Ruth Widder Ruth Widder, A4144

Only in Auschwitz were ‘new arrivals’ selected for work tattooed on their left forearm, displaying in dark blue or black ink their camp serial number. Jews selected for murder in the gas chambers were neither registered nor tattooed. History has yet to shed light on the introduction of this physical emblem. The question as to why tattoos were not imposed on prisoners of other concentration camps is unanswered.

In Auschwitz, SS camp leaders encountered a problem in late 1940. The rampant death rate of inmates made it difficult to identify corpses once their clothing showing the registration number had been removed for re-use.

Jewish women entering Auschwitz at the end of March 1942 were the first to be tattooed with four-digit numbers. Two inmates arrived from the men’s camp to perform the task, first with an impractical metal stamp, then with a single and finally a double needle device. The procedure lasted 30 seconds. Lou Sokolov, the chief Auschwitz tattooist, together with his assistant, marked more than 200,000 inmates. Soon more men were required to do the job. In 1944 women were also recruited as tattooists.

The tattoo had three functions: to mark and humiliate prisoners, to prevent their escape and to expedite the identification of corpses already stripped of their uniforms.

Following liberation some survivors hastened to have the physical reminder of their humiliation removed; only a scar remained. Later, others used their numbers as pin numbers or as lucky betting numbers, especially at horse racings or Lotto games.

The visibility of the tattoo elicits different reactions. Some people are bewildered, not knowing what it means. Others realize that the tattoo bearer had managed to survive the horror of Auschwitz.

In recent years, some grandchildren of survivors have elected to be tattooed with the Auschwitz number of their grandparent. Is it acceptable to transform the Nazi Auschwitz tattoo into a Jewish symbol of Holocaust remembrance? The debate is ongoing.

Ruth Widder (nee Perlhefter) recalls that no one knew what was going on, so when asked to hold out her arm for the tattoo, "it was just another order we had to obey. There were quite a few 'artists' all tattooing the large amounts of people at the same time. Not all of the tattoos looked the same size, shape or neatness. My tattoo is quite neat, but I remember one tattooist who couldn't see very well, and as a result all the people who were done by her had larger, messier numbers.”