Birkenau Krematorium V gas chambers had four rooms, which are just over the low brick wall and beyond.
krematorium V (officially Badeanstalt für Sonderaktion or “Bathhouse for Special Action”) was unique among the large Birkenau crematoria because its gas chambers and incinerators were located at ground level.
The building was designed as a rectangular structure with a central disrobing room, leading directly to three gas chambers (each capable of holding ~800–1,000 victims) and five cremation ovens (later expanded or modified in capacity). While the official SS design capacity was 768 bodies per day, historical estimates suggest it processed significantly more during the peak of the Hungarian deportations in 1944.
Krematorium V began operations on April 4, 1943. As you continue scrolling, you see a field reaching to the far corner, and four memorial stones. Just to their left and past the shaded area is where the burning pits for the Krematorium were located.
The problem for the Nazis was not how many people they could gas, but how to dispose of all the corpses. At peak periods such as the Hungarian “Aktion” (May-June 1944), these pits greatly increased disposal capacity. Trenches were dug in the sides to catch the fat run-off, as throwing it back on the flames made them even hotter. Scrolling past the Shaded Area, you can see in the distance the ruins of Krematorium IV, and to its right, The Sauna.
