There is a crematorium with attached gas chambers at the Stammlager called crematorium I. However as far as I know the majority of the original buildings and chimney were destroyed and have been rebuilt by the museum. I believe that crematorium I in the stammlager was the first improvised gas chamber used to kill prisoners with Zyklon B. Before Birkenau was built the ramp was located at the Stammlager close to crematorium I. Once the Birkenau site was established and two small cottages named the 'Little White House' and the 'Little Red House' were converted to improvised gas chambers, the use of crematorium I changed to storage. It was also used as an air raid shelter later in the war.
The first view of the crematoria can be seen from within the camp:
As you walk towards crematorium I a gallows can be clearing seen in a raised clearing to the right. This is where Rudolf Hoess was hung in 1947 after the Nurenburg trials where he testified. He was the longest serving commandant of Auschwitz and the man in charge during the deportation of the Hungarian Jews.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment