[kgeist]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_stove

"As well as warming and cooking, Russian stoves were used for bathing. Once the stove became hot the burning wood was removed, and cast iron containers were put into the stove and filled with water. That allowed people to bathe inside of the stove. A grown man can easily fit inside, and during World War II some people escaped the Nazis by hiding in the stoves."

[aasasd]

Okay, but can I get a schematic of how that's supposed to work? The opening on the pechka is on the side—what, you slide inside like in an MRI and then somehow chuck water onto yourself?

Pretty sure just filling a proper wooden tub with the hot water is a lot simpler.

For the context, back in my childhood I spent several summers in a house with a pechka (it's still there), and visited a couple others. Those could only fit a child at best, but the principle is the same: you shove the pots from the side into the tunnel above the fire.

[vbezhenar]

https://youtu.be/pUHApERY0G8

[aasasd]

Thanks! This is very illustrative, just like I wanted. (Was too lazy to search myself, of course.)

As expected, it's pretty tight in there. I know that rural people of old were much more fit than I am, and I would get cramps in several muscles of each leg and in my sides after three minutes in there.

[vbezhenar]

I guess that tall people could build bigger ovens for themselves. Also oven usually has some extra space inside, so it's not as tight as it looks. But yeah, of course it's not something one would do other than of necessity.

[sushid]

Thank you! So it's like a warm sponge bath.

[macleginn]

> Pretty sure just filling a proper wooden tub with the hot water is a lot simpler.

Water in a tub gets cold pretty quickly; vessels with water inside a stove keep warm for much longer.

Old school Russian stoves have been hard to find in Russian villages now because they are too big and impractical, but a proper article, like one shown here https://zen.yandex.ru/media/1banya/kak-mylis-v-russkoi-pechi... , can easily fit a grown person.

[eastbound]

> escaped the Nazis by hiding in the stoves

If I understand, the iron containers myst have been extremely hot, how do you walk in? Did the nazis dismiss the possibility of hiding there because it was already hot like an oven?

[aasasd]

I'm guessing people were hiding in cold stoves.