"Bathing Installations for Special Action" This report of August 21, 1942, describes the installation of two large ovens in the "bathing installations for special action." The Nazi phrase "special action" was a code-word for murder. The phrase "bathing installations" was a euphemism for the gas chambers. Transcription: 2.) Bezüglich Aufstellung von je 2 Dreimuffelöfen bei den "Badeanstalten für Sonderaktionen" wurden von Ing. Prüfer vorgeschlagen, die Öfen aus einen bereits fertiggestellten Lieferung nach Mogilev abzuzweigen und wurde sogleich der Dienststellenleiter welcher beim SS-Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt in Berlin anwesend war, hiervon tel. in Kenntnis gesetzt und gebeten das weitere veranlassen zu wollen. Translation: 2.) Relative to the setting up of two three-muffle ovens at the "bathing installations for special actions," engineer Prüfer recommended to separate the ovens out of an already-completed shipment to Mogliev, and wanted to immediately inform the agency leader who was present at the SS Economic Administration Main Office of this by telephone, and to ask that further arrangements be made. The buildings where the ovens were being installed were Bunker 1 and Bunker 2, also known as the "little red house" and "little white house." These are two lesser-known killing chambers of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex. This document is referenced in "The Machinery of Mass Murder at Auschwitz," Jean-Claude Pressac with Robert-Jan van Pelt, in Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, Gutman et al., Eds., 1994, p. 219. Its reproduction has been provided to Dr. Daniel Keren courtesy of Professor Robert-Jan van Pelt, University of Waterloo.
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