Registration in Auschwitz-Birkenau: the women

From the Rampe (Auschwitz loading platform), the approximately 250 women walked in columns of five by five to the open area in front of the Sauna building. The men went through the same procedure as the women, but they did not meet each other in the process. The wait lasted for hours. The women had to line up alphabetically by the first letter of their surnames. Inside a large room with long tables, they had to undress and hand over their last belongings. Completely naked, the prisoners now had to walk to the next room, where prisoners from the Aufnahmekommando sat behind tables. They filled out a pre-printed form for each newly arrived prisoner on which they recorded personal details, external features, physical condition and the number they had just been issued. This number was tattooed on the left forearm in a subsequent room, where all their body hair was also shaved off.^[1] Anne was given a number in the range A 25110 to A 25116 or A 25121 to A 25124.^[1]

Some women say that their head hair was first cut short and only later shaved off.^[2] The prisoners then entered a room with showers, from which flowed unpleasantly hot to ice-cold water, and sometimes hot steam for disinfection. For many, the shower was the first opportunity in days to quench their thirst.^[3]

Meanwhile, the Kanada Kommando searched the luggage and clothing brought with them for valuables. The clothes were disinfected in special steam facilities in another part of the Sauna building. After showering, the prisoners came into the next room to air dry as there were no towels. In the early years, they were given camp clothes there, but during 1944, shortages had developed so the women were random garments.^[1] According to most witnesses, they were not given any underwear.^[4] There were sometimes red paint stripes on the back of the clothes.^[5] Leny Boeken-Velleman, one of the survivors of the 3 September 1944 transport, recalls that red paint had been applied to her clothes.

"I was given a kind of black bag that looked like a dress, with a big white square sewn into it on the back. In that white piece, a large area had been painted with red paint. Imagine if you wanted to escape, you could be recognised quickly and you had a highly visible target on your back."^[6]

The remaining women from this transport were considered potential forced labourers who could be used in the German war industry. They ended up in the part of Auschwitz-Birkenau that was considered a Durchgangslager (transit camp) for forced labourers.^[7] Anne ended up in quarantine block 29 with her mother, Margot and Auguste van Pels.^[8]

Little is known about Anne's stay in Auschwitz. The camp records are almost completely lost.