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The Devil's Arithmetic

by Jane Yolen

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What are the six jobs assigned to the prisoners in The Devil's Arithmetic?

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In "The Devil's Arithmetic," prisoners are assigned six main jobs to keep the concentration camp functional: cleaning barracks, guards' houses, the hospital, and kitchen; cutting and hauling wood for stoves; building extra barracks and toilets; sorting clothing and possessions in sheds; working in the kitchen, which includes meal preparation and cleaning; and sewing, where female prisoners repair clothing. These tasks are described as mindless but necessary for the camp's operation.

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Most of the jobs that the prisoners are given are outlined in Chapter 15. All of the jobs are described as "mindless" but can be organized as follows:

1. Cleaning: Some of the prisoners are given cleaning jobs, and they have to clean the barracks, the guards' houses, the hospital, and the kitchen.

2. Cutting Wood: One of the jobs assigned to the prisoners is to cut and feed wood into the camp's stoves.

3. Building Work: Other prisoners are used to help with the construction of the camp, building toilets and extra barracks.

4. The Sorting Sheds: Most of the workers are employed in the sorting sheds, where they have to sort through the clothing and possessions taken from the prisoners.

5. Kitchen Jobs: Hannah is one of the prisoners who is given work to do in the kitchens, such as dishing out the meals and washing the cauldrons....

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This is hard work but "not without its rewards," meaning that sometimes the kitchen workers can "scrape out an extra bit of food for themselves."

6. The Sewing Shop: Some of the female prisoners are put to work in the sewing shop to repair clothing.

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 They were assigned jobs that basically kept the concentration camp functioning.

1. Some cleaned the barracks, the guards' houses, the hospital, and the kitchen.

2. Some cut and hauled wood for the stoves.

3. Some built more barracks for the newcomers and more privies or toilets.

4. Most of the workeers were used in the sorting sheds.

"....stacking the clothing and suitcases and possessions stolen from the prisoners, dividing them into piles to be sent back to Germany." (pg 125)

5. Hannah, Rivka, and Shifre worked in the kitchen.

"...hauling water in large buckets from the pump, spooning out the meager meals, washing the giant cauldrons in which the soup cooked, scrubbing the walls and floors." (pg 125)

6. When the four girls are stopped by the Nazi soldier at the end of the book and three of them are "chosen" by him to complete the load to Lilith's Cave, Rachel was at the pump because she was getting water for the women in the sewing shop. So, there was a sewing shop also.

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