Today’s post continues the photo descriptions written for the seagoing cowboy visit to the Stutthof Concentration Camp by Dr. Marcin Owsiński, head of the research department at the Museum of Stutthof. I’m grateful to Dr. Owsiński for the depth this adds to understanding these images. The photos and slides are from the collection of Wesley Miller and Wilbert Zahl who gave programs together about their early 1947 trip to Gdansk, Poland, after coming home.
4. The fence of the Old Camp and the watchtower
After passing through the Gate of Death, the group of visitors must have gone inside one of the nearest residential barracks, where, however, it seems technically difficult to take photographs. During the tour, the guide – a former prisoner – showed the Americans the fence and told about the camp’s security system. The photo shows a watchtower at the southern side of the Old Camp. The building has survived to this day. Visible barbed wire fencing of the camp, with the front strip of the horizontal structure making it difficult to approach the main line. On the left one may see the wall of the workshop barrack, which was demolished in 1949. On the right side of the turret and in the background visible barracks in the so-called old wood yard where prisoners worked.
5. View of the barracks of the Old Camp from the roof of the gas chamber
After passing through the area of the Old Camp, a group of visitors reached the area next to the former crematorium and gas chamber. The photo was taken from the roof of the gas chamber towards the west. On the left side of the photo you can see a birch beam of a structure placed on the roof in September 1946 during a meeting of former prisoners. The visible corner of the barracks is part of the hospital for male prisoners, which could accommodate several hundred sick people. These buildings were demolished in 1949 and 1950. The camp’s electrical network and the fence around this part of the buildings for prisoners are also clearly visible. In the background of the photo, the camp commandant’s office was visible, where the tour began.
6. KL Stutthof gas chamber in February 1947
The building of the former gas chamber KL Stutthof on February 13, 1947 was preserved in a relatively good condition. The original door opening is visible whereas the original door is missing. A small brick stove at the entrance was used to raise the temperature inside and improve the effect of the poison gas. Two massive birch beams on the left side of the building are a fragment of a frame built on the roof of the chamber in order to celebrate the holy mass on the occasion of the meeting of former Stutthof prisoners on September 7, 1946. This construction was visible on many photos from that time.
7. Entrance to the gas chamber
Entrance to the gas chamber in Stutthof in February 1947. The close-up shows the details of the interior of the building, including the brick heating pipe supplying warm air from the external furnace. There are visible the scratches on the wall. Also noteworthy is the lack of the entrance door, which seems to have been forcibly dismantled or torn out after the war.
~ to be continued July 14
The Seagoing Cowboys 