Camp soup from Auschwitz

During World War II, in concentration camps like Auschwitz, prisoners were fed extremely meager food rations. One of the symbols of severe malnutrition was the so-called “camp soup,” prepared from scraps and minimal ingredients that provided almost no nutritional value.

The camp soup was typically boiled in water with small amounts of turnip, rotting potatoes, or cabbage. Often, it was just murky water, with only trace amounts of vegetables, leaving prisoners constantly hungry and malnourished.

Ingredients (reconstructed based on survivors’ accounts):

• Water (large quantity)
• Small pieces of turnip or rotting potatoes (if available)
• Sometimes a few cabbage leaves
• Salt (rarely available)
• In extreme cases, grass or weeds

Preparation:

1. Gathering ingredients: The “soup” was made by adding minimal amounts of vegetables—often spoiled or leftover food—into boiling water. Salt was used if available.
2. Cooking: The ingredients were boiled in a large amount of water for a short time, creating a minimal amount of liquid that barely resembled soup.
3. Serving: The soup was distributed in small portions, typically consisting of a few ladles of water with trace amounts of vegetables, which often had little to no nutritional value.

Historical context: In concentration camps like Auschwitz, food rations were extremely low-calorie, a deliberate policy to weaken prisoners through starvation. Prisoners were forced into hard physical labor, and their bodies, deprived of essential nutrients, quickly wasted away. The camp soup became a symbol of this cruel treatment—essentially worthless liquid that provided only minimal sustenance.

The diet in Auschwitz was designed to keep prisoners on the verge of starvation, leading to extreme physical depletion, and in many cases, death.

“Prisoners received three meals a day. In the morning, they were given only half a liter of “coffee,” which was essentially hot water with a trace of grain-based coffee substitute or “tea,” made from herbs. These drinks were usually unsweetened. The midday meal consisted of approximately 1 liter of soup, made from basic ingredients like potatoes, turnip, and small amounts of millet, rye flour, or food extract called “Avo.” The soups prepared for prisoners were often tasteless, and newly arrived inmates frequently refused to eat them or consumed them with disgust. For dinner, they were given around 300 grams of black bread, accompanied by about 25 grams of sausage, margarine, or a tablespoon of marmalade or cheese. The evening bread portion was meant to last until the next morning, but starving prisoners typically ate the entire portion immediately. The nutritional value of these meals was extremely low.

The insufficient food, combined with forced labor, caused prisoners’ bodies to deplete their fat reserves and consume muscle protein and tissues from internal organs, leading to severe emaciation and starvation disease, which became a common cause of death in the camp. Prisoners suffering from starvation disease, referred to in the camp as “Muselmänner,” often fell victim to gas chamber selections.

The prisoners’ diet saw some improvement from the second half of 1942 when the camp authorities allowed food parcels to be sent to prisoners. However, this privilege did not apply to Jewish prisoners or Soviet POWs.”*

*https://www.auschwitz.org/historia/zycie-w-obozie/wyzywienie/