Two of my deceased great grandparents always said that they were in Auschwitz, however I recently found out that neither of them were tattooed. They apparently used to say that they weren't tattooed because they were sent to Auschwitz so late. From what I understand they weren't in Auschwitz for long before it was liberated.
Have there been accounts of people being sent to Auschwitz so close to liberation that they weren't tattooed? If so, at what point do we know they stopped tattooing prisoners, and why did they stop?
Please post sources if you can
Edit: My great grandparents were both Jewish, my great grandmother was 16 and my great grandfather was 18, give or take a year.
Not all prisoners in Auschwitz were tattooed. Some soviet prisoners of war, along with Polizeihäftlinge, police prisoners, were not registered with tattoos, because they were prisoners transferred to the compound due to overcrowding.
As well, prisoners of german ethnicity were not given tattoos. Neither were reeducation prisoners.
Without knowing your grandparent's background, it's impossible to say for certain, but it absolutely is possible they were in Auschwitz and not tattooed.
Sources:
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/mobile/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007056
You may be able to find more information about your grandparents from Yad Vashem. They have a huge archive, including testimonies from survivors. You can inquire or view a portion of their collections digitally at yadvashem.org.