Laundry barracks

 laundry, concentration camp

The laundry room was located in the first of the four service facilities barracks. The basement contained a shower room and a hot air disinfection system.

It was primarily the laundry of the SS men and their families who lived in the town of Mauthausen that was laundered here. This was nothing unusual, the SS regularly made the prisoners work to meet their own private needs. The prisoners' own clothing was generally only disinfected.

The normal clothing worn by the prisoners was the familiar grey and blue striped cotton twill outfit consisting of a shirt, trousers, jacket and a round cap without a peak; underwear was also provided but no socks, at best foot rags, and, generally, clogs. In winter prisoners who worked outdoors were supplied with coats and, sometimes, winter caps and gloves. For most, however, the clothing was inadequate, above all in winter. From 1943 the procurement of clothing became increasingly difficult and the prisoners were at first given the uniforms of armies of countries occupied by the German Reich, later civilian clothing that had been removed on entering the camp was distributed. But from autumn 1944 hardly any more clothing was supplied to Mauthausen and many prisoners had nothing better to wear than, quite literally, rags.

The miserable clothing situation, the overcrowding of the camp, malnutrition and the catastrophic hygienic conditions led on several occasions to the outbreak of epidemics. The reaction of the SS reflected the logic of the concentration camp system: the circumstances that allowed such epidemics to break out were not altered; instead recourse was made to drastic hygiene measures which were always directed against the prisoners.

In the barracks so-called "lice controls" were carried out at irregular intervals. They generally took place in the evening or at night and offered the SS opportunity to humiliate the prisoners and often to beat them. If a louse was actually found on a prisoner that could mean his death sentence.

For the showers and disinfection routines that took place every four to six weeks the prisoners were forced to undress in front of each other and the SS, a feeling of physical defencelessness was deliberately created and exploited by the SS. However, in recalling their imprisonment many prisoners describe the attempt to maintain a minimum of physical hygiene as an important part of the battle against total resignation.