Straw matresses with burlap covering identical to the ones of the time, are shown in the Aushwitz Museum.

Photo: Alan Jacobs

Scene shows prisoner official in charge of the block, a Blockeltester, kicking and beating prisoners into bed, if one can call it that. They had endured another day of slave labor with insufficient food rations. This scene is in the original Auschwitz camp, (Auschwitz I). The exact location is there today, the entire camp halving been turned into huge museum, research archive and memorial.

Watercolor: Jerzy Potrzebowski
Reproduction courtesy of Auschwitz Museum Archive, 1980