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Sundry letters, notes
and telegrams exchanged between the
Auschwitz Bauleitung,
the Camp Commandant, the
WVHA-SS in Berlin and Messrs
Topf & Sons of
Erfurt on the subject of Krematorien
II and III.
Pages 1-5: Josef Kluge timesheets for work on
Krematorium III.
Pages 6-11: Robert Koehler
timesheets for the relining of the Krematorium II chimney.
Before 1980 it was this file that
contained most of the
incriminating evidence against the
SS regarding the
installation of homicidal gas chambers in
Krematorien II
and III ["Vergasungskeller / Gassing cellar"
"Gasdichte Tür / Gas-tight door,” etc.].
Additional proof is now available from other
sources. |
|
| BW 30/34A:
|
[For memory. File
containing 14 blueprints of Bauleitung
and Huta drawings
of the Birkenau Krematorien made
after the war for the
Soviet and Polish Commissions] |
|
| BW
30/35: |
103 pages.
Book
of Bauleitung orders to the materials administration
concerning the four Krematorien. Covers the period
from 12th October 1942 (Order No. 9613) to 13th
January 1943 (Order No. 9699). |
|
| BW
30/36: |
[Microfilm 1673] 105
pages.
Timesheets for work done by Huta on Krematorien III,
IV and V and by Industrie-Bau AG of Bielitz on
Krematorium IV.
The first two Huta reports (pages 1
and 2) are separate. They
are dated 5th and 6th October
1942 and concern
Krematorium II, making it possible to
estimate when
construction work started.
The other
Huta timesheets concern:
25th January to 27th February:
Krematorium III;
22nd March to 30th April: Krematorium V;
3rd to 8th May: Krematorium IV.
The Industrie-Bau
timesheets, dated 4th January to 8th March
1943, concern
BW 30b, Krematorium IV. |
|
| BW
30/37: |
[Microfilm 15871 115
pages.
Huta timesheets for work on the shell of Krematorium II, dated
from 17th November 1942 to 7th January 1943, concerning
the construction of Leichenkeller 1 and 2 and showing the
number of men employed and the hours worked per day.
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|
| BW 30/38:
|
81 pages
Huta
timesheets for work on Krematorien II, IV and V;
Riedel
& Son and Robert Koehler timesheets for work
on
Krematorien IV and V.
Pages 1-21: Huta work on Krematorien III and IV from
9th
November 1942 to 7th January 1943. Also Koehler
timesheets for the construction of chimneys, confirming
the
use of prison labor by this firm.
Pages 22-42:
Huta work on Krematorium 11 from 8th January
to 21st
February 1943.
Pages 43-81 comprise the "green ink" manuscript
recording
the work done by Riedel & Son and Robert
Koehler
(chimneys) on Krematorien IV and V from 23rd
January
to 10th April 1943.
This manuscript
corresponds exactly with and uses the same
terms as file
B W 30 / 28,but is not a slavish copy.
Reference is made
on 28th February to "Gassdichienfenster /
Gas-tight
shutter" and on 2nd March 1943 to "Gasskammer
/
Gas chamber" in Krematorium IV. |
|
| BW 30/39:
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75 pages
Timesheets for drainage work done by Messrs Karl Falck
of Gleiwitz for Krematorien II, III and IV. The order for
the work to be done on Krematorium II was signed by
the Bauleitung on 27th August 1942 (page 68). Work on
the three Krematorien proceeded as follows:
9th to
19th November 1942 and 13th January to 31st
March 1943:
work on Krematorium II:
1st April to 13th May 1943: Krematorium III;
26th to 31st May 1943: Krematorium IV. |
|
| BW
30/40: |
64 pages
Huta
static calculations for Krematorien II, III and IV.
These
calculations were made between 29th August
and 23rd
December 1942 for Krematorium II (and III)
and for
Krematorium IV, with supplementary calculations
for the
roof and chimneys. |
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| BW
30/41: |
52 pages
Timesheets filled in on a weekly basis by the Topf & Sons
foremen working on Krematorien II and III. Four Topf
employees worked on the construction of the furnaces
and the installation of the ventilation systems: Martin
Holick,
Willi (Wilhelm?) Koch, Messing and Seyffarth.
