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The Appellplatz was a central area or square used for roll-call. (Appell - roll-call). Sometimes prisoners had to watch whippings and hangings there, too. At many concentration camps, roll-call (twice a day) was deliberately spun out and used to make the prisoners' lives a misery. Often it lasted 2 hours plus and the prisoners had to stand to attention throughout, but the SS guards walked around. On 11 (?) December 1938 at Buchenwald the numbers didn't tally at evening roll-call and the prisoners were recounted twice in freezing weather. At the end of it some of the prisoners were dead!
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What does appelplatz mean in German?
Appellplatz is a military term and translates as parade ground.
How is appellplatz connected to the the Holocaust?
The appellplatz was the central area of concentration camps and was used for the endless, long roll-calls - and also for public whippings and for hangings.
What was a typical day like in a concentration camp for prisoners?
4 a.m.: AwakeningYou are awakened by the kapo (fellow inmate appointed to special duties by the Nazis) barking at you. Hurry up! You must raise, find your shoes (but maybe somebody stole them which often means death because you'll not be able to work) and start as soon as possible the "bettenbau". From the shapeless straw mattress you'll have to make a perfect bed in a military manner, with blankets made up exactly over the straw mattress. Of course, this is nearly impossible to do and the kapo knows it. The "bettenbau" is just a good opportunity for him to beat the prisoners. In Auschwitz-Birkenau, there is no such 'bettenbau' as the beds are just tall wooden shelves. The bed is made now, and it is time for washing. You run out of the barrack and try to reach the sanitary facility. There are only a couple of sanitary facilities for hundreds of prisoners, and you are under constant threat of the Nazis suddenly deciding to liquidate you. They would switch signs on the washroom and gas chamber door, or they would turn on poison gas instead of water in the showers. You have just a couple of minutes for washing, and the water arbitrarily switches between boiling hot and freezing cold. It is nearly time for the morning roll call, and you know the kapos will beat the stragglers, sometimes to death.The "Breakfast":You must have your mess-tin in hand. No mess-tin, no food. A kapo gives you approximately 10 ounces of bread and some "coffee" [see note, end of page]. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you'll receive some margarine or a thin slice of sausage with your bread. The "coffee" is tasteless. No sugar and no milk, of course. The bread you just received will be the only solid food you'll receive until tomorrow. If you have strength of will, you'll try to spare it for the rest of the day. The distribution of food is once again a good opportunity for the kapos to have some "fun". Sometimes they throw the bread in the mud, or they push you while serving the coffee, wasting it on the ground. In any case, you'll receive nothing more, and you are risking punishment for wasting food. If you are very strong, you can save your bread rations for a few days and trade them to the local 'black market' run by inmates with 'ins'.Morning Roll Call:All the prisoners are lined up in rows of ten on a huge bare space in the center of camp called the Appellplatz. All the prisoners must be at the roll call, including the ones who died during the night. There, poor bodies are aligned in front of you or in front of your barrack. Under control of the SS guards and officers, the kapos led by the Blockalteste (in charge of your barracks) are counting the thousands of prisoners. A mistake during the counting and everything must start again, making the kapos nervous and dangerous. During the roll call, you must stand at attention, even if it is raining or snowing. It is forbidden to move or to talk during the roll call. Your poor striped uniform, made from an incredibly rough cloth, does not protect you against the cold weather. Every day, several prisoners catch cold during the roll call and die in the following days. Some others die during the roll call itself. They were too weak to stand at attention during hours. Their bodies, as well as the deaths of the night, will be sent to the crematories after the roll call.Move Off of the Appellplatz:You run to join your work team. You'll leave the camp under the heavy guard of SS and kapos, always barking at you. You'll reach the yard by walk of course. Maybe you'll have to march off to the beat of the music played by the camp orchestra. Just at the gate of the camp, there is a row of SS waiting for your work team. Beatings, insults, barking again and again...The Work:If you are lucky, you have received a good tool, a shovel or a pickax. Otherwise, you'll have to work with your hands... and this may mean death because you'll not be able to work