# What is this concrete structure/contraption photographed at a German concentration camp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243 "2017-07-27T05:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/1 "2017-07-27T05:59:49Z")
> **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/dLC5yys)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/sRDDqRP)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/N76HSSF)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/k1Yh3FG)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/V9CLZmt)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/dBTN2Jk)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB > **[VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/gJZrPTD)** > > Image VLUU L210 Samsung L210 hosted in ImgBB I took these pictures back in 2009 during a visit to a concentration camp near Berlin. This concrete thing confused the hell out of me, and I meant to post the pictures here to see if it could be identified. Yea… I’ve procrastinated a bit. Any idea? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/2 "2017-07-27T07:59:01Z")
OK, probably comes from being bitten by that geometric ball thread - are you sure it’s not a sculpture? ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/3 "2017-07-27T08:29:07Z")
A little time with a translation website… Zellengbau = cell construction Sondergefang = special captive (or similar) SS-Lager = SS camp/depot/warehouse Fuhrung = management/leader/guide So, until someone comes up who actually knows the answer :D, something like "Cell construction for special prisoners = (something) SS leaders and management. I dunno, though; it looks more like a base for a gun emplacement - the gun’s feet would slot into the socket. Was the sign on the triangular bit in the third photo? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/4 "2017-07-27T09:45:07Z")
The sign is a label for the nearby building (shown in the last picture). The sign is placed at the entrance of the building as an information label for tourists. I found a better picture online showing the plaque. [Nationalsozialismus: Judenverfolgung und Naziterror - [GEOLINO]](http://www.geo.de/reisen/community/bild/regular/165951/Zellenbau-im-KZ-Sachsenhausen.jpg) This is the Sachenhausen Camp Zellenbau. It was the the prison/punishment area for the camp. The concrete contraption is most certainly some kind of torture or punishment thing. I just can’t figure out how it works. This is just a guess, due to the fact that there are gallows, whipping posts, and other punishment fixtures inside of this small, walled compound within the camp. It definitely isn’t a sculpture. But while I can find pictures of how the other things were used as punishment, [such as here](https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/binary/XFS42QYIMH3OQ5PPANSBCLGWAMZB2B65/full/1.jpg) and [here](http://www.stiftung-bg.de/gums/en/ausstellungen/dauer/zellenbau/bilder/dauer2b_07.jpg), I can’t find anything with this thing being used. The triangular it in the third photo is a bit of a mystery as well. It’s some kind of ventilation thing for something underground. Possible to some gas chamber or something maybe, though the main chambers were on the far opposite side of the camp. So I don’t think it’s that. It’s some kind of vent though, I think. See here for a different angle. [https://farm9.static.flickr.com/8327/8104830506\_8a2be5fb3f\_b.jpg](https://farm9.static.flickr.com/8327/8104830506_8a2be5fb3f_b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/5 "2017-07-27T09:53:56Z")
A little more digging has revealed that the vent thing leads to a solitary confinement cell underground. That makes sense. Still nothing on that concrete thing, though. > **[Near the wooden pillories, is the solitary confinement cell....](https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/near-the-wooden-pillories-is-the-solitary-confinement-cell-news-photo/635219721)** > > Near the wooden pillories, is the solitary confinement cell. Prisoners were place underground in this cell as a form of punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/6 "2017-07-28T08:49:32Z")
I received a reply to an email sent to the Sachsenhausen Museum. The concrete thing is not a torture device as I previously believed, nor was the ventilation duct part of an underground solitary confinement cell. The concrete thing is a model of the SS air raid shelter that is beneath it, underground. The ventilation duct leads to that shelter. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/7 "2017-07-28T09:06:43Z")
So, a sculpture? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/8 "2017-07-28T09:16:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So, a sculpture? 😃 :o ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-concrete-structure-contraption-photographed-at-a-german-concentration-camp/792243/9 "2017-07-29T22:59:17Z")
It’s an altar. That Himmler guy was into all kinds of mystical weird occult shit.