From 7th September 1942, Martin Holick and Willi Koch
worked on the foundations and underfloor flues of the
five 3-muffle furnaces of Krematorium II. Holick finished
on 13th October and Koch continued until 22nd November.
From 4th January to 11th June 1943, Messing worked on fitting
the furnace blowers and motors, the forced draught
installation
in the chimney of Krematorium II, the
ventilation systems of the
different rooms in the two
buildings, and their corpse lifts.
From 1st to 14th February 1943,
Seyffarth worked on the
furnace foundations and
underfloor flues of Krematorium III.
Messing's "diary" formally
proves that Messrs Topf were
wittingly involved in
converting the Leichenkelter 1 of
Krematorien II and III
into homicidal gas chambers.
Furthermore, as from mid-March 1943, Messing
referred
to the Leichenkcller 2 of these two Krematorien
as
"Auskleidekeller / undressing
cellars". |
|
| BW
30/42: |
2 pages
Letter of
28th June 1943 from the Auschwitz Bauleitung
to the
WVHA-SS in Berlin concerning the cremation
capacity of
the five Krematorien at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Photocopy transmitted on 15th
May 1981 to the Curator of
the Auschwitz Museum by the
Committee of Anti-Fascist
Resistants of the German
Democratic Republic.
Except for Krematorium 1, the figures given are
entirely
theoretical, obtained by calculation, then
increased by
about one third. |
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| BW 30/43:
|
34 pages
Documents communicated by the Moscow Prosecutor to
the Warsaw Central Commission for the investigation of
Hitlerian crimes in Poland for the trial of the
"Krematorium
architects", Walter Dejaco and
Fritz Ertl, held in Vienna at the
beginning of 1972.
This
file contains essentially the handover documents for
Krematorien II, III and IV. with the inventory drawings
of
Krematorien II and IV in annex.
Conserved in the
"October Revolution" Central State Archives
in
Moscow, these documents confirm the conversion of the
underground morgues into gas chambers and prove that
there
was a homicidal gas chamber in Leichenkeller I of
Krematorium
III.
In fact, the Moscow Prosecutor
communicated about sixty
documents to Warsaw, those not
being handed onto the
Auschwitz Museum being concerned
with the organization
of the Auschwitz Bauleitung, giving
the names and functions
of those in responsible
positions.
[56 of these documents were supplied to the author by the
Warsaw Central Commission under the reference II
839]. |
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| BW 30/44:
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[Microfilm 1612]
26 pages Patent for a "continuous corpse cremation furnace"
applied for on 4th November 1942 by Fritz Sander, a
Topf engineer, and a patent for "air-cooled grate plates
for
mechanical grate firing" applied for on 16th November
1942.
These documents were received by the Auschwitz Museum on
17th January 1985 and came from the Justice Ministry in
Bonn.
The patent applications have nothing to do with the
Birkenau
Krematorien but are very relevant to a study of the
firm of
Topf & Sons of Erfurt. |
|
| BW 30/45:
|
37 pages
Documents concerning Messrs Topf & Sons of Erfurt, and
the head of their Krematorium Division, the engineer Kurt
Prüfer. Conserved in the Weimar State Archives
(GDR). |
|
| BW
30/46: |
[Microfilm 1674] 23
pages
More documents concerning Messrs Topf & Sons of Erfurt.
Only part of these come from the Weimar State Archives.
There are some pages from the personal file of Kurt
Prüfer,
two Bauleitung letters concerning him (of
29th January and
12th February 1943, from file BW 30/34),
the first patent
application by Fritz Sander (of 26th
October 1942) for a
continuous corpse cremation furnace
[cf BW 30/44] and
extracts from the Topf balance sheet as
at 31st December
1941 drawn up by the accountant Dr
Zerban of Erfurt. |
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