|
|
 |
 |
AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and Operation
of
the Gas Chambers © | |
|
| |
 |
Back |
 |
Contents |
Page 447 |
|
Home
Page |
Forward |
 |
| |
| 20. |
Gas[s]dichtenfenster
versetzen [2nd mention] fit gas-tight
windows
[File BW 30/38, page 61] |
[Photos 26, 27, 28]
|
| |
|
|
| |
File BW30/38 contains
81 pages that can he separated into two parts. The first pages 1 to
42, contains the timesheets of the HUTA foreman Kolbe for the
construction of the shells of Krematorien III[IV] and
IV[V] from 9th November 1942 to 23rd January 1943,
then Krematorium II[III] from 25th January to 21st February 1943.
The second, pages 43 to 81, summarizes the continuation of this work
until completion of Krematorien IV and V, from 23rd January
to 10th April 1943. The initial timesheets show work carried out by
Huta and are signed by foreman Kolbe and countersigned by the SS in
charge of the worksite. The recapitulatory part, however, is in the
form of a book of handwritten sheets, written in green ink (pages 44
to 75), and does not contain the name of either the firm or the
author. Its text reproduces exactly that of the RIEDEL & SON
“Tageberichten”, supplemented by progress reports on the
construction of the chimneys by Messrs KOEHLFR (established by
comparison with file BW 30/28. This notebook, of unknown
origin and authorship, has to be authenticated, as it could have
been written after the liberation of the camp.
It is
necessary to prove that the notebook itself is of the period and
that the text is not simply a straight copy of known documents. The
paper itself was printed in 1935, as at the foot of one page in four
there is the inscription “G.4 Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei Kassel (
1935) DinA4 doppelt“ [Photo 29] This type of sheet may have
been common and used by anybody. In 1945, the French military legal
service were trying to prove the existence of a gas chamber in KL
Natzweiler (the concentration camp at Struthof), and found a
construction diary for the period 20th May 28th August 1943
[Photo 26] containing a page [Photo 27], dated 3rd
August and signed by SS Second Lieutenant Heider, head of the camp
Bauleilung, recording work carried out in a gas chamber and
mentioning “Gasraum” three times and “Gaskammer” once. A
photographic reproduction of this page, undoubtedly damning
evidence, was presented in the album “CAMP DE CONCENTRACION
STRUTHOF”, published by the office of Captain Jadin,
examining judge to the military Tribunal of the Xth Region at
Strasbourg. The greater part of this work, which is no longer
obtainable. was republished, with the addition of documents and
comments in March 1985 in order to remove any ambiguity concerning
the operation of this gas chamber (“L’ALBUM DU
STRUTHOF”, Introduction and notes by Jean-Claude Pressac,
The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation). This page has at the bottom the
same inscription as is found on those of the recapitulalory notebook
of file BW 30/38, which indicates that the “Construction Management”
of concentration camps such as Auschwitzand Natzweiler used this
type of paper. As for the text of BW 30/38, there are differences as
compared with BW 30/28. In addition no the work carried out by
Riedel, there is that done by Koehler, and on the days when the
latter is at work, the labor figures are higher than those shown on
the Riedel timesheets and correspond to the total persons employed
by the two firms. However, as file BW s30/28 also contains the
“Tagelohn Zettel / daily timesheets” for Messrs Koehler, showing the
number of people engaged and the work carried out, written in
exactly the same way as as those mentioned in the notebook of BW
30/38, it might be thought that simply we simply have a copy with no
original value. This assumption is not so justified as it appears,
however, for the author of the notebook had to add up the labor
figures, and recorded only the major details of the work carried out
by KoehIer. There is a clear difference in the case of the
electrical work, for which there are no other descriptions in any of
the files BW 30/25 to 30/43 conserved in the PMO Archives (compare
Photos 22 and 28, where on the latter the labor figures have
been increased and the following additional text appears [lines
18-20]: “Stemmen und putzen bei Elektri[c]ker und bei Ofen Pflaster
legen / chase and plaster for the electricians and lay tiles by the
furnaces”). This establishes the authenticity of the
notebook.
The timesheet for 28th February 1943 reads
[lines 14 and 15 of Photo 28] Gas[s]dichtenfenster versetzen / fit
gas-tight windows". It should he noted that even the spelling
mistake, "Gass-" instead of "Gas-", has been copied. |
| |
|
|
| 21. |
betonieren im
Gas[s]kammer [2nd mention]
[File BW 30/38, pages 62
and 63] |
[Photos 29 and
30] |
| |
|
|
| |
The daily report for
2nd March 1943 reads [Photo 29 line 28 and Photo 30
line 1] “und Fußboden betonieren im Gas[s]kammer / and concrete
floor in gas chamber”. The same mistake is again copied.
|
| |
| 22. |
4 gasdichte Türe /
4 gas-tight doors
[Order No 226/80/17 of 18th January
1943 for Krematorium IV - NOT FOUND]
That there was
an order of 18th January for 4 gas-tight doors for Krematorium IV is
established by two documents that mention it: Order 109 [Photo
32] of 19th February of The "Schlosserei WL" file and the letter
of 31st March 1943 [Photos 33 and 34] of Annex 3 to Volume 11
of the Hoesse Trial. The original has not yet been
found.
