In their testimonies, Joseph and Reinhard describe horrific working conditions. In all concentration camps, the living and working conditions were fatal for many prisoners. In addition to forcing the prisoners to hard work, the SS did not supply enough food. By structuring the labour so that prisoners would suffer, the Nazis had two main objectives: first, manpower was desperately needed and the SS and their company DESt wanted to make a profit by exploiting the prisoners. Second, the conditions of imprisonment were miserable; having prisoners perish of living and working conditions meant that other, more expensive methods of killing would not have to be prioritized by the SS. Sometimes, to the Nazis, labour was more important than killing; at other times, the SS focused on murdering prisoners.
Forced labour was always intended to agonize and wear out the prisoners. One example thereof is the roller next to you on the roll-call area, right by the wall. Prisoners had to drag the heavy roller across the roll-call area to flatten it.