Purpose of This Dialog:

In exploring the history of Transitional Justice we will focus on four different truths: Factual, Narrative, Social, and Reconciliatory. We'll look at these truths in the context of the Holocaust and specifically in relation to the tattooing of prisoners at Auschwiz. We aim to find connections to all four truths in our microcosm for the Holocaust: Holocaust identification tattoos.

Facts and Figures: The Tattooing Process at Auschwitz

In order to avoid the assignment of excessively high numbers from the general series to the large number of Hungarian Jews arriving in 1944, the SS authorities introduced new sequences of numbers in mid-May 1944. This series, prefaced by the letter A, began with “1” and ended at “20,000.” Once the number 20,000 was reached, a new series beginning with “B” series was introduced. Some 15,000 men received “B” series tattoos. For an unknown reason, the “A” series for women did not stop at 20,000 and continued to 30,000. 
Read More at: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007056

The Numbers: Tattoos As a Sign of Survival

Buchenwald Survivor Displaying Tattoo

Prisoners were registered and received numbers tattooed on their left arm upon leaving the quarantine in Birkenau for forced labor in Auschwitz or in one of the subcamps. The same procedure applied to those prisoners who were directed straight to Auschwitz I: 405,000 prisoners were registered in this way. [Ed. Note: Buszko later notes that only 65,000 of those so registered and tattooed survived. knm] Not included in any form of registration were the vast majority of the Auschwitz victims, those men and women who, upon arrival in Auschwitz II, were led to the gas chambers and killed there immediately. Also not included in the registration were those prisoners who were sent to work in other concentration camps not belonging to the Auschwitz system. ... Still another group of unregistered prisoners were those who were designated for execution after a short stay in the camp. That group consisted mainly of hostages, Soviet army officers, and partisans." (Encyclopedia, Vol. I, 110-111)

Read More at: http://stason.org/TULARC/history/holocaust/15-Tattooing-Holocaust-Auschwitz.html#ixzz1nekh2F73

Other Labeling Mechanisms

Besides tattoos, badges were also used by the Nazi's to label camp prisoners. Different colors represented different groups like immigrants, homosexuals, gypsies, and Jehovah's witnesses. 

Personal Stories: Narrative Truth

The following narratives from various Holocaust survivors demonstrate the many meanings that the tattoos given at Auschwitz can have. In some cases, the tattoo and its combination of numbers instilled a sense of hope into the victims who realized that the tattoo meant another day of life. Others experienced an extreme dehumanization as a result of becoming a number. Regardless of the meaning of the tattoo, these personal narratives confirm the nature of the selection process at Auschwitz: those who were not tattooed proceded to the gas chambers, and those who were tattooed became yet another laborer at the camp. These tattoos are concrete proof of the genocide of the victims that passed through Auschwitz.

Tattooing: Miso Vogel

A testimony from Holocaust survivor Miso Vogel can be found here.

Tattooing: Szlamach Radoszynski

"In November 1940 the Nazis established a ghetto. By April 1943 my entire family had either died in the ghetto or had been deported to the Treblinka death camp. After the ghetto uprising, I was deported to Auschwitz. Day after day my job there was to shovel dirt over discarded, still-smoldering ashes of cremated victims. I kept wondering whether I, too, would end up the same. But I was sustained by the fact that the number tattooed on my arm--#128232--added up to 18, the Jewish mystical symbol for life."

--From an interview with Szlamach Rdoszynski, Holocaust survivor