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Page 408 AUSCHWITZ:
                        Technique and Operation
                            of the Gas Chambers ©
 
 
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2. The roofs of the buildings   3. The eight-muffle furnaces  
   
KONRAD SEGNITZ of Beuthen
INDUSTRIE-BAU AG of Bielitz
 
TOPF & SONS of Erfurt
JOSEF KLUGE of Alt-Gleiwitz
(RIEDEL & SON of Bielitz) 
The roof of Krematorium IV was designed by Konrad Segnitz (drawing 1361), who also drew up timber lists for the materials required [Photo H] and performed certain static calculations [Photos I and J]. The roof frame was built, covered and finished with bituminous felt by Industrie-Bau AG [Photos K and L] between 4th January and 8th March 1943.
The roof of Krematorium V was a mirror image of that of Krematorium IV, so all that was needed was to invert Segnitz drawing 1361. This roof was probably also built by Industrie-Bau AG, but we have no documents to prove it.   
The two eight-muffle furnaces were built under the supervision of a Topf & Sons foreman, Willi KOCH, who carried out the final adjustments. For a financial consideration, he wrote and sent orders to the Auschwitz DAW metalworking shop for Krematorium IV (on 23rd and 27th February and 8th April 1943) and for Krematorium V (on 9th and 10th March and 8th April 1943). However, the details of the work carried out by Willi Koch and his weekly summaries of work done on the furnaces of Krematorien IV and V have not been found. Messrs Josef Kluge appear to have been responsible for most of the work of building the furnaces: from 1st February to 10th March 1943 for that of Kr IV and from 30th January to 25th May 1943 for that of Kr V [Photo M]. During the building of the Krematorium V furnace, Kluge received the assistance of 3 or 4 bricklayers from Riedel & Son from 19th March to 10th April 1943.  


4. The chimneys    
   
ROBERT KOEHLER
[also sometimes spelt Köhlerof Myslowitz] 
 
The foundations for the chimneys were probably built by Huta at the end of October 1942 for Krematorium IV and the end of November 1942 for Krematorium V. The four chimneys proper were then built by Robert Koehler according to the drawings and calculations made by Huta. Koehler worked on the chimneys of Krematorium IV from 31st January to 27th February 1943 [Photo N]. There are no documents to indicate the dates for the chimneys of Krematorium V.    

Photo H

  Photo H
[PMO file BW 30/26, page, 59]  
 
     
  Letter of 24th December 1942 from Konrad Segnitz to the Bauleitung concerning the part of the roof over the furnace room and its annexes of the future Krematorium IV.    
 
AUSCHWITZ:
Technique and operation
of the gas chambers

Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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