Auschwitz-Birkenau was one of forty thousand Nazi camps that held thousands of prisoners, to which only 144 of them managed to escape and live to tell of the forced labor and mass murder. The horrific conditions of the camps were terrifying for prisoners because of the guards’ inhumane punishments and overbearing security. The SS officers would shoot, starve, hang, and publicly humiliate prisoners for their own amusement (Vashem). The prisoners were deathly afraid of not following orders because the guards would enforce extremely strict rules without reason. For most, the fear was too paralyzing for them to attempt to escape, but for some, it was not great enough to overpower the prisoners’ determination and will for freedom. Most prisoners succumbed to the idea that death was inevitable and therefore remained in automaton every day that they were imprisoned, going through each day not …show more content…
Prisoners could not escape unless they had a plan. Although a plan may have seemed foolproof, there was always uncertainty pertaining to where to go after one has escaped. Yad Vashem explains this topic as he states, “The world was divided in two: places they could not live and places they could not go" (Vashem). The prisoners could not live a fulfilling life at the concentration camps, but they could not go outside due to the growing xenophobia directed toward not only Jews, but Christians, Slavs, Africans, Roma, women, children, elders, brunettes, and people with brown eyes. Vashem explains the conditions of the Nazi camps and how Jews were “willing to emigrate to any place they could” after realizing the terrifying truth of their fate (Vashem). Jews were desperate to leave their country after discovering what their future would bring if they did not act