Execution Area (Auschwitz I Camp) (Oświęcim)

Poland / Malopolskie / Oswiecim / Oświęcim
 memorial, Second World War 1939-1945, historical layer / disappeared object
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In this area, the first waves of prisoners were shot. Concerned about psychological effects of firing squad "responsibility" thoughts (and also of the day's end knee-deep blood and remains) upon the camp staff and on the clean-up sonderkommando crew-inmates, authorities sought a more clean method of mass-killing. They sealed openings in a building on the other side of the camp and used the building as a gas chamber ---first with carbon monoxide gas as the lethal agent. Perfecting their methods, the government killers moved on to pelletized cleaner Zyklon-B to generate deadly fumes quickly. The nearby Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp was later built with four gas chambers using the Zyklon-B mass-killing method developed here at Auschwitz I.

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wikimapia.org/#lat=50.0286409&lon=19.2036724&z=15&l=0&...
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Coordinates:   50°1'29"N   19°12'11"E
This article was last modified 8 years ago