Are you planning to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau but would like to arrive already prepared? You are just in the right place!
If you want to learn more about the gas chambers of the Auschwitz concentration camp, all you have to do is keep reading this article.
The Nazis made systematic use of gas chambers in their concentration camps, this was to make extermination as efficient as possible in terms of both speed and economy.
As perhaps the most tragic and inhumane site in the entire camp, assuming one can be chosen, it becomes of vital historical importance for understanding and preserving the memory of the Shoah.
In this article we will learn about the history of the gas chambers at Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau and their operation.
Warning Before we go any further let me give you a very valuable piece of advice: to have a truly profound experience at Auschwitz, it would be good to reserve the accompaniment of an experienced guide. Indeed, thanks to them, you will be able to access much more historical and other information, putting it in context during your visit. We have a responsibility to know lest we forget, and Auschwitz is probably your best chance to do so!
Ticket to Auschwitz-Birkenau (skip the line)
Purchase online. Choose the time of your choice. Visit the prisoner barracks, infamous gas chambers and crematoria on your own.
You can cancel for free up to the day before your visit.
Table of Contents
Auschwitz gas chambers: when, how and why they were created
Auschwitz gas chamber: Photo ID 84296726 | Auschwitz © Nortophoto | Dreamstime.com
While Hitler already professed a fierce and ruthless anti-Semitism in Mein Kampf, it was with the concentration and extermination camps that it really came to a head.
With a view to completing the “final solution of the Jewish question,” a way was devised to kill a large number of victims in a short time and without too great a cost.
The first toxic gases were experimented with in late 1939 to eliminate some mentally ill people through the use of carbon monoxide. Later, mobile gas chambers were also used.
The first case in which a gas chamber permanently placed in a camp wasemployed was in 1941 in Chelmo, Poland. The Germans were trying to get as many people in as possible so they would die more quickly, so they forced them to stand with their arms raised.
In addition, many people died trampled to death because of the hell that was unleashed inside the gas chambers: forced into darkness, oxygen began to fail and the last breathable air rose to the top.
At Auschwitz, experimentation with Zyklon B gas began, and seeing its positive effects in terms of efficiency, it was later used in all the other camps.
It was in 1941 that the Auschwitz morgue was converted into a gas chamber, and it was used for about a year until the end of 1942. It was dismantled afterwards, but rebuilt after the war to show visitors.
Extermination nevertheless continued, indeed intensified by taking advantage of the construction of Birkenau.
Ticket to Auschwitz-Birkenau (skip the line)
Purchase online. Choose the time of your choice. Visit the prisoner barracks, infamous gas chambers and crematoria on your own.
You can cancel for free up to the day before your visit.
How the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau worked
Gas chamber in Auschwitz concentration camp I: Photo ID 153201578 | Auschwitz © Jaroslav Moravcik | Dreamstime.com
Prisoners who were led to the gas chambers were convinced that they could finally wash themselves with showers. For this, they were made to undress in the rooms adjacent to the showers.
Zyklon B gas was lowered from above and consisted of tablets that once exposed to air became lethal in a short time. At the same time, truck engines were turned on to prevent other inmates from hearing the desperate screams of the dying.
By some accounts, the space around the tablets was left empty, while instead prisoners crowded around the door. A further atrocity, perhaps the most tragic, was that the door was equipped with a peephole that allowed the inside to be observed without risk.
After the execution, the work of the Sonderkommandos, prisoners who lived in slightly better conditions and under the illusion of being spared, but who were periodically killed and replaced, became essential.
It was the Sonderkommandos, in fact, who removed the corpses from the chambers to take them to the crematoria and took away the last useful items from the victims, such as any gold teeth.
They, again, would then clean out the chamber so that the next people sentenced to death would not immediately realize what place it was.
Ruins of a destroyed gas chamber, Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camp. Photo ID 271443977 | Auschwitz © Atosan | Dreamstime.com
Frequently asked questions
At Auschwitz the use of Zyklon B gas was experimented with. Given its success, it was the gas of choice and adopted in all extermination camps. It was lowered into the center of the chamber in tablets that, once in contact with the air, became lethal and in a short time eliminated the victims.
An Auschwitz building was initially used as a temporary gas chamber, but later the need developed to make the extermination more efficient. Therefore, two different complexes were organized at Birkenau, both equipped with a gas chamber and multiple crematoria to speed up disposal. Finally, thanks to a freight elevator, the gas chambers were connected to the respective ovens so as to make operations easier.
The gas chamber at Auschwitz I has been partially reconstructed to show visitors where it was located. The facilities at Auschwitz II – Birkenau, on the other hand, were destroyed by the Nazis to erase evidence of the crimes, so only ruins can be seen.
One must always counter those who deny or trivialize what the Holocaust was. It is good to prevent certain ideas from spreading and leading to a gradual erasure of Memory. To do this, it may be sufficient to provide the many existing historical documents and try to calmly conduct any conversation about it. There are, in addition, many resources and e-learning courses offered by the official Auschwitz website or you can find various educational resources from various sites such as the “Mémorial de la Shoah” or IHRA that teach how to defuse certain trivializing or denialist reasoning. Lastly, there are books that provide the context of denial, for example, “Denying the Holocaust: the Growing Assault on Truth and Memory” by Deborah E. Lipstadt is notable.
Conclusions
We have thus come to the concluding part of our article. We have seen together the sad history of the gas chambers, from their earliest experiments to the achievement of an atrocious “assembly line” of death.
Finally, I have answered the most frequently asked questions on the topic, but should you still have any doubts, please do not hesitate to leave us a comment below.
Remember that it is really important to secure the accompaniment of an experienced guide should you wish to visit Auschwitz: this is the only way you will be able to get the most out of the experience, living intensely each block of the camp.
With an experienced escort you will have a complete view of what Auschwitz was like, accessing historical information and testimonies at each place you visit.
So don’t miss the invaluable lesson this place can provide: let’s learn from our mistakes of yesterday to build a better tomorrow!
Ticket to Auschwitz-Birkenau (skip the line)
Purchase online. Choose the time of your choice. Visit the prisoner barracks, infamous gas chambers and crematoria on your own.
You can cancel for free up to the day before your visit.
Cover photo: ID 314026538 | Auschwitz © Werner Lerooy | Dreamstime.com
