, there was a converted gas chamber with a crematorium that was used from 1942 to 1943. In Birkenau, there were five small gas chambers, barracks for undressing, and adjacent graves used in 1942. The crematoriums were either subterranean gas chambers or surface chambers, with two to five gas chambers, and three to four retorts.
             The gas chamber was one of the most commonly used execution devices for the Jewish prisoners. Most of the gas chambers were made on the spot for that specific reason. Sometimes, peasants' old houses were reconstructed with the windows filled in, doors made airtight, and the interior walls removed. Basically, the whole interior of the house was completely remodeled in order to create a camouflaged death trap.
             Known to many is the fact that prisoners believed they were being put into a shower room, when, unbeknownst to them, they were being put to death by gas. "The unsuspecting Greek Jews, clutching soap and towels, rushed into the gas chambers. Nothing was allowed to disturb this precarious synchronization. When a Jewish inmate revealed to a newly arrived person what was in store for them, he was cremated alive (Hildberg 247)." Certain prisoners were used to clean up the gas chambers after they were used. If they were to notify any other prisoners of what the so called shower rooms had in store for them, that prisoner, and all of those notified, were immediately executed. One captive recalls that, "The gas was now allowed to escape and after about half an hour, the door was opened. The bodies were found in tower-like heaps, some in sitting positions, children or older people at the bottom...The corpses were pink in color, with green spots. Some had foam on the lips, others bled t!
             hrough the nose. Excretion and urine covered some of the bodies, and in some pregnant women, the birth process had already begun (Hildberg 246)."
             The camps were becoming the most feared death institu...