Unlike the infamous Birkenau camp in Polandwhich had barrack buildings with dirt floors, the barracks atDachau were set on concrete foundations which still remain afterthe wooden buildings were torn down. Behind the spot where theJewish Memorial now stands, there was originally a half-timbereddisinfection hut for delousing the clothing of the prisoners toprevent typhus epidemics. After the Americans liberated the camp,DDT was used to disinfect everything. The hut was torn down likemost of the camp buildings after the camp was abandoned in the1950ies. The small white buildings are the guard towers where,day and night, an SS guard would have a machine gun trained onthe prisoners in the camp. As the Americans approached to liberatethe camp, the German guards flew white flags of surrender fromthese towers, according to survivor Nerin E. Gun.