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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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The civilian firms who participated in
the
construction of Krematorien IV and V |
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| 1. |
The shells of the buildings
HUTA of Kattowitz
RIEDEL & SON of
Bielitz |
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It must be pointed out that in the Huta files the
Krematorien are sometimes given the “usual” designation and
sometimes the official Bauleitung designation, which can lead to
confusion and gives rise to some doubt concerning the dates taken
from the timesheets of their site foreman Kolbe, who generally used
the “usual” designation. It would appear that the “usual” numbering
[I, II, III, IV] was prevalent until early 1943 and that the
Bauleitung numbering [II, III, IV, V ] was not generally accepted
until right at the end of the construction phase. To further
complicate the issue, the Bauleitung wanted contractors to use the
worksite numbers [BW 30, 30a, 30b and 30c]. Certain differences of
one or two days in the dates of starting and finishing and the
duration of some jobs are due to the counting of Sundays in weekly
and monthly reports as against the daily timesheets.
Huta produced the static calculations and drawings for
the four chimneys of the two Krematorien [Photos A, B and
C].
The firm began work on Krematorium IV [worksite BW
30b] on 23rd September 1942 [Photo D] and continued, apart
from the Christmas holiday period, until 23rd January 1943, when
Riedel & Son took over responsibility for this worksite and
continued [Photo E] until 18th-20th March. Huta nevertheless
continued to do some work on the site from 25th January to 23rd
February. Krematorium IV was officially handed over to the camp
administration on 22nd March 1943. Huta fitted the window
bars between 24th April and 8th May 1943.
Huta started work
on Krematorium V on 15th-16th November 1942 [Photo F] and
continued, apart from the Christmas holiday period, until 23rd
January 1943. Riedel & Son took over this worksite BW 30c, on
7th February and continued working there until 17th April, though
Krematorium V was officially handed over to the camp administration
on 4th April 1943. Huta finished off the job, fitting the
"gas-tight doors" and window bars between 12th and 22nd April 1943
[Photo G].
The Bauleitung orders for materials sent to
its materials administration [PMO file BW 30/35, containing the
orders from 16th October 1942 to 13th January 1943] confirm the
starting date for the construction of Krematorium V and show the
number of bricks used .
Order 9626 of 29th October 1942
states that the materials are for the [foundations of] the
Krematorium IV chimneys.
Order 9650 of 18th November
1942 is again for the [foundations of] the chimneys of
Krematorium IV and V, commenced on 15th-16th of this
month.
The walls of Krematorien IV and V were built in
mid-december 1942, following orders for bricks placed on 9th
December:
Order 9680 for 70,000 bricks for Krematorium
IV;
Order 9681 for 120,000 bricks for Krematorium V;
Order
9682 for 100,000 additional bricks for Krematorium IV;
making a total of 290,000 bricks for the two
Krematorien. |
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Photo A [PMO file
BW30/40, page53]
First page of the 12 pages of static
calculations for the chimneys of Krematorium IV, here marked III
according to the "usual" numbering. The worksite was BW 30b, not 30.
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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