Serial Number Essay

Serial numbers were used to keep track of the thousands of prisoners who arrived each day at the concentration camps. Serial numbers were tattooed only at one place, Auschwitz. Prisoners were given a tattoo if they were considered fit to work. Those who were chosen for death, were not given a tattoo. The serial number was located on the outer left forearm. A single needle was used to pierce the prisoners skin and left a permanent mark of their number .Upon arrival, the prisoners’ clothing and belongings were confiscated from them and replaced by a striped uniform, also know as the “striped pajamas”. The prisoners were given leather or wooden shoes without socks, which cause them to have sore feet. It would rub against their ankles, also causing pain. This was also dangerous because of the polluted environment they were confined in, their exposed feet could lead to infection or even death. The serial number was sewn into these uniforms along with a color coded triangle that showed their reason for being at the camps. Men and women were given similar, yet different articles of clothing. Women got a striped dress while men wore a hat, vest, coat, and trousers. Having uniforms changed every six weeks caused these clothes to be very dirty; Jews worked in these performing intense and difficult labor. Nazis also utilized color coded symbols for labeling prisoners based on what the reasoning was for imprisonment. Homosexuals were labeled pink, criminals had a green triangle marked on them, asocials were marked with a black triangle, political prisoners were red, and Jehovah's Witnesses were marked with a purple triangle. Being marked with a yellow triangle was a common way to showcase one was Jewish. Sometimes a yellow triangle and a r...

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...umerous medical criminals. Jews already had an unbearable life, but the experiments that went on were not only inhuman, but pure evil, for very little patients survived these horrific events. Those who did were left with permanent injuries.
"The heaps grow. Suitcases, bundles, blankets, coats, handbags that open as they fall, spilling coins, gold, watches; mountains of bread pile up at the exits, heaps of marmalade, jams, masses of meat, sausages; sugar spills on the gravel. Trucks, loaded with people, start up with a deafening roar and drive off amidst the wailing and screaming of the women separated from their children, and the stupefied silence of the men left behind. They are the ones who had been ordered to step to the right--the healthy and the young who will go to the camp. In the end, they too will not escape death, but first they must work.... “ -Borowski