| In the second stage of the construction of Birkenau
camp, B.a.II, a stable-type WC block in the Gypsy Camp (B.IIe) was transformed
at the end of 1943 or in early 1944 into a disinfestation installation for
effects. Only the south-east part of this installation was photographed by the
Auschwitz Bauleitung [Photo 1]. It was made up essentially of a battery of
eight disinfestation chambers that occupied almost half the area of the hut,
controlled and operated in pairs ][Drawing 2]. In a morning there were three
rotations, each lasting about 45 minutes. Electric motors indicate that these
chambers had forced ventilation. Located exactly in the corner of B.IIe
[Bauleitung drawing 3764 of 23/3/44], its internal arrangements are not
precisely known. The disinfestation vector or product used against lice is
indicated in "Der Auschwitz Process" by Hermann Langbein (Europa Verlag Wien.
Frankfurt. Zurich, a report of the Frankfurt trial in 1963-1965), volume 2, p.
568. Amann is a former Auschwitz prisoner: |
| |
“I belonged to a disinfestation Kommando.
Klehr was the chief. Our job was to delouse the accommodation Blocks and the
people. At first, we used mobile disinfestatIon vehicles and later, AN ELECTRIC
HOT AIR CHAMBER was built in the Birkenau Gypsy Camp.”
“We
deloused the clothes, the people and the buildings. When a Block was to be
deloused, it was evacuated. The people were sent to the disinfestation service
where they were shaved and had a liniment applied. During this time, the
clothes were placed in a steam boiler, where they remained for an hour and a
half. Meanwhile, the prisoners bathed then had to wait on the ‘clean’
side of the disinfestation service. The blankets remained in the Block to be
disinfested.” |
| This installation was dismantled after the war. |
|
