Each concentration camp prisoner was assigned a number, known as their prisoner number, when they arrived at a camp. In the concentration camps, these numbers were more important than the prisoners’ names. During roll call, for example, prisoners had to report with their number instead of their given name. Sometimes the same number was assigned multiple times in the camps – after large numbers of prisoners had been released or transferred, for example, or when prisoners died. Furthermore, prisoners almost always received a new number when they were transferred to a different camp. An early overview of the prisoner numbers from 14 concentration camps can be found here.

On the medical registration cards from Gross-Rosen, another number was often written after the prisoner number, as in this case: /21. This is the number of the block in which the prisoner was housed in the camp.