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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
by Jean-Claude Pressac
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By taking in hand the basic material
exhibits of the Struthof Trial, it is possible to shed light on a number of
obscure points. The present study demonstrates that, despite the mist which
often shrouds the old camp of Struthof, the story is no longer an historical
enigma
The Struthof gas chamber, located outside the camp in a building
designated “Bauwerk 10” (building site 10) by the SS works
directorate, was originally a cold storage chamber, which explains its white
tiling. Blocks of ice were used to maintain a temperature sufficiently low for
the preservation of perishable foodstuffs.
Being relatively air-tight
like all cold storage chambers, it served as of April 1943 as a gas chamber for
training SS recruits, who would try out their gas masks in it while exposed to
tear-gas (in the French army, benzyl bromide is regularly used for this
purpose).
Because of this basic military training for the eventuality
of chemical warfare, when SS Professor Hirt of the “Anatomisches Institut
der Reichsuniversität” in Strasbourg asked Kramer to gas a group of
Jewish prisoners arriving from Auschwitz, Kramer immediately thought of the
training gas chamber, and of the work that would have to be done on it before
using the “hydrocyanic salts” provided by Hirt.
The
adaptation was completed between the 3 and 12 August 1943. All the details are
known. The wall of the chamber was perforated below and to the right of the
peep-hole. A metal pipe was passed through, with the inside end opening into a
small porcelain basin, and the outside end consisting of a 1.5 litre funnel
equipped with a tap for flow and safety control. According to a plan drawn up
when the camp was liberated, it seems that a protective housing was installed,
hiding the equipment from view.
Kramer proceeded as described in his
2nd deposition of the 6 December 1945. In fact, there was no other way to carry
out the operation. Water poured into the funnel flowed onto a substance
previously placed in the basin, triggering the release of hydrocyanic gas
("Gas Blausäure").
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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
By Jean-Claude Pressac
|
Back |
Page 6 |
Forward |
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