News
Ruins of the Birkenau Gas Chambers to Be Secured
Museum Chief Preservation Officer Witold Smrek announced plans for the imminent start of work to secure the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria II and III at the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration Camp.
A contract for preliminary research work and a calculation of the cost of the work is to be signed between the Museum and the Chair of Architecture and Protection of Landmark Buildings in the Faculty of Construction and Environmental Engineering at the Świętokryzska Polytechnic in Kielce, Poland. A program prepared by Dr. Andrzej Deneka was approved by Professor Bohdan Rymaszewski, head of the International Auschwitz Council Preservation Committee.
The work will be done in three stages. The first, beginning in 2004, will include an photometrical inventory that will be used to establish the dimensions and location of the various elements of the ruins. This will serve as a basis for monitoring the state of the ruins and as a reference point for further work.
“The next step in the first stage will be to study the materials occurring in the ruins (concrete, bricks, stone, and ceramics) and determine which preparations would best preserve these elements. Next comes the design of reinforcements and construction and structural security,” said Smrek.
If the work is done soon enough it will be possible to go on to hydrological research on the state of the ground water and the design of drainage and the clearing of the original German sewage system for the gas chambers and crematoria.
Stages II and III, planned for 2005-2006, will include continuing materials research, the drying of the interior of the ruins, the laying of drainage pipes 1 to 2 meters from the foundations to prevent the entry of water into the ruins, and construction and structural reinforcements.
The goal is to stop the leakage of water into the ruins and to reinforce them, perhaps through the use of supports at endangered points. The remains of the reinforced concrete frame of gas chamber II, which had begun to lean and was in danger of collapsing, were reinforced in the early 90s. Somewhat earlier, the walls of the undressing room, also in danger of collapse, were reinforced.
The remains of gas chambers IV and V will not be conserved at the moment, since they were above-ground structures of which only the floors remained.
The costs, financed by the Lauder Foundation will total approximately 2,100,000 zloty. The largest item, about one million zloty, is the construction and structural reinforcement and the application of specialized preparations to specific elements. “This will be a very time-consuming operation, because it will be necessary to conserve each brick in this way,” said Smrek. “The first stage can begin as soon as we receive the first installment of funding.”
The Gas Chambers at Auschwitz Concentration Camp
As part of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” the German Nazis set up a total of two provisional gas chambers and five permanent gas chambers with accompanying crematoria at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in the years 1942-1944. The largest of them were located on the grounds of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp. At the end of the war, the Germans demolished all the gas chambers and crematoria, with the exception of the first one at the Auschwitz I-Main Camp. Over the years, the ruins of crematoria II and III have been in the relatively best condition, but the passage of time has made the need to carry out preservation work on them increasingly urgent.
Protecting for the Future: An international preservation conference
Exactly one year ago, on June 23-25, 2003, an international conference titled “Protecting for the Future” was held at the Auschwitz-0Birkenau State Museum on the occasion of the opening of the new preservation studios and workshops.
Attendees heard opinions from Polish and other specialists on projects already completed and plans for future work. All agreed on the need to maintain what was left of the Auschwitz camp.
The meeting underlined the necessity of acting as rapidly as possible to preserve the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria at the Birkenau site. One of the speakers was Dr. Andrzej Deneka, author of the schedule of work to secure the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria at the Birkenau site, who delivered a paper titled “How to Maintain the Ruins of the Gas Chambers and Crematoria.”
