Auschwitz mist showers cause outrage

The management of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum decided to install sprinklers near its entrance. Intended as an opportunity to beat the hot summer days across Eastern and Central Europe, the mist-showers attracted a great deal of criticism, particularly on social media networks, for their perceived insensitivity towards what showers once symbolized at Auschwitz.

Rabbi Steven Burg, a former director of the Wiesenthal Center, took to Twitter and said that Israeli tourists were "shocked" by the showers. In another tweet, he said that the showers reminded visitors of the Auschwitz gas chambers, where more than one million people, mostly Jews, were murdered under the pretense of being sent to communal showers.

"The Jerusalem Post" reported that one Israeli visitor referred to the sprinklers as a "Holocaust gimmick."

Meir Bulka, 48, told the newspaper that he had lost many relatives during the Holocaust and that the mist sprinklers resembled "the showers that the Jews were forced to take before entering the gas chambers."

Health risks

Pawel Sawicki, press officer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, said that the decision to install the sprinklers had been taken on account of the summer heat, topping 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). He said the museum had to do all in its power to "minimize health risks."

"People have to stand in line in the sun with no contingency to go into the shade. We've seen people pass out before while waiting in line," Sawicki said.

On its Facebook page, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum referred to the factual differences between the mist showers and the Nazi gas chambers:

"It is really hard for us to comment on some suggested historical references since the mist sprinkles do not look like showers, and the fake showers installed by Germans inside some of the gas chambers were not used to deliver gas into them. Zyklon B was dropped inside the gas chambers in a completely different way - through holes in the ceiling or airtight drops in walls."

Security measures causing longer lines

Many visitors come to Auschwitz, the largest death camp created by the NS-regime, during the summer months partly because of school holidays. Auschwitz has become a symbol for the Holocaust as much as it has for the ruthlessness of the Nazi regime, with an added permanent exhibition of artifacts hoping to attract further visitors in the future.

The memorial site has recently increased security measures after a number of acts of vandalism at Auschwitz and at other former concentration camps earlier in the year, which has led to longer queues at the entrance.

Executive President of the International Auschwitz Committee Christoph Heubner said that the showers meant no disrespect, stressing that there should be no misunderstanding about the purpose behind them.

"I think this is a well-intended gesture toward visitors, who even in this heat choose to come to the memorial site," Heubner said.

ss/msh (dpa)