Many years ago their was an article on what a life was worth. Anywhere from millions to pennies. IIRC, in materials (chemicals) about 58 cents. China charges the family of the executed a quarter, as I recall. Auschwitz brought the price of killing down to pennies. On the other end millions were spent by Ted Williams and Walt Disney. So what IS life worth?
The cost of the elements in a human body is about $160.00.
http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/april12011/
Looking at the actual components, such as bone marrow and hormones, you could theoretically get up to $46M.
But I don't buy that Auschwitz cost so little. Possibly the cost of the act of killing itself was minimal, but the cost of the system behind it had to have been enormous.
Shipping people all over Europe to kill them secretly, at a time when transport was desperately needed for military purposes, had to have an immense financial and military cost.
At its peak, the German armies, leaving out allies, numbered something around 10M. To kill all 6M Jews that died in the Holocaust, 3 of 5 soldiers would have to fire once.
Yet the Nazis spent immense sums to set up the camps, ship people to them, etc.
There is a common notion that the industrialization of killing in the camps was somehow more efficient than older methods. The opposite is true.
If I remember correctly, the maximum "output" of Auschwitz was around 25,000 in 24 hours.
The Mongols routinely massacred 50,000 or 100,000 or more in an hour or two. Some claims of 500k to 1M, but they may be exaggerated. No ammunition expended, except possibly some arrows. Mostly they just used edged steel.
The Rwanda massacres also demonstrate that to kill a lot of people quickly you don't need an elaborate infrastructure. You just need a whole bunch of willing killers.
During the time of Pol Pot in Cambodia, human life was worth less than the lives of farm animals. That was one of Pol Pot’s principles.