Auschwitz removes offensive outdoor showers after uproar

Administrators take away cooling-off sprinklers from entrance to death camp, citing drop in summer temperatures, not critical reaction

Following a storm of criticism, the Auschwitz Museum said it has decided to remove makeshift showers installed at the entrance to the site, but said the cooling sprinklers were not taken down due the offense that many took from the installation.

Administrators told the Hebrew-language Nana10 website that the water spraying pipes were no longer needed, as the local temperature had dropped.

On Monday Auschwitz dismissed criticism of its installation of sprinklers at the entrance to the Nazi death camp, saying they were put there for the health and safety of visitors during the summer heat, and that it was wrong to associate them with gas chamber showers.

The decision to install the sprinklers came in response to extreme heat afflicting southern Poland during the dog days of summer. Local temperatures recently soared to 37°C (98.6º F).

“Because of the extreme heat wave we have experienced in August in Poland, mist sprinklers which cool the air were placed near the entrance to the Museum,” the Auschwitz Museum wrote in a Facebook comment responding to a Times of Israel report about the shower-like units. “The sprinklers were placed at the entrance to the museum, where there’s no shade and where people wait for tickets. The decision to do so was made after several visitors fainted from recent extreme heat.”

While many refreshed themselves in the suspended pipes that sprayed a fine mist of cool water, Israeli visitors found the presence of the showers at Auschwitz offensive.

The director of the museum knows that it's somewhat inappropriate, but they commented that people dying because of heat strokes would be less preferable than that. Due to popularity the waiting time for entrance has been increasing, and the museum can't take that many people inside

One million European Jews were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland in 1940-1945. More than 100,000 others, including non-Jewish Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and anti-Nazi resistance fighters, also died there, according to the museum.

Some prisoners were forced to enter gas chambers disguised as shower rooms, where poisonous gas was released through holes in the ceiling, killing the occupants.

AFP contributed to this report.