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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
by Jean-Claude Pressac
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Page 12 |
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At the liberation, the water pouring
device was dismantled for the purpose of toxicological testing for traces of
cyanide. This was an habitual procedure. The Polish Judiciary did the same
thing, with a positive result, with metal components taken from the gas
chambers at Birkenau. The result at Struthof was negative, which was somewhat
embarrassing. With the benefit of hind-sight, and without criticizing a logical
procedure, we know that the funnel never contained anything but water, and that
the contact time with hydrocyanic acid was too brief to leave a mark in the
form of cyanide traces. Moreover, the gas chamber was saturated with phosgene
more often than witch HCN. Following analysis of the “pouring”
apparatus, the pipe was lost, while the funnel and tap were saved by the
Comité d'Histoire de la 2eme guerre mondiale (Second World War
Historical Committee), which offered them to the Musée de la
Résistance et de la Déportation de Franche-Comté
(Franche-Comté Museum of the Resistance and the Deportation) at La
Citadelle de Besançon, where they are still to be found.
As the
Allies approached, the SS doctors and professors started to panic. The
collection of Jewish skeletons at Strasbourg! What a loss for “racial
science” if it were to fall into enemy hands, or if it were to prove
necessary to destroy it. But Professor Hirt, the “owner” of the
collection, had forgotten to make it clear to Himmler’s Headquarters that
the work required to constitue the collection HAD NEVER BEEN DONE. As of
September 1944, the 86 corpses were still steeped in alcohol, COMPLETELY
FORGOTTEN. Pierre Henripierre stated quite succinctly: “Once the bodies
had been preserved and placed in vats, THEY REMAINED THERE FOR A YEAR WITHOUT
BEING DISTURBED BY ANYONE.”
Despite the growing threat to
Strasbourg, and the predictably disastrous consequences of discovery of the
bodies by the enemy, correspondence among various levels of the SS wasted
precious time before reaching the obvious decision that the bodies had to be
destroyed. It was too late. Too much work was involved in eradicating all the
traces (2). On the 15 November, the SS
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THE STRUTHOF
ALBUM STUDY OF THE
GASSING AT NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF
By Jean-Claude Pressac
|
Back |
Page 12 |
Forward |
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