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The building of the so-called "central sauna" is again available to visitors to the Memorial
Visitors to the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum can again enter the building of the so-called central sauna, located on the grounds of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
The largest camp disinfection station and bathhouse was put into operation in December 1943. From that time until January 1945, the building was used for the initial intake procedure of tens of thousands of newly arrived prisoners, mainly Jews and Poles. It was here that the perpetrators began the process of stripping their victims of their humanity.
Here, the last personal belongings were taken from them, they were entered into camp records, assigned numbers and camp clothing, had their hair cut, and were subjected to bathing and disinfection. In some cases, among Jews who, after being transported, had undergone selection on the unloading platform and were deemed fit for work, the SS carried out additional selections here. In this way, they often singled out, in particular, pregnant women who, still in their clothes, had escaped the notice of SS doctors and had been sent into the camp.
The building also contained facilities used to disinfect property stolen from the victims with steam and hot dry air.
The primitive living conditions of prisoners, overcrowding in the barracks, filth, and lice often led to outbreaks of various diseases that decimated the prisoners. These epidemics also posed a danger to the SS and reduced the possibilities of exploiting the prisoners’ labor force. For this reason, the Germans periodically conducted delousing and disinfection campaigns for both prisoners and their clothing. Prisoners, stripped of their clothes, were often kept under the open sky regardless of the weather, sometimes waiting for many hours before entering the building or receiving their disinfected clothing.
The historic building is part of the gided study tour. Visitors can learn about the functions of the so-called central sauna by walking through the various rooms in the same order as those subjected to the camp intake procedure or prisoners directed there for bathing and disinfection. Those entering move along a special glass walkway that marks the route and protects the original flooring.
The facility has been preserved largely in its original state. Nearby are the ruins of the gas chambers, crematoria, and sites where corpses were burned in the open air. In the first hall, one can also see dozens of personal items belonging to the victims. In the final hall, hundreds of prewar family photographs belonging to Jews deported to the camp, discovered on the site after liberation, are on display, as well as one of the carts used to remove ashes from the crematorium.
The building had been closed due to conservation and repair work on the ceiling, the roof structure and covering, as well as the conservation of the chimneys.
