Muselmann

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Muselmann (German plural Muselmänner) was a term used amongst prisoners of German Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust of World War II to refer to those suffering from a combination of starvation (known also as "hunger disease") and exhaustion, as well as those who were resigned to their impending death.^[1][2] The Muselmann prisoners exhibited severe emaciation and physical weakness, an apathetic listlessness regarding their own fate, and unresponsiveness to their surroundings owing to their barbaric treatment.^[3]

Some scholars argue that the term possibly comes from the Muselmanns' inability to stand for any time due to the loss of leg muscle, thus leading them to spend much of their time in a prone position.^[4] Muselmann also literally means "a Muslim" in Yiddish and a number of other languages (albeit with spelling differences), and ultimately derives from the Old Turkish word for Muslim, مسلمان (müsliman).