Home Up One Level What's New? Q & A Short Essays Holocaust Denial Guest Book Donations Multimedia Links

The Holocaust History Project.
The Holocaust History Project.

The Holocaust and the Neo-Nazi Mythomania
© 1978, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
 
 
Previous Page Back  Contents  Contents Page 111 Home Page Home Page  Forward Next Page 
     
never saw a gas chamber (9). As a matter of fact, arriving at Auschwitz in January 1944 and attached to a small commando, "Raïsko," located a few kilometers distant from Auschwitz I and where certain phantasmagoric "research" in botany was carried on, he had the occasion to visit another commando, "Bielitz," as well as the camp of Auschwitz I; and he went once to Birkenau to take charge of a hundred prisoners attached to Raïsko.

We concede without the slightest difficulty that there were no gas chambers at Bielitz, nor at Auschwitz I (in January 1944). As for Birkenau, a few documents from German archives are amply sufficient to judge the value of Christophersen's declarations.

1. A Few Documents from Archives

If the easy transformation of a cellar of Block 11 of Auschwitz I or of two cottages in the middle of a wood at Birkenau into a gas chamber could be accomplished by the artisanry of the camp itself, the construction of a large complex of industrial nature, one part of which consisted of a crematory oven destined to burn up human corpses, could not be effected without the collaboration of specialists taken from outside of the camp personnel. The construction of the crematoriums I, II, III and IV at Birkenau was in fact entrusted to the firm Topf and Sons of Erfurt, long time specialists in the construction of crematoriums. Moreover, the fitting out of gas chambers of extraordinary dimensions and conceived for operating at an accelerated rate of speed necessitated ventilation equipment which was not at all common and for which the opinion of the chemists and technicians producing "Zyklon B" was important. The specialists of the company "Degesch," supplier of the Wehrmacht in "Zyklon B," those of the firm "Testa," their concessionary, and those of "Heerdtlinger," their sub contractor, were consulted. An abundant correspondance [sic] was exchanged between these companies. It exists and was gathered together at the time of the trial of the industrialists before the American Military Tribunal which took place at Nuremberg between October 1947 and April 1949.

Here, as an example, is what one reads about gas chambers at Auschwitz in the following three letters: on December 24, 1942, Heerdtlingler wrote Testa a letter which mentions "the installation of a gas chamber" ("...die Erstellung einer Begasungskammer") (8), following which the Degesch wrote on December 31, 1942, to Testa that it was a question of "the making up of chambers using cyanhydric acid" ("...die Bearbeitung der Blausäurekammern") (in the plural, GW) (17) and on January 2, 1943, the Testa answered Degesch concerning the "disinfection in the plants for gassing by cyanhydric acid" ("... Entwesung mit Blausäure dienende Begansungsanlagen") (17).
    
   

 
The Holocaust and the Neo-Nazi Mythomania
© 1978, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
Previous Page  Back Page 111 Forward  Next Page

   

Last modified: April 13, 2008
Technical/administrative contact: webmaster@holocaust-history.org