The Theory and Practice of Hell (29 page)

Starting in August 1939, the most important foods were rationed throughout Germany. The diet grew generally worse. Fixed money allowances were out of the question, and the SS did as it pleased in the camps. Not until August 1, 1940, were standardized ration tables introduced, which remained in force thereafter. Their fluctuations during various periods are shown in the table:

W e e k ly R a t i o n s tn G e r m a n C l a s s
II

C o n c e n t r a t i o n C am ps

Aug. 1, 40 May 15. 42 Apr. 28. 44

t
o to to Mar. 1,45 May 14, 42 Apr. 27, 44 Feb.28.45

lb. OZ. lb. oz. lb. OZ. lb. OZ. M eat and processed m eat.........
14.11
9.9*
7
8.7

F a t ...................................................... 7 6
6.4
2.9

Including m argarine. . T. . . .
5.2
4. 5

Lard. e tc ................................ 1.8 1.5

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HELL 115

W e e k ly R a t i o n s tn G e r m a n C l a s s
II

C o n c e n t r a t i o n C am ps

Aug. 1, 40
May
15. 42 Apr. 28. 44

to to to Mar. 1. 45

May
14, 42 Apr. 27. 44 Feb. 28. 45

Cottage cheese............................ 3.5 3.5 3.5 1.4

Or skimmed-milk cheese.. . . 1.6 1.6

Bread............................................. 6 5 6 5 12 3 14

Sugar............................................. 2.8 2.8 2.8

Marmalade...................................
3.5
3
5
3.5
8.5

Cereals.......................................... 5.1
5.1
8.83

Flour or flour mixture.. . . . . T, 7.9 4.4 4.4

Skimmed m ilk.............................
(Vi
Pt.
0/2
Pt.

daily) daily) Coffee substitute 4 ....................
2.7
2.2 2.2 1.1

Potatoes........................................
7
12
11
6
3 7 12

Fresh vegetables

(turnips, etc.)..................
6
3 5 12 8 13 13.2

Supplementary Diet for Hea\>y Manual Workers

Meat and processed meat........
1
4.15 9.9 9.9 13.3

Fat..................................................
3.5
3.5 3.5 1.9

Bread............................................. 3
3
® 3 2 7

* Low-grade beef or horse meat, reduced to 11.2 oz. on Oct. 1, 1941, and to 9.9 oz. on Jan. 1, 1942.

2
Reduced to 7 oz. on May 31, 1942, in return for additions of 2.6 oz.

bread and half an ounce of fat.

3 With an additional 6 oz. legumes.

4
When “German Tea** was issued, it was at the rate of a little more than one-tenth of an ounce per day, in place of one-third of an ounce of coffee substitute.

5 Low-grade beef or horse meat, reduced to 11.2 oz. on Oct. 1, 1941,

and to 9.9 oz. on Jan. 1, 1942.

®Or less.

Prisoners transferred from one camp to another were issued a daily travel ration of a little more than a pound of bread, not quite two ounces of sausage, and about two ounces of margarine.

The nutritive value of this diet fluctuated greatly for more reasons than those already pointed out. The meat served in camp was of inferior quality. In the early years—as long as Germany still had access to the high seas—a good deal of it was whale meat, later low-grade beef and horsemeat. In the camp messes it was thoroughly boiled, the rich soup skimmed off, and the meat shreds dumped into the food for the prisoners, which thus contained but a fraction of the original nutritive value. The black army bread issued in the camps, unless it happened to be moldy, was often better than that available to the German people in many regions. Sugar, so

essential to the diet, almost invariably disappeared. The main sweetening—if any at all—was saccharine and other German synthetics. During the final phase of the camps, there was vir tually no jam. The skimmed milk listed in the table was re served for a few favored details. From the aspect of nutrition, the coffee substitute could have been readily dispensed with—its taste was indescribable, as was its color. It might just as well have been issued as "tea” or “ German Acorn Cocoa.” The prisoners infinitely preferred so-called “ Ger man Tea,” especially since it was sweetened. Unfortunately it was issued only rarely. Potatoes were generally rotten and almost always served unpeeled. The prisoners seldom had the time to peel them properly, because of the frightful rush at mess, and when they did, the valuable nutriments under the skin of course found their way into the garbage cans. On the average, I believe that scarcely ever was more than two-thirds of the potato quantity given in the table actually issued—for long periods certainly much less. The item described as “ Fresh vegetables” is no more than a statistical abstraction, and can only bring a wry smile to the lips of a survivor. “ Fresh vegetables” were either “ German pineapples” — turnips, inadequately cooked and as tough as wood—or tur nip greens and discarded cabbage leaves and stalks.

