Daily Life and the Camp Rules

Everyday life at the camp was governed by harassment, violence and a strict hierarchical order. Above all, prisoners concentrated on not losing their constant private battle for survival, in which every day and every hour counted. The guards’ orders had to be obeyed absolutely. Even minor transgressions were severely punished. There was a plethora of regulations to be followed. For example, prisoners had to take off their caps and stand to attention whenever they saw an SS man. There were strict rules as to how and where prisoners had to keep items in the lockers at their quarters. During special uniform roll-calls, prisoners were reprimanded if a button was missing on their jackets, even though spare buttons buttons and twine were almost impossible to come by. The large number of rule  and regulations mainly served to give the SS men and the prisoner functionaries an opportunity to harass prisoners at their will.

Violence was the most important instrument of power and terror the camp SS possessed. Orders were given with the baton. The official catalogue of penalties included the imposition of extra labour during the prisoners’ spare time; a ban on sending or receiving mail, including parcels; having to stand to attention at the camp gates for prolonged periods of time; being denied food; transfer to the penal commando; detention; corporal punishment; hanging from a pole (until 1942); and execution (starting in 1942). Also, any member of the SS guards had the power to mete out punishments at his own discretion.