated there the place where Joseph Mengele carried out a large part of his experiments on humans Mengele was especially interested in twins people with heterochromia dwarfs and all kinds of genetic abnormalities the doctor experimented without any concern for the health of the prisoners some processes consisted of injecting
chemical substances to change the color of the prisoner’s Iris in other cases the eyeballs were removed for examination causing the victim’s death in one of the most infamous procedures Mengele sewed two Gypsy babies together in an attempt to create conjoined twins both infants died of gangrene Auschwitz was the industrialization of death there was more than one way a prisoner could meet his end whether it was work to death being tortured in Block 11 losing his organs in Block 10 or gasted birkenome in all more than one million three
hundred thousand people pass through the facility and one million one hundred thousand perished the punishments applied there are one of the darkest chapters in human history thank you for staying until the end if you want to know more about any particular aspect of Auschwitz leave us your suggestion in the comment box we’ll meet again in the next episode of military history
