THE CONCENTRATION CAMP BUSINESS

By the time the Jewish deportees arrived in Auschwitz, they had already been deprived of their businesses, their workshops, their academic degrees, their homes, their savings, their family heirlooms, and everything else that could not be packed in a suitcase or carried in a bundle. After leaving the trains, they were deprived of the few possessions they had. The procedure was simple: German money was deposited in an SS bank account; foreign currency, valuables, and precious metals were sent to SS headquarters; rags and other useless clothing, as well as hair, were sent to the Reich Ministry of Economy to be used as raw materials in industrial production; and clothing, shoes, bedding, and household utensils were given to the ethnic German settlers in annexed Poland.

Throughout the existence of the concentration camp, the sorting and storage sheds were known as “Kanada", so called because Canada represented a land of unlimited and untapped resources , were always overflowing with goods from the prisoners . Every day five freight cars loaded with goods left Auschwitz.