9. Dora was populated with prisoners sent there from other camps
When the decision was made to use slave labor in the V-2 program underground, prisoners were sent to Dora from other camps within the Nazi system. The high death rate at Dora meant that replacement prisoners arrived steadily throughout the camp’s period of operation. The facility was near Nordhausen, and Allied bombing had by then disrupted much of the rail network. Prisoners were sent to Dora by truck, for many, the brief period between exiting the truck on arrival and entering the wooden sheds which sheltered the tunnel entrances was the last daylight they would ever see.
They saw little light at all, the tunnels were poorly illuminated with electric bulbs and lanterns. One of the uses of slave labor at Dora was the continuing expansion of the tunnels and underground chambers. Ventilation systems had yet to be installed for many, and the workers endured poor light, dank conditions, starvation, no drinking water in the tunnels, and very poor air quality. The SS considered a dying worker to be a lost asset and an inconvenience and demanded that only the healthiest prisoners be sent to the project after Hitler made the Vengeance Weapons program a priority. The death rate remained high.