The ''Jägerkaserne'' was the housing for old prisoners and the quarantine station for disinfecting and the destruction of vermin in clothes.

THE DE-LOUSING STATION

One day, when I had nothing better to do, I went for a walk through Terezín with my guide. We splashed aimlessly through the mud of the outskirts of Terezín when suddenly we saw an open gate: the de-lousing station. Our curiosity aroused, we went inside. The first thing we saw was several workers taking lice infested mattresses into the gas chamber. We turned to Doctor Antscherl, who willingly explained everything to us."Here," he said, "the mattresses are loaded up and taken to that gas chamber." We looked; one was open and one closed. One was jušt being filled, in the other the mattresses were being disinfected with Ventox."The mattresses," said Dr. Antscherl, "are left in this chamber for five hours at a temperature of 20 degrees C or twelve hours at a temperature of 5 degrees C. To maintain the temperature we have stoves that can be fired from the outside. Each chamber is about fifty to eighty cubic meters in volume. The gas is let in through special vents in the
door. All other operungs are carefully sealed to prevent the gas from escaping: '
"And what is this room for?""That is where we store the infested mattresses. I don't advise you to go in there: ' "And what are those buildings at the back for?""That's the boiler room. A local central heating system is being installed there." Since anything technical interests me, I thanked Dr. Antscherl and went to the next building with my guide. In the office we got hold of Mr. Porges, the engineer, and asked him to take us round and show us everything. We were not refused here either. He took us to the adjoining room. "This is the boiler room," he said. "Here we make the boílers, the pressure reductíon valves and the equipment to settle the salt in the water. We shall have to add blasting ventilators to that equipment standing at the back to speed up the burning of the fuel. The fuel will be coal dust, so heating won't be expensive. Three pipes will come out of the boiler, insulated by molded silicon blocks. One will lead to the Magdeburg kitchen, which is just being set up. The second will go into the next building, to a modern disinfection system and to the baths, which are also nearly finished. And the third will lead to the Kavalir barracks: "I have to make all the parts myself," Mr. Porges proudly continued, "and I often have to help with the construction as well. Everything should be ready by March 1, and I hope it will: ' We thanked the engineer and after successfully crossing the lake of mud in front of the building we returned home.

- nz (Petr Ginz)