Mauthausen Gas Chamber Inside the gas chamber at Mauthausen The gas chamber was disguised as a shower room with real water pipes and shower heads on the ceiling. On the wall at the far left is a memorial plaque to one of the prisoners who was gassed in this room. Short hallway with door into the gas chamber The iron doors of the gas chamber are the same kind that were used in air raid shelters in Germany. They had a glass-covered peephole and rubber gasketing around the edge to make them air tight and gas proof. Entrance to the basement execution room Located beneath the space beween the hospital and the bunker was the site where prisoners were executed by a shot in the neck or by hanging. The gas chamber was also in the basement near the execution site. The tall chimney was for the crematory ovens which are shown in the photograph below. Crematory ovens were located near the gas chamber in the basement The photo above shows a double crematory oven at Mauthausen. There was also a single oven in a different room in the basement beneath the hospital. According to Lt. Jack Taylor, who was a prisoner at Mauthausen, this oven was first used on April 10, 1945 about a month before the camp was liberated. There was a typhus epidemic in the camp during the last days of the war, but according to the testimony of Lt. Taylor, this oven was needed to burn the bodies of the prisoners who were gassed right up until the camp was liberated. Barracks Beautiful Doors Catholic Church Camp Artifacts Main Entrance The SS yard Prisoners' Gate Home