Number of registered prisoners at Auschwitz during the Holocaust 1940-1945

One of the most notable symbols of the Holocaust and Nazi genocide was the serial numbers tattooed upon the forearms of the victims (or on the chest for Soviet-POWs). This system, however, was used only at the Auschwitz concentration camps, and the majority of those who arrived there were not issued a number as they were sent directly to the gas chambers and executed upon arrival. Of the 1.3 million people sent to these camps, just over 400,000 arrivals were registered. Most of the registered prisoners were chosen to perform hard labor; this resulted in registered male prisoners outnumbering women at a rate of approximately 2:1. The majority of registered prisoners were also adults, as very few children were spared. The reason that tattoos were used was due to the high rate of murder and starvation at the camps, which made it difficult to identify bodies from their appearance or clothing.