to stand at attention for roll call for hours on end naked in the cold, snowy tundra of Polish winter. Following its first year of existence, Heinrich Himmler visited Auschwitz and told Hess that its labor resource was to be expanded to 100,000 prisoners, making it one of the largest of the concentration camps. In order to accommodate this many people, a second, much larger, section of Auschwitz (Auschwitz II) would have to be constructed. Auschwitz II was built just ection two miles west of Auschwitz I and would be called Birkenau. Prisoners were packed so tightly into the railroad cars that they couldn't even squat to sit, much less lie down to sleep. They rode for two days with no food, no water, no toilet facilities--with only dirty straw on the floor. They finally arrived at their destination, glad to finally be breathing fresh air when the cattle car doors were pulled open. Instead they are greeted with shouts of anger, with guns and bayonets pointed at them, and with guards holding back police dogs ready to tear them apart. A stench fills the air. They are at Birkenau, the second part of the Auschwitz complex, called by some "the mother of all concentration camps. The manpower to build the camp came from 200,000 Russian prisoners of war who were forced to march from Russia to a camp at Lamsdord without any food. During these early days the Russians received more abuse than the Polish prisoners because they were more feared for their military might. They were looked upon by Hess as expendable labor due to their inferior abilities and physical weakness. Of the 12,000 prisoners who were sent to Birkenau in 1941, only 150 survived to the following summer. Some prisoners were assigned to the most gruesome task -- that of the Sonderkommando. These prisoners were forced to work in the crematoria, burning the Jews who had just been gassed. All prisoners who were selected for forced labor were tattooed with numbers on the...
