I n response to a significant heat wave being experienced during this summer in Poland, mist showers were installed by administrators of the memorial and museum at Auschwitz to help people cool off while they visit the former concentration camp.
While the intentions may be good, many people died in concentration camps such as Dachau in Germany — where I visited back in 2006 when I experienced bone-chilling cold air — by being gassed to death when they thought they were taking a shower. One of the many orifices in the ceiling from which the gas emanated was in the form of a shower head, which is shown in the photograph at the top of this article.
Despite being criticized for the negative connotations perceived by some of the visitors of the former concentration camp — and after apologizing as well — the directors of the memorial and museum have declined to remove the mist showers at this time, having cited several incidents which already occurred where tourists have fainted caused by the unusually hot weather, according to this article posted at the Krakow Post.
“Tacky” is how one person I asked — who wished to remain anonymous — described the installation of mist showers. “Don’t go there if you are hot. Heat is the least to worry about compared to what people went through there.”
What are your thoughts? Was this a good idea; or a politically incorrect blunder? Are those who are bothered by the installation of mist showers justified in feeling disturbed by the parallels to the gas chamber showers; or are they being overly sensitive?
Photograph ©2006 by Brian Cohen.