The supplementary ration for heavy manual workers was a most welcome boon, if one was lucky enough to draw it, especially because it included blood sausage of relatively good quality. The so-called liver sausage was often inedible and stank. It is improbable that it ever contained liver, since usually ground fish bones were found in it. Unfortunately only a small number of prisoners ever drew the supplementary ration, toward the end of the war virtually none at all.

A special diet was established for patients in the prisoner hospital. It was much in demand as a supplementary ration, and large quantities of it always went to the “ big shots” among the prisoners—Senior Block Inmates, Prisoner Foremen, and other powerful gentry. There were such favored persons in every camp, enjoying hospital diet year af ter year, in addition to their other privileges. It was generally a matter of “ pull” with the hospital mess, staffed entirely with the camp’s ruling class; or it was a matter of barter. In return for hospital food, the foremen of the tailor shop, the

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF HELL 117

shoe-repair shop, the clothing room, the supply rooms, would provide whatever was wanted. By dint of bribery of several SS Camp Medical Officers, even eggs were provided for the hospital—though the patients rarely saw them, let alone ate them. In Buchenwald alone, from 1939 to 1941, some forty thousand eggs, disappeared on the “ black market.” It would be unfair, however, to fail to mention that hospital food helped to “ finance” many useful things that benefited all the prisoners.

If one substitutes actuality for paper statistics in judging concentration-camp food, the following situation emerges:

The great majority of the prisoners were in a state of malnutrition and exhaustion. Newcomers usually lost up to 50 pounds in weight in the first two or three months. Many weighed less than 110 pounds. There was a marked shortage of vitamins, which greatly contributed to the spread of disease and epidemics. The clearest evidence supporting these statements is furnished by the post-mortem reports. Autopsies were not performed on every prisoner who died, but the available reports can be regarded as fairly representative. Ninety post mortems at Buchenwald, from February 13, to April 30, 1940, showed the following results:

No. of
ca«ea
%

Poor or very poor state o f nutrition. 63 70

Moderate or adequate state o f nutrition. . . . 14 15.5

Good state o f nutrition....................................... 13 14.5

From May 31, to September 1, 1940, seventy-five post mortems showed the following results:

No. of cases
%

Poor or very poor state of nutrition......... 44 59

Moderate or adequate state o f nutrition. . . . 15 20

Good state o f nutrition....................................... 16 21

It should be borne in mind that in these post-mortem reports the SS Medical Officers approximated the truth only in cases of specified disease involving an impaired state of nutrition. In other cases even completely emaciated bodies were marked “ good state of nutrition.”

A revealing light on the frightful food situation in the Ger-

man concentration camps is thrown by the following excerpt from a letter of March 17, 1945, that passed between the Chief Medical Officer for concentration camps and Dr. Schiedlausky of Buchenwald. We read:

The field office o f the Todt Organization1 reports that post mortems [ofprisoners in an outside labor detailfrom Buchenwald] reveal a state o f chronic starvation. They are unable to accountfor this, since the prisoners received sup plementary rations for heavy manual workers. Their letter hints at the possibility o f irregularities in the issuing o f rations. To check on this I discussed the situation with the officer concerned here, SS Major Barnewald. He states that the Todt Organization itself has taken over thefeeding o f the prisoners
,
so that in the unlikely event o f any irregularities, they cannot be placed at our door. We stated as much in a letter o f March 10, 1945, addressed to the Chief Medical Field Officer o f the Todt Organization, requesting him to institute an investigation o f his own.