as fast as the guards request. The day will be long: 12-14 hours of work. The work is very hard, and often useless: to move heavy sand bags from one point to another, to extract and carry heavy stones, to dig trenches or to bore a tunnel. When it is obviously pointless and there is also bad weather such as rainstorms or hail, Kapos will be extra angry because they have to stand out there as well. Maybe you are working in a factory but this does not improve your condition of life, unless you are in a labor camp in which case the SS only patrol the factories, they don't stay there. Germans had the prisoners work in factories for the good of the war; creating ammunition (SS stayed here) or clothing for the Nazi soldiers. This is extermination by work. Everything has to be done as fast as possible, and always with insults and beatings from the kapos and the SS. If a guard thinks you are not working fast enough, you'll be beat up, maybe until you die. Don't even think about stopping for a while or even slowing down. It will be considered as sabotage and this means death.The Afternoon:Slight break at noon, then the work starts again, always at inferno. The afternoon seems harder because you are hungry and you feel you are losing strength. A prisoner faints and the guards beat him up. If this poor wo/man can't rise, s/he'll be killed and you'll have to bring his/her poor body back to the camp, for the evening roll call.Return to the Camp:A last signaling whistle: your work team walks back to the camp, and the survivors are carrying bodies of the prisoners who died today. Once arrived in the camp, the SS are controlling your team. It's a new opportunity for them to beat, to kill.Evening Roll Call:All the prisoners are lined up by rows of ten. The kapos are counting the prisoners and the dead. If a prisoner tried to escape, all the prisoners will stand at attention at their roll-call place until he is retrieved. The evening roll call takes hours, sometimes even 10 hours, before it is over. The evening roll call is also the moment chosen by the SS for the punishments and the hangings. Sometimes, after a hanging, all the prisoners have to march in front of the gallows to look at the hanged prisoner, as a warning.The Dinner:The evening roll call is over. You run in order to receive your "dinner": a kind of "soup" (usually dishwater heated up), just like the one you received at noon. If you spared some bread, you may eat it now, with the soup. Once again, the distribution of food is an opportunity for the kapos to beat the prisoners. Some prisoners will figure out when each barracks eats dinner and get in line for several, obtaining extra rations. The kapos come and interrupt dinner, shouting "Blocksperre!'. Time to go to the barracks.The Evening:You return to your barrack. In no way you are allowed to leave the barrack during the night. The Blockalteste (head of the barracks) is waiting for you and your comrades. The Blockaltestes are Kapos and sometimes wear green triangles, which means "real criminals", because they got special treatment since they weren't as "bad" as the Jews. They have the right to decide who'll live and who'll die. Maybe he/she will let you rest until tomorrow morning. But, maybe she'll/he'll decide to have some "fun"--to order exercises like crawling, jumping, running until you faint. They check to make sure everyone is in bed and no one has serious diseases like typhus- which will have to be reported. Some Blockaltestes are kind and bond with their barracks, even be sad if their block is liquidated. But they are still hated by the other inmates for their privileges. Eventually, you are allowed to lie down on your straw-mattress or shelving unit. You are ten or fifteen per shelf. The barrack is not heated and there are holes in the wooden sides. If a prisoner wants to turn over in bed, all the others have to follow. You are exhausted. Sometimes, roll call is so long that you will only get two or three hours of sleep before the next day. Today, you managed to survive.Another answer - very similarNo day was normal in a concentration camp but it would begin with the morning roll call or Appel at 4 am. Every inmate had to be accounted for and even those that died during the night were lined up for the count. No prisoner was allowed to move or speak during roll call. Violators were beaten or killed. When the count was complete, a cup of dark water and a single slice of bread served as breakfast, a trip to the latrine was allowed, and everyone was marched to their workplace. Lunch at noon was a repeat of the breakfast menu and rarely more than minutes were allowed to complete it. Work continued until 6 pm and then it was back to the Appelplatz for evening roll call, dinner and bed on a plank bunk with three or more other prisoners. Your dinner may have been a watery soup or a slice of balonga with your bread. Every day was the same. Seven days a week and 365 days a year, but few actually completed a full year of this routine.
