The Holocaust Historiography Project
Auschwitz, by J.-C. Pressac
Translation of the additional inscriptions
on Drawing 2036(r.a):
[in the room with “Lichte Höhe"]
· Kavernischen /Set in [lamps] (see enlargement of this section)
[in the Aufenthaltsraun / Rest room]
· Brunnenkessel / Well [water] tank
[above this room, by the shaded disc]
· Brunnen / Well
[also in this room, but very difficult to distinguish there is diagram of a pump with valve and electric motor]
[the key below the inscription “Erdgeschoßgrundriß"]
· Elektr. Installation / Electrical installation
· Kanalisation / Sewer pipes
· Wasserleitung / Water pipes
In addition to the drains and sewer pipes already shown on Drawing 2036(p), this version also shows the position of the electric lamps lighting the building and the water supply system.

The two westernmost rooms served by the corridor were each fitted with 4 lamps set into the walls ("Wand-Lampen Versenckt”, also indicated on the drawing as “Kavernischen"). The corridor had two lamps protected by grids. The other rooms were lit by ordinary lamps with shades: 1 in the vestibule; 1 in the coal store; 2 in the doctor’s room; 6 in the large room; 2 in the air lock; 6 in the furnace room; 1 in the coke store; 1 in the WC; 1 in the entrance on the right; 1 in the rest room. In this last there was also a water supply tank with a pump and its electric motor. The water was pumped from the well outside the building into the tank and gravity fed throughout the building. On the drawing, the water supply pipe runs from the rest room, along the bottom of the furnace room, air lock and large room, up the left hand wall of this last and along the bottom wall of the vestibule and ends in the corridor serving the two westernmost rooms. There are three taps for the washbasins, three in the large room, one with a washbasin in the doctor’s room and two in the corridor, one outside the door of each of the two rooms.

This drawing, completing 2036(p), shows that the two westernmost rooms were not only equipped with stoves and drains, but also that the lamps were set into the walls (as was the case with one lighting the washbasins on the extreme right of the building). The two lamps in the corridor serving these rooms were protected by grids. It might be thought that in such rooms the SS intended to install showers supplied with hot water heated by the big 8-muffle furnace, but no showerheads are shown and there is no deviation of the water supply pipe leading through a heating coil in the furnace. What is more, the water supply does not go into the two westermost rooms but only as far as two taps in the corridor outside their doors. Summarizing, Drawing 2036(r.a) shows that the two westernmost rooms were heated by stoves and water from the taps in the corridor was to be used in them, for the lamps were set into the walls and thus waterproofed and there were drains in the center of the rooms.

Bauleitung Drawing 2036(r.a.) (1) of 11th January 1943
Drawing 2036(r.a.)

Enlargement of part of Drawing 2036(r.a) showing part of the two westernmost rooms. The symbol for an electric lamp can be seen against the dividing wall with the label “Kevernischen / Set in”.