This “phanthom” document is not “conclusive” proof of
the existence of homicidal gas chambers in Krematorium IV. but it
helps us to understand and establish how they were planned, built
and used.
Contrary to what I said in my article on “Les
Krematorien IV et V de Birkenau” in “Le Monde
Juif”, the three documents cited above [Photos 31, 32 and
33] together with Krermatorium drawings 1678 of 14th August 1942
and 2036 of 11th January 1943 enable us to state that KREMATORIEN
IV AND V WERE DESIGNED AS CRIMINAL INSTRUMENTS, though
modifications introduced in the course of their construction and
operation made their operating sequence absurd.
Krematorium
II was used criminally with two different operating sequences. For
one or two weeks (in March 1943 according o Henryk Tauber), victims
took the following route: external undressing hut in the north yard,
underground gas chamber [Leichentkeller 1] ground floor furnace
room.No room had been planned for the storage of corpses (though the
“Waschraum” on the ground floor was used for this purpose as a stop
gap measure). The gas chamber itself assumed this function, which
was that for which it was originally planned. Subsequently, after
the temporary but had been dismantled, the victims took the route
that was to become “conventional” for Krematorien II and III:
underground undressing room [Leichenkeller 2], underground gas
chamber[Leichenkeller 1] and the ground floor furnace room.
The Bauleitung produced only two drawings for Krematorium
IV, valid also for Krematorium V. Comparing these drawings with the
"Schlosserei WL" orders reveals the following evolution: |
| |
|
| |
· |
Preliminary project: based on
drawing 1678 of 14th August 1942, showing only the furnace room with
two twinned 4-muffle incineration furnaces and its associated rooms
on the eastern side, connected through a safety air lock to a large
gas chamber of undetermined length. I state that this incomplete
room is a gas chamber (and not a morgue, which by definition has to
he kept cool) in order to explain the presence of a stove and a
buffer air look between this room and the furnace room. The flue
from the stove runs underground to chimney of one of the twin
4-muffle furnaces. This incomplete preliminary project could have
been completed by an undressing room in the western part, so that
its functioning would have been in a straight line running west to
east. It was abandoned for unknown reasons that I would assume were
connected with the risk of accidental poisoning in the furnace room
during natural ventilation of the gas chamber. |
| |
|
|
| |
· |
First design: based on drawing
2036 of11th January 1943, the orders of 18th January and 19th March
1943 for FOUR gas-tight doors and that of 13th February 1943 for 12
gas-tight windows for BOTH Krematorien IV and V (SIX per
building).
The drawing shows than the two rooms on the
west Side are gas chambers, for they each have a stove and require,
to be made gas-tight, 4 doors (two per room) and 6
windows (3 per room), one being INSIDE the corridor giving
access to the chambers, unlike the five others that are on the
outside). The victims would take the route: gas chamber 1 OR gas
chamber 2, corridor, vestibule. morgue [central room) and furnace
room. This sequence is linear, thus LOGICAL.
In industrial
terms, 2 manufacturing units [gas chambers 1 and 2]
alternately supply a product [corpses] to be held in a store
[morgue] while waiting to be consumed [in the cremation furnaces].
In human terms, people walk in on their own two feet at the western
end of Krematorium IV and go out in the form of smoke from the
chimneys at the eastern end.
The position of the two gas
chambers and their corridor, at the western end, permits natural
ventilation without danger to the people working in the morgue or
the furnace room. But the building has no undressing room. The
victims have to get undressed outside. The Bauleitung could
alleviate this problem by erecting a “stable type” hut for this
purpose on the other side of the “Ringstraße / ring road” just
opposite Kr IV. |
| |
|
|
| |
· |
Second design: based on the
letter of 31st March 1943 and the testimony of S. Dragan with the
creation of a gas-light unit comprising the two gas chambers
AND the corridor. Three doors and six or seven windows
are required to make it gas-tight. By adding the possibility of
using the morgue as an undressing room, the following sequence is
obtained: entry through the vestibule, undressing room [central
room], vestibule, western unit of the two gas chambers and corridor,
vestibule, morgue [central room] and furnace room. The route is no
longer linear and the operating sequence has become totally
illogical, the argumenl I maintained in my article.
| |
| |
AUSCHWITZ:
Technique
and operation
of the gas chambers
Jean-Claude Pressac
© 1989, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
|
Back |
Page 447 |
Forward |
|
|
