By the summer of 1943, there were several hundred thousand forced labor workers who did hard and dangerous work such as digging trenches and working as minesweepers. With brutal guards, it was not possible to formally observe Jewish holidays,, but there were secretly organized services. In one camp, a carpenter,made a pulpit for the prayer leader from used planks. On the bottom with a pencil, he wrote his name, battalion number and date September 29, 1943.(the day before Rosh Hashanah)