renegadetribune--2020-07-29--The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents

The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents In the historical expert opinion drawn up for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel trial launched against her by David Irving ( January 11 to April 11 , 2000 ) , Robert Jan van Pelt , when he was unable to find any proof of the reality of the extermination of jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz , amassed all the available “ traces , ” most of them already gathered by J.-C. Pressac , raised them falsely to the higher level of “ proof , ” and later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ essentially based upon a systematic disfiguration of the documents .
Also , all documents that did not lend themselves to such an operation of disguise were simply ignored by him .
In his report , van Pelt accuses the revisionist historians of not yet having undertaken the task of “ revising history ” and adds : [ 1 ] “ True revisionist history not only destroys an inherited view of the past , but provides an alternative .
[ … ] Up to today holocaust deniers have been unable to produce , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the inherited history of Auschwitz.
” As far as I am personally concerned , I have for years been offering a “ counter-narrative ” in my writings , both in articles and in books , the latest of which – Special Treatment in Auschwitz – Origin and Meaning of a Term [ 2 ] – presents a positive and documented story of Auschwitz with respect to “ special treatment ” and to “ special action ” based on documents , which van Pelt either ignores or is unaware of .
And it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , be it in his report or in his recent book The Case for Auschwitz .
Evidence from the Irving Trial [ 3 ] ( which is an enlarged version of the report ) does not even quote me a single time !
In this study I shall present another positive contribution to the central topic of the Auschwitz In the historical expert opinion drawn up for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel trial launched against her by David Irving ( January 11 to April 11 , 2000 ) , Robert Jan van Pelt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any proof of the reality of the extermination of jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz , amassed all the available “ traces , ” most of them already gathered by J.-C. Pressac , raised them falsely to the higher level of “ proof , ” and later invented a “ convergence of evidence ” essentially based upon a systematic disfiguration of the documents .
Also , all documents that did not lend themselves to such an operation of disguise were simply ignored by him .
In his report , van Pelt accuses the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the task of “ revising history ” and adds : [ 1 ] “ True revisionist history not only destroys an inherited view of the past , but provides an alternative .
[ … ] Up to today holocaust deniers have been unable to produce , in forty years of effort , a counter-narrative to the inherited history of Auschwitz.
” As far as I am personally concerned , I have for years been offering a “ counter-narrative ” in my writings , both in articles and in books , the latest of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Origin and Meaning of a Term [ 2 ] – presents a positive and documented story of Auschwitz with respect to “ special treatment ” and to “ special action ” based on documents , which van Pelt either ignores or is unaware of .
And it is not an accident that van Pelt , be it in his report or in his recent book The Case for Auschwitz .
Evidence from the Irving Trial [ 3 ] ( which is an enlarged version of the report ) does not even quote me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I shall present another positive contribution to the central topic of the Auschwitz historiography : the alleged homicidal gas chambers of the crematoria at Birkenau .
It goes without saying that the rich documentation on which my conclusion is based has been systematically ignored by R.J. van Pelt .
I .
The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau within the Framework of “ special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations ” in Birkenau 1 .
Himmler ’ s visit to Auschwitz on July 17/18 , 1942 , and the new functions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occasion of his visit to Auschwitz on July 17 and 18 , 1942 , Himmler decided to enlarge the PoW camp Birkenau for a capacity of 200,000 detainees .
The Central Construction Office ( central construction office ) went into operation immediately and , on 3 August 1942 , its head , SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Bischoff , sent to Amt CV ( central building inspectorate ) of SS WVHA a new lay-out – a modification of lay-out Nr .
1453 of 8 July 1942 – which took into account the enlargement of the camp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s letter of transmittal referred explicitly to Himmler ’ s visit : [ 4 ] “ The enlargement of the project has been viewed by the Head of Amt C , SS-Brigadeführer und Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
[ doctor of engineering ] Kammler on the occasion of the visit by the Reichsführer [ i.e .
Himmler ] on July 17 and 18 , 1942 [ … ] .
” On August 15 , 1942 , the Central Construction Office drew up another “ Situation map of the PoW camp Auschwitz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strength of 200,000 detainees .
[ 5 ] On August 27 , Bischoff sent to Office C of the SS Main Office of Economic Administration ( Wirtschaftsverwaltungs-Hauptamt , WVHA ) a letter with attachment of a “ Situation map , M : 1:2000 , 2 copies , ” in which he confirmed : [ 6 ] “ The enclosed situation map takes into account the recently decided enlargement of the PoW camp towards a strength of 200,000 men.
” In the succeeding months , the strength of PoW camp Birkenau was reset at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reason for its enlargement remained unchanged .
On September 15 , 1942 , a meeting was in Berlin held between Reich minister Speer and SS Obergruppenführer Pohl , head of SS WVHA , in which another five officials took part , including SS Brigadeführer Kammler , head of Office C of SS WVHA .
The next day , Pohl wrote a detailed report of the meeting for Himmler .
The discussion had centered on four main points , the first of which was the “ enlargement of barrack camp Auschwitz due to eastern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notes : [ 7 ] “ Reich minister Speer has fully approved the enlargement of the barrack camp at Auschwitz and has set aside an additional building volume of 13.7 million Reichsmark .
