The Muselmann was a destroyed man/woman, a victim of gradual extermination. A prisoner who only received camp food, who had no possibility to “organise” a bit more to eat, wasted away within a few weeks. Steady hunger led to chronic weakness, the muscles dwindled, the vital functions were reduced to a minimum, the pulse decelerated, blood-pressure and temperature dropped, the body started to shiver from cold. The respiration slowed down, the voice became low, each movement was a great exertion.
Hunger and diarrhoea accelerated the decline. Each gesture was uncoordinated and flighty. When sitting, the trunk staggered. The Muselmann made mechanic movements without reason. When he had to walk, he could not lift his legs any more.
The Muselmann no longer was the master of his own body . He got oedema and abscesses, he was covered with dirt all over and began to stink. The Muselmann appeared as follows:
Extremely thin, dim eyes, apathetic, sad facial expression, grey-coloured skin which looked like hard paper. The hair was rough, dull and used to break easily. The head seemed longish, cheek-bone and eye socket appeared very clearly. But also the spiritual, intellectual and emotional activities decreased radically. The prisoner lost his memory and his ability to concentrate. His conscience was fixed on food only. Hunger phantasies covered the horrible starvation. He only realized things directly in front of his eyes and only heard when word were shouted loudly. Without restistance, we was struck and hit. In the final phase, he even did not feel any hunger nor pain any more. The “Muselmann” perished because he could not go on. He was the symbol for mass-dying, a death of hunger, of being left alone, of killing the soul, a living corpse.
