Block 11 was the name of a brick building in Auschwitz I, the ''Stammlager'' or main camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp network. This block was used for executions and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

. Between Block 10 and Block 11 stood the "Death Wall" (reconstructed after the war) where thousands of prisoners were lined up for execution by firing squad.Block No. 11.
Jewish Virtual Library The block contained special

torture chamber A torture chamber is a room equipped, and sometimes specially constructed, for the infliction of torture.

s in which various punishments were applied to prisoners. Some could include being locked in a dark chamber for several days or being forced to stand in one of four standing cells called "Stehzelle" in German.Auschwitz-Birkenau - Punishments and executions.
Auschwitz.org Punishment in these special compartments (one

square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

each, with a hole 5x5 cm for breathing), consisted of confining four prisoners, who were forced by the lack of space to remain standing all night for up to twenty nights, while still being forced to work during the day. It was at Block 11 that the first attempts to kill people with

Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consists of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...

were implemented in September 1941.

Interrogations

Prisoner interrogations involving extreme torture were also conducted within Block 11, often with use of the " Boger Swing" device, (''Boger-Schaukel'') invented by Wilhelm Boger, an SS officer who served within Auschwitz's Political Department.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 50.0251, N, 19.2035, E, source:wikidata, display=title Auschwitz concentration camp