The Auschwitz prisoners, like prisoners of any other German concentration camp, had their entire body hair cut and shaved during the admission procedure. This procedure was performed for hygienic reasons and to make it more difficult to escape. The Main SS Office of Economy and Administration ordered the prisoners’ hair to be stored and sold to German companies. They used the hair as an industrial raw material.
According to the hairdresser, the hair found was collected from hairdressing salons for the use of the army. Then it was used to make felt seals, used, among others, in in the production of submarines.
The Horrifying Reality Behind the Auschwitz Room of Hairs
The room was originally used as a storage space for the camp’s belongings, but after the war, it was discovered that the Nazis had been collecting the hair of prisoners as part of their grotesque experimentation and dehumanization efforts.
The prisoners, who were mostly Jewish, were told that their hair was being shaved for “hygiene purposes,” but in reality, it was being used to create textiles, such as blankets and carpets, for the Nazi army.
Maximizing the utilization
The hair of Jewish women murdered in the gas chambers has also been reprocessed. In the Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka extermination centers, women were being stripped of their hair.
After that they were brought into the gas chamber. Whereas in Auschwitz, the prisoners of the Sonderkommando cut the hair of the corpses.
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The hair obtained in this way was then disinfected, dried, packed in bags and sold to German companies. After that, it was the raw material for the production of fabrics and the felt.
At the Auschwitz Memorial, you can see a bale of hair and nearly two tons of hair from almost 40,000 people.
The special room where you can find the hair of the victims is in the block numer 4. Just remember, you cannot use photoflash lamps there.
