The camp kitchen

The camp kitchen was considered a kitchen which had to prepare “meals” for large groups. The storage was situated on the ground floor. Potatoes, cabbage and turnip leaves and loaves of bread were conveyed with horse and cart.

Everything was prepared on the first floor. By using a hoist, all ingredients were taken up. Soup, potatoes, loaves of bread and “meat” were prepared in large cauldrons of 9 to 11 gallons. Nevertheless, the ration of soup, potatoes, bread, meat and coffee has to be visualized as follows:

1. The soup consisted of 99% of water, “flavoured” with some potatoes and boiled turnip or cabbage leaves. Prisoners only got one ladle of soup, nothing more, nothing less. When you just got half a ladle of soup, you were out of luck. When the bowl fell on the ground, you received nothing for that day, which happened more than often.

2. In the beginning, prisoners had the luck to receive some pieces of potatoes. From 1943 onwards, the potatoes were added to the soup, which meant that prisoners did not get any potatoes anymore.

3. The chunk of bread for the prisoners had the size of a hand and was stale, hard and had a bad taste.

4. Once a week, prisoners received a small sausage, the size of a little finger. Up to 1943, prisoners received their “portion” on a regular basis. From 1943 onwards, “meat” was scrapped from the menu.

5. The coffee was nothing more that a coloured watery fluid with a sour chicory flavour. Again, prisoners only got one ladle of coffee.

For a very long time, meals were distributed on the roll call ground. According to the barracks you belonged to, lines were made up to shuffle along. Prisoners jostled one another in order to get some food. Prisoners who were too greedy were whipped, prisoners who were too slow met the same fate. When there was too much drumming, the row had to be made again.

At the end of the war, the roll call ground was too small to give food to the ever growing camp population. As a result, the food distribution took place in front of the barracks. Two prisoners had to go to the kitchen and had to take the cauldron back to their barracks as soon as possible. Naturally, prisoners were never fast enough, which resulted in curses, strokes and howling. If any of the prisoners carrying the cauldron fell, nothing was left for their fellow prisoners. Moreover, some of the barracks were atop the slope, which meant that the cauldron had to be carried on the granite steps. Hungry people were waiting at the end of the steps and because of the drumming, it very often happened that the cauldron was knocked over…

To prepare the “meals”, prisoners were put into service, who were supervised by the KAPO's.

bron: KZ-Gedenkstaette Flossenbürg

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