Showers or Sauna

In this building, which went into use in late 1943, newly arrived prisoners were registered and subjected to disinfection before being exploited as slave laborers. This is where they were assigned the numbers that were tattooed on their forearms, received their striped camp clothing, and had the hair removed from all over their bodies. Additional selection was sometimes carried out here among Jewish women, as a result of which the pregnant ones were sent to their deaths in the gas chambers. In view of the filth and infestation that prevailed in the camp and caused frequent illnesses and epidemics, threatening the functioning of the camp and the health of the SS garrison, the periodic delousing of prisoners and their clothing was also carried out in the “Sauna.”

Prisoners clothes were cleaned in these chambers

Wall displaying private photographs found in the baggage of Jews deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp