Roll call was conducted regardless of the weather conditions. The daily ordeals associated with roll call further weakened the already exhausted and insufficiently clothed inmates. During such roll calls, which often lasted hours, inmates often collapsed from fatigue or were brutally beaten by members of the SS.
Some gallows also stood on the roll call square, which the SS used to execute prisoners whom they accused of sabotage or a flight attempt. Mass hangings, which inmates were forced to watch, served as intimidation.
In 1974, the roll call square was covered in gravel and redesigned as an "honorary square" with a speakers' rostrum, fire-bowl, and flagpoles on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the GDR. The 21 "stones of nations" represent the inmates' various nations of origin. In 1979 a bronze relief by artist Heinz Scharr was installed, which conveys a socialist interpretation of the suffering and struggle for survival Mittelbau-Dora.
