Ausch witz was the only concentration camp where tattoos were used

L oathsome devices set to go on display at the Auschwitz Museum in Poland

But they proved to be inefficient and were replaced with a simpler system

The prisoner's identification tattoo could be applied in a single stroke

The y could almost be mistaken for innocent trinkets, but these small metal stamps were used to facilitate one of history's most appalling crimes.



The interchangeable pieces were inserted into a special metal stamps and used by Nazi SS guards to tattoo prisoners' ID numbers at the Auschwitz death camp.

But knowledge of their use could easily have been lost to time, as the Nazis, constantly looking to streamline the business of murder, soon replaced them with a quicker and more efficient system.



These metal stamps were used to tattoo prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the early days of the holocaust before the Nazis replaced them with a more efficient system

The main gate of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz where the devices were used to stamp tattoos onto prisoners' chests from 1941 before being replaced by a simpler system

The loathsome devices are set to go on display at the Auschwitz Museum in Oswiecim, Poland, where they will form part of a new collection.



When prisoners first began to arrive at Auschwitz in occupied Poland in 1940 they were each issued with an identification number.

At first these numbers were stamped onto pieces of cloth which the prisoners were ordered to sew onto their clothing.

Trinkets of hate: The interchangeable pieces, which were inserted into metal stamps, were originally favoured by SS guards as they allowed the tattoo to be applied in a single stroke

The evil-looking devices were only used for a short period at Auschwitz as they were found to be inefficient and replaced with a simpler system which used a single needle attached to a pen holder

The loathsome devices are set to go on display at the Auschwitz Museum in Oswiecim, Poland, where they will form part of a new collection

But prisoners would often replace their old worn-out clothes with those of others who had died causing an unacceptable amount of confusion among the German prison guards.



So the Nazis decided to start using tattoos instead. The stamps were originally thought to be the fastest method as they allowed the number to be applied in a single stroke.

At first, the tattoos were applied to their left breast. The stamp perforated the skin, and ink was rubbed into the wounds producing a tattoo.

Survivor: Bessie Mittelman, 82, helps show the number tattooed on the chest of her husband Manny Mittelman, 88. He is one of the few Auschwitz survivors to have a chest tattoo. After the stamp system was replaced prisoners were tattooed on their arms

Most of the prisoners to receive tattoos at Auschwitz had them placed on their arms using a single needle attached to a pen holder

The first to be tattooed in this fashion were Soviet prisoners of war who began arriving and dying by their thousands from 1941.

The stamp system soon proved unnecessarily complex and the Nazis replaced it with a simple needle attached to a penholder which was used to apply the tattoo to the forearm.

It is extremely rare now for find holocaust survivors who have their ID number tattoo on their chest as most of those interned in the early days of the camp's existence did not make it to the end of the war.



Contrary to popular belief, Auschwitz, which consisted of Auschwitz I (Main Camp), Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz and the subcamps) was the only concentration camp where tattoos were used to identify prisoners.



Some of the 600 children, who survived the Auschwitz, show their tattooed identification numbers. Some 7,000 prisoners, were alive when the camp was liberated

SS officers (L-R) Dr Josef Mengele, Rudolf Hoess, (former Commandant of Auschwitz), Josef Kramer (Commandant of Birkenau) are pictured at the Auschwitz in occupied Poland

Ominously, those who did receive a tattoo on arrival at Auschwitz could actually be considered lucky, for those who did not were deemed unfit for work and sent off for immediate execution.

In the spring of 1943, authorities adopted the practice of tattooing almost all previously registered and newly arrived prisoners, including females.



The only exceptions were German prisoners who were held in a separate compound.