Analysis of stabilisation method of gable walls of a barrack located at the section BI of the former KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau

¹ Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, 44-100 Gliwice, ul. Akademicka 5, Poland
² Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Master Plan for Preservation, ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20, 32-603 Oświęcim, Poland

^* Corresponding author: krzysztof.gromysz@polsl.pl

Abstract

The subject of the article is an analysis of the stabilisation method of the western gable walls of a barrack with the inventory number B-123, situated at the section BI of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The barracks of the former Birkenau have a documentary and historical value and are subject to protective conservation. A barrack with inv. no. B-123 had been erected in the last months of 1941 as a residential barrack, then it was used as a hospital facility. The barrack walls are characterised by low stiffness, because with the building’s plan of 36.17 m  11.39 m, the walls are only 0.12 m thick. Gable walls have been greatly deformed, as a result they have detached from longitudinal walls and their deflection is up to 120 mm. The construction of the walls is at risk, because a bad-quality wall is loaded with horizontal and vertical forces transmitted from the roof, on the eccentricity reaching 120 mm. Deformations are progressing as a consequence of such forces and the walls must be stabilised. In case of the western wall, it was decided to stop its further deformation and to increase the local carrying capacity by stabilising with steel elements connected with ties anchored in the ground. Given the historical value of the plasters with paint coats layers covering the wall, it was decided not to remove the wall deformation mechanically. For the eastern wall, which is not covered with plaster and was partly reconstructed after the war, the removal of its deflection by rectification was designed.