Hospital barracks

 hospital, concentration camp

The infirmary, originally located in a barracks outside the prison camp, from 1941 occupied half of block 5.

The primary structure of the building on the roll-call area was first completed at the end of 1944; one half of the building was then occupied. It was the equivalent of a small hospital with average facilities, outpatient rooms, an operating theatre and around 130 beds. However it did not provide medical care for all the prisoners.
Only a few privileged prisoners were treated there, above all so-called Funktionshäftlinge (prisoners who had been given an administrative function) and, from 1943, also those who were used as skilled workers in the armaments industry. Access to outpatient facilities was even denied to many groups of prisoners, at least for a time.
When they were no longer physically able to take the conditions in the concentration camp the majority of the prisoners were not treated medically but moved to another place. This function was initially fulfilled by the so-called Sonderrevier, a special infirmary area in barracks 16 to 20 and from 1943 by the medical base outside the camp area. There was also a similar special area in Gusen. For prisoners, being sent there meant isolation from the rest of the camp and also drastically reduced their chances of survival.

There was practically no medication available and the staff was made up exclusively of prisoners without any medical training. The barracks were completely overcrowded, hygiene conditions were appalling and the food rations were approximately half of the normal camp amounts.

The prisoners were for the most part left to their fate but their death was also often accelerated by repeated cold showers, having to stand outdoors for hours in winter, only lightly dressed, or by removing the windows in the barracks.