Auschwitz I Appelplatz Roll Call Square

The Appellplatz, or Roll Call Square, was the central open assembly area in Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz I, where prisoners lined up for mandatory headcounts and inspections. Initially two roll calls a day were held for many, but later this changed for laborers and others who spent that time working.

You are touring an area designed for maximum visibility, surrounded by barracks and secured by electrified fences, machine-gun towers, and floodlights. 

Twice a Day in the Heat and Cold – Standing

Each morning and evening all prisoners had to be accounted for, even those who had perished. From prisoner Zalman Gradowski’s diary found buried beneath the ashes at Krematorium II-Birkenau after the war*.

“At almost each block, beside the men standing in line, bodies of three, four persons are lying. These are the victims of the night that have not lived to see the day. Even yesterday they were standing members of the roll-call and today they lie, lifeless, motionless.

Life is not important at the roll call. Numbers are important. Numbers tally…”

*Gradowski, S. in “Amidst a Nightmare of Crime: Notes of Prisoners of Sonderkommando Found at Auschwitz”, p.p.104 -105, Oswiecim: State Museum at Auschwitz.

Wake Up for Roll Call: The Appelplatz

Auschwitz I Appelplatz Roll Call Square #1

As you begin, the first view is of the Corner of a barracks built with prisoner slave labor. Moving on you see the front half of the Appelplatz with the chimneys of the camp kitchen beyond.

Scrolling you see visitors strolling along a street lined with trees, grown much larger than in the old days of the camp. As you move you see one of the camp’s streets of dirt and stones, and then a row of barracks.

Moving on you see the rear half of the Appelplatz (roll call square) where prisoners stood at attention in ranks in the morning and in the evening.

They were forced to stand here with no exceptions for weather. When the prisoner count was short they stood until it was correct, sometimes all night. The prisoners used the 15 minutes of free time before the roll, trying to stay warm.

Survivor Jan Komski’s painting Warmth at Roll Call comes from his memory of his time in Auschwitz, experience rendered in paintings that show life inside the camps, of which few photos exist.

Auschwitz I Roll Call Square – Selections and Punishment

Prisoners were assembled here and in both directions left and right, in the morning and evening. It is one of the places where “selektions” were made sending prisoners back to slave labor or to their deaths.

Punishments and executions were frequently carried out publicly on these squares.  The three posts in front of the building across the street support a train rail used only once, in July 1943, to hang 12 Polish prisoners.

You see the Rapportführer’s booth – a low-ranking SS officer responsible for conducting inmate roll calls – from where the roll was conducted. The memory lasts even after the event for prisoners. Scrolling around you can see the entire length of the Appelplatz.

Wladyslaw Siwek drawing – Selection at Roll Call. Slide right to see Alan Jacobs’ Appelplatz photo.

Here’s a drawing from another survivor, Wladyslaw Siwek. His experience shapes memory to this day, captured in a moment of remembrance.

Capo selecting some prisoners for possibly as work detail, or perhaps punishment. Every morning and evening the roll call was required, as all prisoners, living and dead had to be counted.

The Appel was often a time of great suffering as prisoners were left standing at attention usually in the evening when someone had escaped, both in the heat of summer and bitter winter.

Watercolor: Wladyslaw Siwek
Reproduction courtesy of Auschwitz Museum Archive, 1980