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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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| Drawing 2003 |
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It could possibly be argued that Dejaco, pressed for
time, left out the chute which was unimportant in this drawing, the
main purpose of which was to show the creation of a stairway from
the north yard of the Krematorium to the basements. But the ground
floor plan confirms the abolition of the chute, for a storeroom is
installed in its place. This drawing was made at a time when work on
Krematorium II was well advanced and the main structure was
completed, so only part of the modifications were actually realized
in the building. The stairway was built, as can still be seen in the
ruins, but the corpse chute was also built, no doubt because it was
already in place when drawing 2003 was made. At a later date, in
order to avoid the lower end of the chute interfering with the
passage of victims from Leichenkeller 2 to Leichenkeller 1, the
chute was enclosed behind a wooden wall.
Keeping the chute
meant that if necessary the Krematorium could easily return to being
a "normal" facility. By eliminating it completely, Dejaco clearly
revealed that the role of the building was no longer to cremate
people dying in the camp, but to cremate people dying on the spot.
During the trial of Walter Dejaco and Fritz Ertl, considered to be
the Krematorium architects, a trial held before the Vienna Assize
Court from 18th January to 10th March 1972, drawing 2003, which
formally accuses Dejaco, could have led to his being found guilty
(Dejaco alone). The main Bauleitung drawings of Krematorium II (932,
933, 934, 936, 980, 1301, 1311, 1173 1174 and 2197] were furnished
to the court by an envoy from the Warsaw-based Central Commission
foe research into Hitlerian crimes in Poland, Mr Stanislaw Kaniewski
at the 25th session on 1st March 1972. but they were studied for
only one hour between 11 and 12 o’clock), during which time there
was much quibbling about the size of the pillars supporting the
Leichenkeller roofs, which one witness claimed were hollow.
Drawing 2003, drawn by the hand of Dejaco himself, was not
even cited as such. The designated expert, incapable of
understanding these drawings, virtually admitted defeat. There was
no correct and detailed exploitation of this valuable historical
material. Needless to say. the case against the two accused was
dismissed for lack of evidence.
As it appears on drawing
2003, Krematorium II offered the following possibilities with
regard to large scale extermination: |
| 1. |
The victims arrived on foot or
were brought by truck to the north yard of the Krematorium. then
went down the steps to the basement and were directed to
Leichenkeller 2 where they undressed. Then, naked, they were pushed
into Leichenkeller 1, the door or doors closed on them, and they
were gassed.
However, some people, arriving at the bottom of
the steps in the vestibule at the junction between Leichenkeller 1
and 2, before going into Leichenkeller 1 might have been worried by
the disquieting aspect of the entrance to a room presented as a
shower room. If the doors were closed, they saw a wooden door with a
sizeable peephole and heavy bars to close it. If the doors were open
they would see a forest of pillars, some concrete, some in very
heavy wire mesh. The famous dummy showers, fixed to the ceiling,
would be virtually invisible from outside the room, being masked by
the reinforced concrete beams supporting the roof. Whatever they
saw, these people might have doubts about this “shower room” and
recoil, or even revolt, something the SS wanted to avoid at all
costs.
This would explain why, in the "War Refugee
Board" report on the extermination camps in Upper Silesia
[see Part III, Chapter 1] published in November 1944, the witnesses,
speaking of the earliest gassings in Krematorium II, stated that the
walls of Leichenkeller 1 were camouflaged to give the impression of
“a huge shower room”. |
| 2. |
The erection of a stable-type
hut, running north/south in the north yard of Krematorium II made it
possible to have the victims enter through the northern end, undress
and emerge naked from the southern end, a few meters from the steps
down to the basement, Going through the antechamber and vestibule,
they were directed straight into Leichenkeller 1, crowded in and
gassed. This was the route taken by the victims in the second half
of March 1943, while the new access stairway at the western end of
Leichenkeller 2 was being built.
In this scenario, which was
actually employed, the people emerging from the hut were naked,
upset and completely defenseless, incapable of any resistance. They
obeyed unconsciously, like a frightened herd of animals and the SS
treated them as such. There was no possibility of any revolt. |
| 3. |
By reversing the direction in
which the double doors of Leichenkeller 2 opened and making the
undressing hut a permanent fixture, there was another possibility.
which in the author’s opinion must have been considered by the SS.
This was using Leichenkeller 1 and 2 alternately as gas chambers
(both of them having ventilation and air extraction systems), This
was the method planned in January 1943 for the gas chambers of
Krematorien IV and V. However, the incineration capacity of the five
three muffle furnaces of Krematorium II was not great enough to
handle the number of corpses that would have resulted from this
system, and it was never used. |
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| Lastly, is should be noted that there is a design
fault in this drawing: when the double doors of Leichenkeller 1 are
opened, the right hand one interferes with the lower door of the
lift. This is no doubt one of the reasons why the double doors of
Leichenkeller 1 were converted to a single one opening to the left.
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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