In 2008 a box full of plans and documents of the KL Auschwitz construction office were discovered during the clearance of an apartment in Berlin, shortly after their discovery the documents were offered for sale by secondhand dealers; I was fortunate to be able to buy three documents from this lot: two construction plans of the ground floor level of the infamous gas chamber of Auschwitz-Birkenau, known as Crematorium II & III and a document signed by Hans Kammler about the construction of a disinfection facility.
The bulk of this document horde was bought by Bild Magazine, who donated them to the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem.
If you follow this link you can see a clip in which the Yad Vashem presents the blueprints they obtained:
https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/auschwitz_architecture/index.asp
Since this week one of the construction plans in my collection is on display in a temporary exhibition in the Belgian Holocaust museum about Auschwitz.
There is very little actual period document evidence left of the extermination facilities in Auschwitz and as far as I know my two construction plans are the only two pieces in a private collection and I'am very proud that now one of them is now is on display next to pages of the famous "Auschwitz photo album", a series of pictures that were taken when a transport of Hungarian Jews arrived in Birkenau to be exterminated, and it can be seen by the public.
A link to the photo album:
https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/album_auschwitz/index.asp
And a link to the temporary exhibition:
https://www.kazernedossin.eu/EN/Agenda/Tijdelijke-tentoonstellingen/Overzicht/Auschwitz-camp
The bulk of this document horde was bought by Bild Magazine, who donated them to the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem.
If you follow this link you can see a clip in which the Yad Vashem presents the blueprints they obtained:
https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/auschwitz_architecture/index.asp
Since this week one of the construction plans in my collection is on display in a temporary exhibition in the Belgian Holocaust museum about Auschwitz.
There is very little actual period document evidence left of the extermination facilities in Auschwitz and as far as I know my two construction plans are the only two pieces in a private collection and I'am very proud that now one of them is now is on display next to pages of the famous "Auschwitz photo album", a series of pictures that were taken when a transport of Hungarian Jews arrived in Birkenau to be exterminated, and it can be seen by the public.
A link to the photo album:
https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/album_auschwitz/index.asp
And a link to the temporary exhibition:
https://www.kazernedossin.eu/EN/Agenda/Tijdelijke-tentoonstellingen/Overzicht/Auschwitz-camp