Final answer:
The Nazis prevented escapes from the cattle cars by heavily guarding them and enforcing harsh conditions, without officially designating a prisoner in charge; escapes were virtually impossible.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Nazis used cruel and systematic methods to ensure that nobody escaped the cattle cars during deportations to extermination camps. The cattle cars were heavily guarded, and the conditions inside them were extremely harsh, designed to be escape-proof and to break the spirit of the prisoners. There was typically no official appointment of a prisoner in charge of the cars; instead, the SS and sometimes collaborating guards from occupied territories would patrol the cars and the transports. Escape was virtually impossible due to the crowded and locked conditions. The SS could also hold anyone indefinitely, without trial, and the Gestapo was part of the SS with sweeping powers to enforce Nazi policies. Corpses discovered by the Allies upon liberation of camps in Germany and the grim evidence found by the Soviet army at Auschwitz were a testament to the relentless and brutal efficiency of the Nazi’s transportation and extermination system.