The Holocaust Historiography Project

Gas Chamber Comparison Table

This table compares features of the so-called “Nazi gas chambers,” and includes one delousing chamber for reasons that will become clear.

Site Blue staining? Roof hole? Door Destroyed? Notes
Auschwitz — Krema 1 no yes, 2 (post-war) one with glass, one doorway with no door no open threshold adjoins crematory; post-war chimney does not connect
Birkenau — Krema 2 no 2, not 4 as shown in air photos; holes not aligned; holes do not correspond with air photos   mostly: roof has fallen, but pieces are still there  
Birkenau — Krema 3 no     yes  
Birkenau — delousing inside and out     no  
Majdanek — chember 1 inside and out   2, both of which open into the room; no lock on main door no, but crematory was plate-glass window with no protection; additional room inside the main room; located at bottom of hill on other side of camp from crematory
Majdanek — chamber 2 no Provision for it, but never cut through; low enough to be blocked latch from inside and the outside; peephole grid on outside of room no, but crematory was located at bottom of hill on other side of camp from crematory
Majdanek — chamber 3 inside and out no latch from inside and the outside; peephole grid on outside of room no, but crematory was located at bottom of hill on other side of camp from crematory
Majdanek — chamber 4 inside and out yes, low enough to be blocked latch from inside and the outside; peephole grid on outside of room no, but crematory was located at bottom of hill on other side of camp from crematory
Dachau no no; two chutes in the walls, could have been blocked; chutes located directly over floor drains   no fake shower heads attached to concrete of the ceiling (probably added after liberation)¹; “mystery” room adjoins the gas chamber; room not useable as either gas chamber or shower room
Mauthausen no yes, could have been blocked no locks; can be opened from inside or outside; no grids over peepholes no Large drain in floor where Zyklon-B crystals could have been swept; full plumbing for showers

Note

  1. This is not only the revisionist position, but the position of those at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as well.