October 1944
- It's now the beginning of winter, which is major bad news: about seven out of ten prisoners die during the winter.
- And the hits just keep on coming. There are an excess number of prisoners—so many that the camp put up several temporary tents.
- With the coming of winter, these tents have been taken down, and now all those prisoners are crowding into the regular huts.
- The prisoners know this can mean only one thing: there will be a selection.
- Rumors fly around the camp about how many prisoners will be selected, and from which groups they'll be chosen.
- Made to strip naked, the prisoners are forced into the Quartermaster's office of the housing unit. Being naked so close to others should be awkward, but it's warm and gives them all a break from the horrible cold.
- This is how the test is done: Each naked man has to run through the opening between the Quartermaster's office and the sleeping quarters. That's all the time they get. In that short time, the SS officer makes the decision whether they are selected for extermination or not.
- Not surprisingly, this leads to perfectly healthy and strong people being selected for going to the gas chambers.
- Those selected get a double helping of soup for the next two days, before the SS sends them to their deaths.