ND+Q5

Were People of Different Ages Treated Differently in the Camps? Nazis only kept the strong and valuable Jews in the camps. They need the strong Jews to work in the camps. Many of the prisoners were used as laborers. The laborers were used to dig ditches, to lead inmates to their deaths, as barbers, and etc. The prisoners that were thought "unfit" were murdered. When the Jews arrived at the labor, concentration, and death camps they went through the process of selection. The process of selection was used to pick the strong and healthy Jews from the weak and ill Jews. It is said that this process was the most terrifying part of arriving in the camps. The Nazis during the selection walk through the lines of newly arrived Jews. They asked questions: How old are you? Are you healthy? or What is you occupation? Depending on the answers of the Jews the Nazis picked the best fit to work in the camps. The others were exterminated as soon as possible. The "unfit" Jews were considered as weak, ill, and old or to young to work in the camps. Almost always children and infants between the age of zero to eighteen were consider "unfit". Also elderly Jews were killed if they were older then sixty. The "fit" Jews were considered as healthy and strong. Many of these "fit" Jews were between the ages eighteen to about fifty five.

Children did not usually survive past the selection. They were exterminated in many different ways throughout different camps. "Children thrown into the flames" (32). However, if they did make it past the awful event inmates would help protect the children. They would signal for the kids to hide when the Nazis came by and would split their rations with them as well. Jews also set up little communities in the barracks that they lived in. Jews that had once been teachers would be appointed to teaching the children. If the children did not die in the selection then they were almost surely to die from starvation or weakness. Adults were usually the ones that survived the longest in the camps. They were considered "fit" and had the ability to be a specialized worker or normal workers who worked in the fields. Once the Adult were past the selection they would do anything to assure that they would pass the next selection. Many Jews would put rags under their clothing to make them look like they had enough strength to continue working. Jews would also even venture to further extents to assure that they would not be exterminated. Some would steal food and if they were caught then they were killed. Elderly Jews that arrived at the camps were also treated completely different then the adults. A majority of the elderly jews were exterminated during the selection process as either to ill or weak to be useful in the camp. If they did survive past the selection their time in the camp was usually limited. It was not long until many of them died from starvation, fatigue, or illnesses. The elderly Jews were also used as laborers. It was harder for them to work in the fields because there fragile bodies could not withstand the weakness that they would begin to feel.

Jew that were children or elderly were exterminated quickly. The only really safe age to be was between eighteen to fifty five.

For more information read //The Holocaust Camps,// by Ann Byers.

Noland