The work in the quarries — often in unbearable heat or in temperatures as low as −30 °C (−22 °F)[SUP]
[28][/SUP] — led to exceptionally high mortality rates.[SUP]
[41][/SUP][SUP]
[c][/SUP] The food rations were limited, and during the 1940–1942 period, an average inmate weighed 40 kilograms,[SUP]
[42][/SUP] roughly 88 pounds. It is estimated that the average energy content of food rations dropped from about 1,750 calories a day during the 1940–1942 period, to between 1,150 and 1,460 during the next period. In 1945, the energy content was even lower and did not exceed 600 to 1,000 calories a day; that is less than a third of the energy needed by an average worker in
heavy industry.[SUP]
[1][/SUP] This led to the starvation of thousands of inmates.