Numbers
A practice was established to tattoo the inmate identification numbers. Initially, in Auschwitz, the camp numbers were sewn on the clothes. With the increased death rate it became difficult to identify corpses, since clothes were removed from corpses. Therefore the medical personnel started to write the numbers on the corpses' chests with indelible ink. Difficulties increased in 1941 when Soviet POWs came in masses, and the first few thousand tattoos were applied to them. This was done with a special stamp with the numbers to be tattooed composed of needles. The tattoo was applied to the upper left part of the breast. In March 1942, the same method was used in Birkenau.
Metal stamps turned out to be impractical, and later numbers were tattoed with a single needle on the left forearm.
The tattoo was the prisoner's camp number, sometimes with a special symbol added: some Jews had a triangle, and Roma had the letter "Z" (from German Zigeuner for "Gypsy"). In May 1944, the Jewish men received the letters "A" or "B" to indicate particular series of numbers. For some unknown reason, this number series for women never began again with the "B" series after they had reached the number limit of 20,000 for the "A" series.
Read more about this topic: Identification In Nazi Camps
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