Prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau lived in wooden barracks which had been originally designed as horse stables. Every building held around 400 prisoners, each of whom was assigned a portion of a shelf-like wooden bunk.
The routine at Auschwitz-Birkenau did not vary. Prisoners were roused at 4:30 in the morning and sent outside for the morning appell regardless of the weather. This roll call could last hours. For those with work assignments, the appell was followed by a march to the fields and factories which surrounded the camp.
At noon, and again in the evening, prisoners waited in line for meals. Nutritional intake consisted of a serving of a thin potato or cabbage soup, with bread and a vague form of coffee given in the evenings. The water at Auschwitz was contaminated with various impurities and members of the SS were instructed not to drink it. The prisoners suffered not only from the poor quality of the water but a persistent shortage of it. The soup and coffee failed to eliminate the constant, nagging thirst, which was, according to survivor Primo Levi, worse than the constant hunger.
The latrines were open concrete structures, 118 feet long and three feet wide. Each served about 7,000 prisoners, 150 at a time on a revolving cycle. There was a 10-minute limit, to which many of the prisoners, who suffered from various health conditions, could not comply. It was difficult not to step into excrement, and it was also possible to fall into the latrine. In summer, the stench was indescribably strong; in winter the contents of the latrines froze.
After the laborers returned to their barracks at night, all prisoners were counted at an evening appell before being allowed to rest and to sleep. Punishments and arbitrary violence were part of life at Auschwitz, and the stench from the crematoria pervaded the atmosphere — a constant and hopeless reminder of the likely end for most prisoners.
