3. Adequate Food Was a Rarity
Rationing of food among prisoners was common, and the little amount they were given was hardly enough to be fulfilling. Many would receive only small portions of bread made from sawdust, sausage containing meat from sickly horses, and tea made from collected weeds. This level of malnutrition led to many prisoners stealing food from the deceased while others in more extreme cases of hunger would simply resort to any rotting meals they could find in the garbage.
2. Severe Dehydration Followed the Lack of Food
Fresh water was something akin to a luxury for the Jewish inmates, if they were ever able to find any. The Nazis, known for performing experiments on the inmates of various camps, decided to study select prisoners for testing the damage of giving them nothing to drink besides seawater.
In one example, Dr. Hans Eppinger, a Nazi physician, forced up to 90 Gypsy prisoners to follow through with this experiment, simply to see what would happen. Of course, severe dehydration was the result, leading many poor inmates to reportedly lick the floors after they’d been mopped, hoping to catch just a few drops of “fresh” water to survive on.
1. The Most Horrifying of Tortures? The Experimentation.
Since a lot of the documentation of Nazi experiments has gone undiscovered due to them being destroyed near the end of the Nazi reign, the vast scope of their treachery may never be fully known.
But what we already do know is bad enough. Human experimentation was actually encouraged during this period of time. In some instances, inmates would be submerged in ice water simply so they would undergo hypothermia and the physicians could record the results. Others were injected with chemicals and poisons to determine their effect for future use. Even more were sterilized, countless others vivisected, and the majority were operated on without anesthesia.
As terrible as these experiments sound, the cruelty mentioned here is only a fraction of the various torments exacted upon these innocent lives.