From 1942 on, all Jewish prisoners admitted to the camp in Auschwitz were tattooed. Generally, the prisoner number was tattooed on a prisoner's left forearm. Starting in early 1943, prisoners in other prisoner categories were also marked with a tattooed prisoner number. Prisoners classified as "Reich Germans" and "ethnic Germans" were not subjected to tattooing.
The Technical Committee (Technischer Ausschuss, TEA) planned and managed all I.G. Farben production. It consisted of the technically qualified members of the managing board and the senior engineers of the product divisions (Sparten), and it was assisted by a large number of technical and scientific panels.
In the Auschwitz literature, the gassing of Soviet POWs and concentration camp prisoners conducted in early September 1941 in Block 11 of the main camp is referred to as the "test gassing" (Probevergasung).
In September 1943, around 5,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz from the Theresienstadt concentration camp, in two transports. The transports included men, women, and children. In contrast to the usual practice of separating male and female prisoners, these people from Theresienstadt were housed together in a separate section of the camp. Their area (B II b) was known as the Theresienstadt family camp.
When prisoners were sent from one camp to another, the SS used the term "relocation" (Verlegung) or "transfer" (Überstellung). If a prisoner was "relocated" (verlegt), this usually meant that he stayed alive; if he was "transferred" (überstellt), this usually meant death for him.
When the SS physicians classified a prisoner of the Buna/Monowitz concentration camp as "not fit for work," he was "transferred to Birkenau," where he was killed in the gas chamber.
The SS marked the prisoners with so-called triangles and assigned them to certain prisoner categories. The prisoners wore the triangles, colored pieces of fabric, sewn on their striped prisoner clothing, along with their prisoner numbers.
Typhus is an infection caused by micro-organisms carried by lice, mites, ticks, or fleas. The danger of infection increases when hygienic conditions are poor. If the disease is not treated, it often proves fatal.
