On arrival in Estonia, the Jews were kept for some time in the Vaivara concentration camp, with an average of about 1,300 prisoners, the majority of whom were Jewish, with a minority of Dutch, Russian and Estonians.
The prisoners at Vaivara worked from morning till night at different types of hard labor, such as constructing railways, digging anti-tank ditches, quarrying large stones and pounding them to gravel, felling trees in forest and swamp areas where they stood up to their knees in half frozen waters. The daily food ration consisted of 7 ounces of bread with ersatz (meaning: substitute or fake) jam, ersatz coffee, and vegetable soup.
After their labor at night, the prisoners huddled together in wooden huts with paper thin walls. Each hut was divided into 5 sections, with 70 to 80 prisoners in each section, sleeping in triple tier rows. Water was inadequate, and washing was allowed infrequently. Consequently, lice, and disease were rife in the camp. The sick and the weak among the Jewish prisoners, the old people and the children who could not work, were killed after Selektionen (meaning: selection). The first Selektion was held in the fall of 1943 on the parade ground of the camp. 150 Jewish men and women, who had been found unfit for work, were transferred by truck to the nearby forest and shot. In the second Selektion about 300 Jews were taken out to their death. In 20 other Selektionen, held approximately every 2 weeks, about 500 Jewish prisoners were killed. In 1 Selektion, Jewish children, who had been kept together in a special hut, were killed. Many scores of other prisoners were killed and wounded by the blows and punishments of the SS. As the Red Army approached, several hundreds of the remaining prisoners were taken from Vaivara westward to Saki.
