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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
by Jean-Claude Pressac
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In the context of the years 1945-1950,
one can understand the deliberate selection of such a reply by a concentration
camp commandant. But when 40 years later, historians, who should remain
dispassionate, and who have an obligation to remove all ambiguity regarding the
workings of the Struthof gas chamber, continue to reproduce Kramer’s first
deposition, without any explanation, then one has every right to question their
abilities and the historical value of their writings – especially if they
still mention the tourist prattle of crematorium guides about a
“vivisection” table and shower water for SS-men heated by the oven.
The French Military Justice possessed irrefutable evidence of the
existence and use of a gas chamber at Struthof, without even taking Joseph
Kramer’s statements into consideration, and relying solely on German
documents that had been seized. A daily report of building progress, signed on
3 August 1943 by the Chief of the K.L. Natzweiler Works Directorate, mentions
the word “Gasraum” three times and the word "Gaskammer" (gas chamber)
once. The weekly reports of the 14 and 21 August 1943 about the camp's overall
complement are particularly eloquent by their silence on the cause of death of
the 87 Jews. Moreover, SS-man Volkmar's note-book, which associates Professor
Hirt with the “Gas Blausaure” (gas from hydrocyanic acid), shows that
the camp’s entire staff was aware of the gassings.
In addition, to
the above, Josef Kramer, in a letter of 12 April 1943 to the Ahnenerbe states
that a 20m³ G-cell (“G-Zelle”) is ready: “dass die G-Zelle
hier fertiggestellt ist und einen Rauminhalt von 20m³ hat) (Beger trial,
special, volume I, page 112). There can be no doubt about the meaning ascribed
by Kramer after the war to “G-cell”. He really did mean a gas cell,
since the one in Struthof has a volume of exactly 20m³. Finally Professor
Hirt's letter of the 14 July 1943 to the Ahnenerbe is unequivocal: .The
material for the gassings (das Material zur Vergasung) …” All in all,
an unequivocal and devastating collection of documents.
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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
By Jean-Claude Pressac
|
Back |
Page 10 |
Forward |
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