This is not to say that these incredibly difficult jobs went unrewarded. Prisoners that were required to fill these positions were given an incentive. They were given pieces of paper that were known as "premium coupons". The construction company where the prisoners were sold to be slaves as handed out these coupons. Each one could be redeemed for things like cigarettes, even though smoking was strictly limited to the S.S. and the capos. They could also be used to acquire things more practical like soups, something to combat the horrible malnutrition and starvation they endured day after day. .
The three mental phases in which each prisoner went through were as follows: the period following his admission, the period where he is totally immersed in the daily camp life, and the period following his release and liberation. In a way this method of thought can be compared to things a person has to experience in this day and age. For example, school. Although the two in comparison are not equal by any definition known to man, they might in fact provoke the same type of thought processes. When a child enters his first year of school, it is an emotional, mental shock, as one that would be entering a concentration camp. After that initial period has passed making room for the next mental stage, comes the period where one becomes completely enveloped in the daily routine of both school and surviving the concentration camps. Granted the differences are not as obvious as those of black and white. They can still be something adequate enough to compare to. Finally comes the period where it all ends and the feelings that come with being released from something that you have been accustomed to for a long period of time. Where some people were so focused on the journey and reaching their destination, that they had never once stopped to think of what they would do once they reached a place where they thought was right for them, when their journey had come to an end.
