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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © |
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then this sum was further reduced to 110,519,22
RM, with a difference of 6,013.47 RM that was not acceptable to Hula [the
figures cried come from file BW 30/26]. Final settlement with Huta for
the work done on the two Krematorien dragged on in such an extent that on 29th
January 1944 [BW 30/32A, page 1] the firm had still received only
100,000 RM for Krematorium II (the outstanding balance being 19,007.23 RM) and
90,000 RM for Krematorium III (balance 26,532 69 RM) As at that date, the
Bauleitung owed Huta a total of almost 200,000 RM (equivalent to the price of
Krematorium IV!) for the balance on the Krematorien and sundry other invoices.
It was not easy to do business with the SS, even when supplying them with the
means to do excellent business with the Jews.
In order to combat the
typhus epidemic that was raging through the camp in August 1942, it was
necessary to eliminate the vector of the disease, lice. The most effective
delousing agent was Zyklon B, and without this product it would he impossible
to eradicate the disease. On the eve of the “Lagersperre” order,
authorization was received by radio to send a 5 ton truck [officially
classified as 4.5 tons and capable of carrying a payload of 4950 kg on the road
and 4100 kg off-road, and with a cubic capacity of approximately 20m³] to
Dessau, to the Zyklon-B production plant in order to collect “gas intended
for gassing the camp against the epidemic that has broken out”. On 29th
July, authorization was received for another truck to go to Dessau to load
“gas urgently required for disinfection”. These two trucks would have
brought back a maximum of 4,000 to 5,000 one kilogram cans of Zyklon B,
if this was the size chosen. On 26th August, Zyklon B was running out or
lacking, and a Renault truck (probably a 3.5-ton AHN) was sent to Dessau, this
time for “material for special treatment” . On 2nd October, while the
epidemic was still present, having reached a peak in September, the camp
required “material for the resettlement of Jews”. Finally, on 7th
January 1943, to keep control of the now endemic typhus, another truck was sent
to Dessau for “disinfection material”. These five movement
authorizations are the only ones in existence that mention this type of
transport. They reflect the two different utilizations of Zyklon B. But
in what proportion?
As we know the quantity of Zyklon B delivered, the
dose necessary to kill one thousand people (according to Camp Commandant Hoess)
and the number of people gassed during this period (obtained from the
“Calendar”) it is easy to determine the percentage used
for each purpose over the period of 22nd July to 26th August: 2 to 3% for
homicidal gassing and 97 to 98% for disinfestation purposes. This extremely
surprising distribution totally invalidates the interpretation and presentation
of these “authorizations” by the traditional historians who claim the
word “disinfection” was used to “camouflage” homicidal
gassings and that a gigantic massacre was going on, an argument supported by
the “shock” image of big trucks scurrying back and forth between
Auschwitz and Dessau, bringing back 5 tons of Zyklon B on each trip (a quantity
of 5,000 kg is enough to kill 1,250,000 people, more than the total number of
Jews sent to Auschwitz!).
The truth is that the SS used the
extermination of the Jews, about which their superiors had a general
knowledge, without being informed of the practical details, to hide the
terrible hygienic conditions in the camp, and to cover up their enormous
consumption of gas for disinfection purposes. If knowledge of the disastrous
state of affairs had reached Berlin, this would have had unfortunate
consequences for Hoess, who had recently for been congratulated by Himmler and
promoted in rank, and for his entourage. What did the Auschwitz SS care, in the
month of August 1942, about the twenty or thirty thousand Jews killed in the
seclusion of the Birkenwald forest at the cost of a hundred kilos of Zyklon B,
when their own lives were at risk and the very existence of the camp
threatened? It was necessary at all at all costs to stop the epidemic, which
led on the 29th August to the radical and extremely effective solution of
gassing all the sick or convalescing prisoners so as to get rid of both the
lice AND THEIR CARRIERS [“Hefte von Auschwitz 3”,
Kalendarium ... p.85]. So the SS made the Jews take the blame (the usual
practice) for the huge Zyklon B requirements, in order not to be accused of
incompetence in the running of the camp and lack of control over the conditions
obtaining there. However, this strategy was to have very long term effects
because of the duration of the epidemic and the discovery of the sad truth by
the higher authorities in September. That the SS should have worded two
transport authorizations in such a way that after the war they should become
crushing proof linking the Jews, their resettlement and special treatment with
hydrocyanic gas, together meaning death for those unable to work, becomes
something of a statistical miracle when we consider the proportions in which
the gas was used: 2 to 3% homicidal as against 97 or 98% disinfection. The
terms used in these authorizations, generally considered today to be
incriminating slips, were deliberately used by the SS in what was a desperate
period for them, when they were submerged by an epidemic and were trying to
escape responsibility for this scourge for which they were in fact at least
half responsible.
In this context of drastic disinfestation measures,
Hoess signed on 12th August 1942 a special order telling the SS to be careful
after the gassings taking place [Document 14], because of indisposition
caused by inhaling a very small amount of Zyklon B. This text, which previously
appeared to be damning proof of the existence of homicidal gas chambers can no
longer be accepted as such. The distribution of FORTY TWO copies of this order,
to all corners of the camp and to semi civilian enterprises is proof that there
was nothing whatever “secret” about it, and that on the contrary, the
gassings concerned the whole camp at this date. If the accident had occurred at
Bunker 1 or 2, hidden away in two small areas of the Birkenwald [Birch Wood],
the order might possibly have been worded similarly, but would have been sent
only to the medical service and the SS medical orderlies who actually used the
Zyklon B. The recommendations made in the order justify some of the
reservations expressed by R Faurisson regarding the handling of Zyklon B,
though we cannot accept his presentation of hydrocyanic acid gas, devastating
by definition, as being highly persistent. |
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Document 4
[PMO file BW 2/6, neg no 21135/4]
LAGEPLAN DES KRIEGSGEFANGENENLAGERS AUSCHWITZ OBER SCHLESIEN /
Situation plan of Auschwitz POW Camp, Upper Silesia
Sonderbauleitung für die Errichtung eines Kriegsgefangenenlager
der Waffen SS in Auschwitz OS /
Special Construction Management for the
erection of a Waffen SS prisoner of war camp in Auschwitz, Upper Silesia
Maßstab / Scale 1:2000
Gezeichnet / Drawn 5/1/42 by SS W Uhlmer
Geprüft / Checked 5/1/42 by SS Second Lieutenant (S) Walter Dejaco
Genehmigt / Approved 6/1/42 by SS Captain Bischoff |
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Translation of inscriptions: |
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Erläuterung /
Key |
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Unterkunftsgebäude / Accommodation block |
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Wirtschaftsgebäude / Administration building |
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Abortbaracke / WC
block |
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Waschbaracke /
Ablution block |
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Entlausungsgebäude / Delousing building |
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Leichenhalle / Corpse
hall |
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Verbrennungshalle /
Cremation hall |
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Reviergebäude /
Sick quarters |
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Vorrätebaracke /
Stores |
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[In the camp]
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Quarantäne Lager
/ Quarantine Camp |
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Erdamschüttung /
Earth embankment |
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Lager I / Camp I
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Lager II / Camp
II |
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Unterkunfte für
Wachtruppe / Accommodation for guards |
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique and operation
of the gas
chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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