Daily Routine and Language of the Camp

Daily Routine

The prisoners were woken before dawn. Despite the jostling in the overcrowded quarters, prisoners were only given half an hour to perform their ablutions, make up their beds and drink their ration of substitute coffee or warm broth. After morningroll-call, prisoners were assigned to work commandos. Work went on for 10 to 12 hours a day, with a break at noon, during which the prisoners were given soup. During the winter months, the workingdays were slightly shortened. After evening roll-call, the prisoners received their evening meal. At 9 p.m. the lights were turned out and the prisoners went to sleep. Their nights were too short and brought them little rest. From 1943, the prisoners’ sleep was often interrupted by air-raid alarms. During air-raidalerts, the SS forced the prisoners to run to the basements of the stone buildings in the dark, beating them all the way. In their little spare time in the evenings and on Sundays, prisoners tried to get their uniforms clean, socialise with other prisoners and trade items for food.

The Language of the Camp

It was difficult for the prisoners to communicate amongst themselves. Most of them could only talk to fellow prisoners who spoke the same native language. The beatings they received from the guards, however, forced them to quickly learn how to pronounce their prisoners’ numbers in German and to understand the orders they were given. The prisoners also had to sing German military songs when they were marched in and out of the camp. Over time, a camp vernacular developed, which was made up of German prison jargon, SS military jargon and terms from other languages, especially Russian – a simplified system of communication born of necessity. Prisoners who spoke German had better chances of obtaining a post as a prisoner functionary and thus increasing their chances of survival, and prisoners who spoke foreign languages were sometimes used as interpreters.