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The Holocaust and the Neo-Nazi Mythomania
© 1978, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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never saw a gas chamber (9). As a matter of fact, arriving at Auschwitz in January
1944 and attached to a small commando, "Raïsko," located a few kilometers
distant from Auschwitz I and where certain phantasmagoric "research" in botany
was carried on, he had the occasion to visit another commando, "Bielitz," as
well as the camp of Auschwitz I; and he went once to Birkenau to take charge of
a hundred prisoners attached to Raïsko.
We concede without the
slightest difficulty that there were no gas chambers at Bielitz, nor at
Auschwitz I (in January 1944). As for Birkenau, a few documents from German
archives are amply sufficient to judge the value of Christophersen's
declarations.
1. A Few Documents from Archives
If the
easy transformation of a cellar of Block 11 of Auschwitz I or of two cottages
in the middle of a wood at Birkenau into a gas chamber could be accomplished by
the artisanry of the camp itself, the construction of a large complex of
industrial nature, one part of which consisted of a crematory oven destined to
burn up human corpses, could not be effected without the collaboration of
specialists taken from outside of the camp personnel. The construction of the
crematoriums I, II, III and IV at Birkenau was in fact entrusted to the firm
Topf and Sons of Erfurt, long time specialists in the construction of
crematoriums. Moreover, the fitting out of gas chambers of extraordinary
dimensions and conceived for operating at an accelerated rate of speed
necessitated ventilation equipment which was not at all common and for which
the opinion of the chemists and technicians producing "Zyklon B" was important.
The specialists of the company "Degesch," supplier of the Wehrmacht in "Zyklon
B," those of the firm "Testa," their concessionary, and those of
"Heerdtlinger," their sub contractor, were consulted. An abundant
correspondance [sic] was exchanged between these companies. It exists and was
gathered together at the time of the trial of the industrialists before the
American Military Tribunal which took place at Nuremberg between October 1947
and April 1949.
Here, as an example, is what one reads about gas
chambers at Auschwitz in the following three letters: on December 24, 1942,
Heerdtlingler wrote Testa a letter which mentions "the installation of a gas
chamber" ("...die Erstellung einer Begasungskammer") (8), following which the Degesch wrote on
December 31, 1942, to Testa that it was a question of "the making up of
chambers using cyanhydric acid" ("...die Bearbeitung der
Blausäurekammern") (in the plural, GW) (17) and on January 2, 1943, the Testa answered Degesch
concerning the "disinfection in the plants for gassing by cyanhydric acid"
("... Entwesung mit Blausäure dienende Begansungsanlagen") (17).
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The Holocaust and the Neo-Nazi Mythomania
© 1978, The
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