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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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Page 379 |
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PART TWO
CHAPTER 7 |
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KREMATORIEN IV AND V
Plans, construction and general
study |
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General history of Birkenau Krematorien
IV and V,
covering their design, construction,
limited
utilization and destruction. |
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KLG Birkenau Krematorien IV and V
(Bauwerke 30b and 30e) |
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Unless and until further evidence is discovered,
Krematorien IV and V [Document 1] will continue to be the
least known of the instruments of extermination at
Birkenau.
Until 1980, it was very easy to summarize the
little that was known about their history. Krematorium IV entered
service on 22nd March 1943 and operated until 7th October 1944, the
date of the Sonderkommando revolt, when it was set on fire.
Krematorium V, handed over to the camp administration on 4th April
1943, operated until 17th-18th January 1945, the night during which
the evacuation of Auschwitz II [Birkenau] began, and the SS
dynamited the building a few nights later. Yet key dates, found in
the publications of the Auschwitz Museum, did not stop certain
people from still believing in 1980 that these installations had
worked continuously from 1940 to 1945.
The history of
Krematorien IV and V, mirror image buildings, is considered from
four aspects: design, construction, operation and duration of
activity (from which the number of cremations can be estimated).
In 1980, the dates given above brought the answer to one aspect of
this history: the duration of activity. In addition, it was thought
that their operation was perfectly well known. But a certain
neophyte researcher could not help noticing that the operation of
Krematorien IV and V was illogical to the point of absurdity, which
led him to doubt the validity of the events described.
Our
knowledge of the history of these two installations now having
progressed somewhat, it is possible to be quite certain about the
design and construction aspects. The knowledge acquired
regarding their construction helps to explain their operation,
though certain points remain obscure. As for the duration of
activity, all the previous certainty has been swept away, but for
lack of original documents it is not possible to be precise, apart
from certain limits that can be seen. One might have thought that
regarding this aspect the recollections of former prisoners and SS
would have been decisive and made up for the lack of documentation,
but unfortunately a comparison of such testimonies reveals
inconsistencies: |
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| 1.- |
Rudolf Hoess. former Camp Commandant, reports that: |
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“Number III [Kr IV] failed completely after a short
time [in 1943] and later ceased to be used altogether. Number IV
[Kr V] had to be repeatedly shut down, since after its fires had
been burning for from four to six weeks, the ovens or the chimneys
burnt out.” |
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In Hoess’ opinion, these installations were little used and were
soon abandoned, irreparably damaged. However, it would appear that
Hoess was in error, for while Kr IV was closed down because its
chimneys and/or furnaces were burnt out, Kr V, of exactly the same
structure as IV, suffered damage that could be repaired, but could
subsequently be operated only sporadically and in
moderation. |
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| 2.- |
Pery Broad, a former member of the Political Section of the
camp, while rightly stating that: |
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“Even before the construction of all four Krematorien
had been completed [Kr III was still not completed in May 1943],
the chimney of Krematorium I [II], which had recently entered
service, split as the result of overloading and had to be
repaired.” |
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goes on to say that: |
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“In the spring [should be summer] of1944,.. The four
Krematorien were operating at full capacity, but very soon, as the
result of continuous overloading, the furnaces were damaged and
only Krematorium III [IV] was still smoking.” |
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Thus Broad states that in, most probably, summer 1944, while
Krematorien II, III and V were damaged and shut down, only
Krematorium IV valiantly stood up to the continuous overloading,
which is completely wrong. The episode he is relating took
place in the summer of 1943 (a year earlier!), when Kr II had
to be shut down with a damaged chimney, IV was completely out of
service and V had its furnaces and/or chimneys [half] burnt out.
Only Kr III, handed over for use on 25th June 1943, was
operating. |
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| 3.- |
Dow Paisikovic, a former prisoner, in his deposition of 17th
October 1963 [CDJC CCCLXI-370], states that having arrived in the
Birkenau camp in May 1944 and being incorporated in the
Sonderkommando, he first worked at Bunker V [2], then in Krematorium
I [II] or II [III]. He reports that a, group of 100 Sonderkommando
prisoners were detached and taken to Krematorium III [IV]. Despite a
twice repeated error regarding the number of the Krematorium that
was operating in May-June 1944, for the open air cremation ditches
were behind Krematorium V, not next to Krematorium IV, his
deposition confirms that as of that date, only one of Krematorien IV
and V was working (and hence that the other was not used). In
contradiction to his earlier statements, he goes on to say that so
far as he knew, no Krematorium had the slightest breakdown and they
always worked perfectly. |
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| 4.- |
Filip Müller, another former prisoner, relates in “Trois
ans dans une chambre à gaz à Auschwitz” that, probably at
the beginning of May 1944, there was a complete overhaul of the four
Krematorien in preparation for the “Hungarian action” noting that
six chimneys were checked (one each in Kr II and III and two each in
Kr IV and V), four undressing rooms repainted (one in each
Krematorium) and eight gas chambers repainted (one each in Kr II and
III and three each in Kr IV and V). According to him, the four
Krematorien were still working. The repair and maintenance work
was carried out by shutting down each of them in turn. Then, as his
account continues, he adds that in summer 1944, at the height of the
Hungarian extermination, they were using five gas chambers
(one each in Kr II and III and three in Kr IV) and the thirty
eight furnaces [muffles] (fifteen each in Kr II and III and
eight in Kr IV) of Krematorien II, III and IV.
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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