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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
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Photo 11 |
Photo 11
[Photo 153 of “l’Album
d’Auschwitz” by Serge Klarsfeld] |
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Contrary to what the author stated in “L’Album
d’Auschwitz” (Seuil), photos 97, 98 and 99 of that work were
not set in B.III along the effects huts, but on the Ringstraße,
between the three administration huts of Kanada II and the Zentral
Sauna. In May-June 1944, this column of Hungarian Jewish women
selected as fit for work was marching north and was going to pass
between Kremtatorien IV and V In the direction of the entrance to
B.IIc (Hungarian women's camp) their prohahle destination. The
position of these women is shown as point 9 on the plan of Birkenau
(next Sheet). Photo 11, looking northeast was taken by an SS
photographer standing with his back to the Zentral Sauna while the
column of prisoners was passing the entrance to the northern
Effektenlagerstraße (Effects camp road) of Kanada II.
The error in pinpointing this photo and the two others
in the series was due to the form of the huts in the background.
This type of hut was to he found only in B.Ia and B.III, while B.II
and Kanada II were equipped almost exclusively with the “stable”
huts. On the basis of this difference, the author had concluded that
the three photos must have been taken in B.III. However, Photo 12
shows that the three huts of the westernmost row of Kanada II were
of a different model from the "stable" huts of the rest of Kanada.
Furthermore, in the original attempt to situate the photograph, the
position of the sun had not been taken into account in determining
the orientation. While it is difficult to assess on this particular
photo, the lighting on the two others then leaves no room for
doubt.
Above the roof of the hut on the left are the two
chimneys of Krematorium IV, with soot on their southern faces, no
smoke emerging because the furnace had been out of order since May
1943. More than a year after Krematorium IV entered service, the
size of the soot stains on its chimneys was still the same as on the
photo taken in April 1943, another indication that the Krematorium
cannot have worked for very long. |
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| Photo 12 |
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Photo 12
[PMO
neg. no. 20995/445] |
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Birkenau sewage treatment
plant 11(Kläranlage II) was between Krematorium III (to the south)
and Kanada II (to the north). It comprised in particular five
sedimentation basins numbered I to V from east to west. This photo
was taken during the construction of basin IV, looking north, no
doubt In summer 1943. It shows the first four rows of huts of Kanada
II, the first row being different from the others, which are all
“stable” type, a fact that is not very evident from the Bauleitung
plans of Birkenau. In the background, between the second and third
rows, part of the south wall of Krematorium IV, the section housing
the undressing room/morgue, can be seen. Between its two chimneys
appears one of Krematorium V. The distance between SS Sergeant
Kamann and Krematorien IV and V was 320 m and 440 m respectively. As
usual, neither Krematorium IV nor V was working, for not the
slightest whistp of smoke can be seen escaping from their chimneys,
which confirms that Krematorium IV was no longer used after May 1943
because it had suffered serious damage, and that Krematorium V was
used very little if at all between the middle of 1943 and May-June
1944. |
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Photo 13 |
Photo
13
[Photo 184 of “l’Album
d’Auschwitz”by Serge Klarsfeld |
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Photograph of the storage of
victims’ shoes taken in the middle of Kanada II in May-June 1944.
The SS photographer had left the north Effektenlagenstraße and
advanced a few meters between two of the “stable” huts of the north
row (probably between 6 and 7), the huts being numbered 1 to 10
(from west to east) and taken the photo looking nortthwest. The
point where he was standing is point 13 on the plan of Birkenau
(next Sheet).
Above the ridge of the “stable” hut it is
possible to see the tops of the two chimneys of Krematorium IV (on
the left) and one of Krematorium V (on the right). There is no smoke
coming from any of them, of course. However, the background is full
of smoke, especially on the right, to the extent that the outlines
of the chimneys are somewhat indistinct.
The absence of smoke
from the chimneys is easily explicable. Krematorium IV had been shut
down since May 1943, despite an unsuccessful attempt to repair it in
April 1944. The furnace of Krematorium V, also repaired in April
1944, had proved so unsatisfactory that open-air cremation ditches
had been dug not far from its northwest comer. The smoke on the
photo comes from bodies being cremated in one or more of these
ditches, The prevailing wind being from the north, the smoke blew
towards Kanada II, as corroborated by this photo.
In the
author’s opinion, this photograph is one more piece of incriminating
evidence regarding the extermination of the Hungarian Jews in
May-June 1944, for it contains two criminal elements: the direct
evidence of the mountain of shoes that cannot be rationally
explained without extermination, and the indirect evidence of the
smoke coming from the bodies of Jews found unfit for work being
cremated in the ditches behind Krematorium V. |
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AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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