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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © |
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Page 126 |
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| Document C1a |
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Document C1b
[PMO
File BW 11/5 page 3] |
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| Like all human testimony, these accounts
frequently contain unlikely affirmations, and a critical comparison, for
example on the equipment of the gas chamber, gives contradictory
results. |
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| 1. |
ALTER
FAJNZYLBERG affirms that an incineration muffle in one of the three
furnaces (the mouth opening was 0.60 x 0.60m, and the internal dimensions 0.70
x 0.70 x 2.10m, or 1.029m3 according to Topf drawing D57253) could
“swallow” TWELVE bodies at a time (which is mathematically possible,
but not practically), but that normally five were “fitted in”. The
latter figure is closer to reality which was on average three (normal adult)
bodies at a time. The witness clearly gave way here to the general tendency to
exaggerate at that time (in the years 1945–50). His description of the
equipment of Krematorium I is valid (though the building had been converted
into an air raid shelter and the furnaces had been removed), except for its
length (50m) and the dimensions given to its gas chamber: 30 x 5m (150m²)
instead of 17 x 46m (78.2m²). This error in estimation is more than
excusable, in particular as the PMO, in a note to his figures [30 x 5m],
indicates the following dimensions: 17.00 x 4.50m giving a floor area of
65m² [!], an area regularly reproduced in the early histories of the camp,
but not corresponding to the facts. What is remarkable n his new declaration in
September 1980 is that the witness repeats exactly the same dimensions as he
did in April 1945, a proof of the sincerity and authenticity of his
statements. |
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| 2. |
FILIP
MÜLLER wrote that in May 1942 (the date of his arrival at the camp,
page 23), the chimney of Krematorium I was of circular section (p. 37) [an
initial state confirmed verbally to the author in 1981 by a former prisoner.
Mrs. Hertig, No. 68919, who lived in the town of Auschwitz before being
interned in the camp]. The Topf |
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique and operation
of the gas
chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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