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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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| Comments on Drawing 2036(r.b) |
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2036(r.b) was found by the Russians in 1945 in the files
of the camp administration (manuscript note “Verwaltung /
administration” upper left). As the figures in the identification
block were difficult to read, somebody inked them over and made two
mistakes: 2030 instead of 2036 for the drawing number and 11.4.43
instead of 11.1.43 for the date.
This is the simplest
known version of 2036. It does not show the sewer pipes,
water supply system or electric lighting. However, it seems to have
been used during the construction of Krematorium V, for there is a
pencil line extending the right hand side of the roof on Section
C-D, representing the roof over the coke store, an arrangement
applying to Krematorium V only.
Despite the apparently good
quality of the photograph, it is too light, which makes it only just
possible to see that two inscriptions have been scratched out and
replaced by hand written ones. There are also two additional hand
written inscriptions. These four changes are to be found: above and
below “Kohle”; below “Arztzimmer”; beside the westernmost window of
the north elevation. Who made these changes: the Germans in 1943 or
the Russians after the Liberation? The only one legible, above
“Kohle” reads “Haarzuber”, meaning “hair tub”. In the author’s
opinion, this should be “Haarstube / Hair room”, i.e. the place
where the hair shorn from the gassed victims was stored. That under
“Arztzimmer” is scarcely perceptible. The corrections in “Kohle” and
“Arztzimmer” would appear to have been made after the war by a
member of the Soviet Commission or a Sonderkommando survivor. The
other two additions, which cannot be deciphered, are in gothic
script, unlike the first two. The corrections correspond to a
modification in the function of the rooms, pointed out by somebody
who had lived in the Krematorium when it was in service. These
additions concern changes made in the building after completion and
confirmed by contemporary photographs. The window was filled in: two
openings were made in the end of the coke store through which new
deliveries were poured. Historically, the two corrections cannot be
exploited and the two additions are already known through SS photos
of the Krematorium.
The interest of this drawing lies in the
modification in the number of openings illuminating the western
corridor. There were two initially, then a third was added (visible
on the ground floor plan). Then they were all filled in, as can be
seen on the north elevation. Of the seven small external windows
visible on Drawing 2036(p), there remain only five. However,
if they are considered to be not windows to illuminate the interior
but openings for the introduction of Zyklon-B (the two rooms in this
western part being gas chambers), it appears that each of the two
rooms had THREE such openings (three opening on the exterior in the
westernmost room, two on the exterior and one on the corridor in the
other room).
Drawing 2036(r.b) shows that
Krematorium IV (and hence V) underwent several modifications,
especially in the western part. Drawing 2036 was not immutable
and the different prints, all bearing the same number, are proof
that there was some evolution. After undergoing changes, the total
number of openings in the western part was SIX, and the initial
orders were for SIX gastight windows, thus proving that ONLY THE TWO
WESTERNMOST ROOMS (without the corridor) were intended to be used as
gas chambers, at least at this stage of the project.
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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