Auschwitz swimming pool

[Haldan]

Scott,
Have you ever seen a swimming pool in Bulgaria from, say, 1984? They look even more crude than the Auschwitz swimming pool -- but I never once for a second thought those swimming pools were "fire reservoirs" -- they were just crudely made pools. Would you liked to have seen the Auschwitz swimming pool to be more luxurious? AND, even if the Germans did utilize the swimming pool as a "fire reservoir" wouldn't that have been a good thing anyway?

-haldan

[code yellow]

The reason why the pool is a big deal is that it disspells the usual stereotyping in movies ,documenteries,books etc.,that Auschwitz was a sinister place with evil jew hating guards and mad doctors.

The pool is evidence that they saw to the comfort of the internees.This is why the sign states what it does because it is a matter of fact that most traditional accounts of any aspect dealing with Germany during this peiod usualy and deliberately lead the reader into an overexagerated horror story,especialy where the holocaust is concearned.

The powers that be do not want the general public think that the Germans had any well being for anyone.They want them to only appear as monsters,non-human.It's that simple.That's why the sign has that deliberately innacurate caption.

The powers behind this sham Want well meaning citizens to remain stupid.They are luaghing behind our backs,all the way to the bank.

[Scott]

It must've been hard to keep that pool clean without a little more concrete poured around it to walk on. Yuck.

[Richard Perle]

OK, my personal hunch is that it was a reservoir built with possible dual use as a swimming pool in mind. Survivor stories are obviously an unreliable source, but I'm inclined to believe them when they aren't making wild claims and demonizing their captors.
I am sure inmates were allowed to swim in this pool, but it was hardly suitable for anything more than an occassional treat in a camp the size of Auschwitz.

Scott's comments about the need for a reservoir if the water mains get knocked out make complete sense.

[Hannover]

As a potential secondary use, the swimming pool would ofcourse act like a 'reservoir in case of fire, as does anyone's swimmig pool.

But to built it first as a 'fire brigade reservoir' and then let people swim in it makes no sense. Especially since there was a fire hydrant right next to it, which if bombed would mean the pool right next it would have been hit also, eliminating the claimed first use 'fire brigade reservoir' . Oh those dumb Germans .

And ofcourse the thing looks a swimming pool, not a reservoir.

And we have those who were there saying that is was a swimming pool, people swam in it, dived off it, etc.

Notice that the officials at Auschwitz refuse to release the plans of this swimming pool, or the orders for materials, or the specifics of each man's job who worked on it. Clearly they are hiding something that they do not want the public to see.

I see Scott says something about there not being enough room to walk around and clean the pool, even though there clearly is. What's with that?

- Hannover

[Malle]

This my friends, is a 'fire brigade reservoir' in it’s glory. Photo from Mauthausen. Notice the difference to the one in Auschwitz.

[Scott]

This my friends, is a 'fire brigade reservoir' in it’s glory. Photo from Mauthausen. Notice the difference to the one in Auschwitz.

It's wider and it has some shallow parts.

[Richard Perle]

I think I'd prefer to swim in that one.

Just found this, more from former inmate prof. Dr. Marc Klein:

"The roll call took place at noon; during the evening one relaxed or dedicated his time to a selection of athletic or cultural activities. Soccer, basketball, and water ball games (in the outdoor pool that had been built by inmates within the camp) attracted the spectator masses.” (De l’Université aux camps de concentration. Témoignages strasbourgeois, 2nd. ed., Belles-Lettres, Paris 1954 (©1947), p. 453.)

[Maly Jacek]

Fire brigade water reservoir in Birkenau looks very much like that one in Mauthausen.

[J William]

I think I'd prefer to swim in that one.

Only if you don't mind wallowing in mud and muddy water. It appears that the depicted pond/fire reservior has earthen sides and bottom. If the soil is anything like the soil my pond is constructed of the water becomes muddy when a swimmer is in the pond and a swimmer's feet sink into the mud when entering and exiting the pond. Don't even consider diving in a pond with those banks.

[PLAYWRIGHT]

As was pointed out, the Mauthausen swimming pool was in a different location. Would like to see that in more detail.

This one doesn't have the diving board setup (which, at the Auschwitz pool, it suddenly hits me is of surprisingly solid construction - concrete with braces) or the ladders, or the filter setup with the decorative water spout.

And re: Marc Klein's report, I'd still like more details on who was playing basketball at Auschwitz. As I mentioned, the sport was not unknown in Europe, but was of limited popularity, especially in Eastern Europe. I'm going to check the 1936 Olympic record to see which countries played.

[Richard Perle]

Only if you don't mind wallowing in mud and muddy water. It appears that the depicted pond/fire reservior has earthen sides and bottom.

It looks like concrete to me.

On the topic of basketball, it is possible that something similar to basketball was improvised even without any of the inmates having ever seen the game. Dr. Klein might have only heard the name basketball after the war and retroactively fitted it to an improvised game he saw once in Auschwitz.
Likewise you only need one inmate to be familiar with the game to get a game started.

But I have just found information that should settle it:

# 1891 – Dr. James Naismith creates the game of basketball at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts
# 1893 – The first game of basketball is played in Europe, at the YMCA in Paris, France
# 1909 – The Russian club Mayak plays against a visiting YMCA team, probably the first international game since the creation of the fledgling sport
# 1932 - FIBA is founded in Geneva, Switzerland with the following 8 national federations as founder members: Argentina, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia
# 1935 – The first European Championship takes place in Geneva, Switzerland. The winners are Latvia.
# 1936 – Basketball is introduced as an official sport at the Berlin Olympics

http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_Dql8kcNKH ... qtFR0.html

plus, from the Polish page from that site:

European Championship for Men (1939) - 3rd place
European Championship for Men (1937) - 4th place
European Championship for Women (1938) - 3rd place

[PLAYWRIGHT]

Here's a list of the European countries that fielded a basketball team at the Munich Olympics of 1936 (USA won the gold, btw - and did so for the next 62 years)

Estonia (European champions)
Czechoslovakia
Italy
Poland
Switzerland
Belgium
France
Hungary
Latvia
Spain

Looks like I was wrong. The sport was more popular in Europe, and Eastern Europe, than I thought. Also, in terms of the court, Europeans played it for the most part on an outdoor court, in accord with the IOC rules of 1936, which mandated that, so I suppose the court at Auschwitz could have been an the atheletic grounds.