Bauleitung drawing 2036 of 11.1.43
The first version, 2036(p) [Polish], is from PMO file BW 30b-30c/23, neg. nos 2634 and 20818/10.
The second and third versions, 2036(r.a) and 2036(r.b) [Russian], are from the “October Revolution”
Central State Archives.
The six photos forming 2036(r.a) are to be found in PMO file BW 30/43, pages 3 to 8.
Einäscherungsanlage für das KGL / Cremation installation for the POW camp
[Also added in the identification block: Krem IV u. V / Krematorien IV and V]
Deckblatt für die Zeichnung Nr 1678 / Correction sheet to drawing 1678
Maßstab / Scale 1:100
Drawn by prisoner 127,
checked by SS Second Lieutenant Dejaco and approved by SS Captain Bischoff on 11th January 1943 |
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2036(p) is the definitive drawing for what was to be Krematorium IV insofar as the external aspect and interior arrangement are now fixed and are to change but little despite some modifications made both during construction and afterwards. The orientation is not shown on the drawing. but reference to the actual building shows that it is “north up”. The elevation is the north elevation of the future Krematorium IV. The two chimneys are thicker than on Drawing 1678. The orientation of the ground floor plan is north up, west to the left, east to the right and south down. Section A-B is a cross-section of the western part and C-D one of the eastern part, through the 8-muffle furnace.
The main difference between this and the Karl Segnitz drawing concerns the roof height, which is has been made lower over the western part, above the two westernmost rooms and the corridor serving them.
A striking feature of Drawing 2036(p) is that four of the rooms are not labelled: the two westernmost rooms and their corridor (with a total floor area of 240 m²) and the large room (245 m²) in the centet of the building. The stove for heating this room, present on Drawing 1678, has disappeared, but each of the two westernmost rooms has a stove, the hearths being fired from the corridor, outside the rooms (using coal from the store next to the doctor’s room).
Despite the absence of some of the function labels on the ground floor plan of 2036(p), useful indications are nevertheless present. It can be seen that each of the two westernmost rooms has a door direct to the exterior as well as to the corridor. Their ceilings are low (2.20 m ). They are heated by stoves and there is a drain in the centre of each. They communicate with the centre of the building via the corridor and the vestibule. Next to the coal store for the stoves in these westernmost rooms, the presence of a doctor’s room implies that the function of these rooms requires his presence. The large central room with three ventilation chimneys and no stove could be a morgue providing corpses for the 8-mufle furnace, as this is the room closest to the furnace room and no other room is labelled as being for this purpose.
Various Bauleitung orders sent to the Auschwitz DAW workshops and two timesheets covering work done by Riedel & Son prove that the westernmost rooms were fitted with gas-tight doors and windows, and must therefore have been gas-chambers. According to various testimonies they were homicidal gas chambers. In that case, Drawing 2036(p) can be read in terms of an industrial production line: two production units (gas chambers requiring the presence of a doctor to certify death) operate alternately; the “products” obtained are evacuated via the corridor and vestibule and stored in the morgue (in the centre of the building), which can also receive others coming from external sources; finally. the products are consumed (cremation). In this sequence the undressing room is missing. It could have been provided in the form of a hut erected outside but very close to the Krematorium, as was done in the case of Krematorium II in the second half of March 1943 (a wooden hut was erected in the yard to serve as a temporary undressing room while Messing was completing the installation of the air extraction system in Leichenkeller 2).
In order to explain the lack of an undressing roorn in Krematorien IV and V, it must he borne in mind that they were originally conceived simply as additional cremation installations, dependent on Bunkers 1 and 2, and not as fully fledged complexes like Krematorien II and III. Bringing the means of extermination under the same roof led the SS to supplement the first Drawing. 1678, by a second. 2036, which is in fact labelled a “correction sheet” to drawing 1678. There would have been a third drawing with further modifications to the ground floor plan in order to provide the missing undressing room had the SS not decided to resolve the problem by making the large central room play a double role: that of morgue and/or undressing room (an arrangement inspired by what was done in Krematorium I in the Stammlager). This double role made it possible for the Bauleitung to use drawing 2036(p) as it stood but for minor modifications. |
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Translation of inscriptions
(from top to bottom and left to right): |
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Ansicht / Elevation [north elevation of Krematorium IV] |
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Querschnitt A-B / Cross-section A-B |
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Herakliht 3 cm / 3 cm herakliht |
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Nagelbinder / Nailed truss |
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OK Gelände / Ground level |
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Querschnitt C-D / Cross-section C-D |
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OK Gelände / Ground level |
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Nagelbinder / Nailed truss |
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Erdgeschoß-Grundriß / Ground floor plan |
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Binder / Pillar |
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Lichte höhe 2.20 m / Clearance height 2.20 m |
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Kohle / Coal store |
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Vorrann / Vestibule |
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Arztzimmer / Doctor’s room |
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Entlüftung / Air extraction |
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Schleuse u. Geräte / Air lock and tools |
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Schleuse / Air lock |
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Verbrennungsraum / Cremation room [furnace room] |
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Achmuffel Einäscherungsofen / Eight-muffle cremation furnace |
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Verbrennungsraum / Cremation room [furnace room] |
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Aufenthaltsraum / [Prisoners'] rest room |
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Kohlen / Coal [in fact coke] store |
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Kanalisation / Sewer pipes |
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