This building volume covers the erection of some 300 barracks together with the corresponding utility and service plants .
The necessary raw materials will be assigned during the 4th quarter of 1942 and the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd quarters of 1943 .
Upon completion of this additional project a total of 132,000 men can be housed at Auschwitz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the workforce available in the concentration camps should now be used for large-scale armament tasks.
” In order to bolster the workforce at other plants , Pohl stressed the necessity to withdraw civilian German and foreign personnel from armament works , whose workforce would thus be insufficient .
The missing workers , so Pohl , should be replaced with detainees from the concentration camps .
Pohl went on to say : “ Reich minister Speer , in this way , wants to assure the supply of an initial number of 50,000 able-bodied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We shall screen out the workforce necessary for this purpose at Auschwitz from the eastern migration , in order to assure that our existing plants will not be adversely affected in their performance and their construction by a permanent change of personnel .
Thus , the able-bodied jews destined for the eastern migration will have to interrupt their journey and will have to serve in the armament plants.
” The “ eastern migration ” ( Ostwanderung ) was the deportation of jews to the east .
In this context the last sentence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfit for work would not interrupt their eastern migration , but continue their “ journey ” to the east – and would thus not stop at Auschwitz .
Showers are to be installed in Krematorium III ; RGVA , 502-1-83 , p. 338 ( click to enlarge ) .
On the day of the meeting , September 15 , 1942 , Kammler wrote a letter to the Plenipotentiary for the Organization of the Construction Industry concerning “ special construction tasks for concentration camp Auschwitz , ” by which he informed him of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : [ 8 ] “ With reference to the meeting between Reich minister Prof. Speer and SS Obergruppenführer und General of the Waffen-SS Pohl please find below [ the description of ] the additional building volume for the special program of K.L .
Auschwitz : • None Summary of the additional buildings required , together with the corresponding volume .
The work will , for the most part , be executed by detainees .
A duration of 50 weeks has been set out for the whole project .
Aside from the detainees an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be needed .
This results in 105,000 man-days.
” In October of 1942 , the construction project “ PoW camp Auschwitz ” assumed the official name “ execution of special treatment , ” which thus confirmed the new function of the camp .
This task consisted of a vast construction program that was to transform it into a source of manpower for the industries , which had already sprung up or were to spring up in the vicinity of Auschwitz .
The aim of this change in the function of the camp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visited Auschwitz – was very clearly explained by Rudolf Höß in a speech he gave at Auschwitz on May 22 , 1943 , in the presence of the head of Office Group C of the SS WVHA , Kammler , and other officials , and in which he outlined the history and the development of the institutional tasks of the camp : [ 9 ] “ The Auschwitz camp evolved in 1940 , in the triangle between the Vistula and the Sola [ its tributary ] rivers , after the evacuation of 7 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the area of an artillery barracks and through many additional constructions , reconstructions or changes .
Much building material resulting from demolitions was reused in the process .
Initially , it was to be a quarantine camp , it later became a Reich camp resulting in a new objective .
In view of the general situation which at times became critical , its location at the juncture of the Reich and the Government General proved to be very useful on account of the fact that replenishment of the camp with manpower was thus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently arisen was the solution of the jewish question , which necessitated solving the problem of housing for a first load of 60,000 detainees , to grow to 100,000 shortly .
The detainees in the camp are , for the most part , destined for the major industrial projects which are taking shape in the vicinity of the camp .
Within its territory of interest the camp comprises various armament factories for which manpower must be furnished on a regular basis.
” Hence , the “ solution of the jewish question ” did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ housing construction projects for 100,000 detainees , and the alleged extermination function was thus not only a minor issue , but was totally absent .
At the end of October , the Central Construction Office drew up the general project for the PoW camp in conformity with the directives given by Speer and Pohl .
The corresponding file was entitled : [ 10 ] “ Project : PoW camp Auschwitz ( carrying out of special treatment ) .
Master of works : Reichsführer SS ; SS Main Office of Economic Administration , Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 ” The project had an overall budget of 13,760,000 RM and contained among other things a situation plan for Birkenau covering 140,000 detainees .
[ 11 ] However , at the beginning of January 1943 , the total strength of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp had not even reached 30,000 [ 12 ] detainees .
The reason was essentially the extremely high mortality registered since the summer of 1942 , caused by a terrible typhus epidemic , which had broken out in July that year , and by the inadequate hygienic and sanitary conditions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of April 1943 , the strength of the camp had gone up to 53,000 detainees [ 13 ] but was still far below target .
The enlargement of the Birkenau camp , together with the terrible typhus epidemic that ravaged it and the high mortality rate among the detainees resulting from this caused the SS authorities to set out on an adequate enlargement of the cremation plants in the Birkenau camp .
It is well known that , in the beginning , a single crematorium ( the future crematorium II ) [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ camp .
Urgent request for estimate to install 100 showers and water heater in Krematorium III ; APMO , BW 30/34 , p. 40 ( click to enlarge ) .
In the letter of August 3 , 1942 , mentioned above , Bischoff said : [ 15 ] “ Furthermore , the site for the new crematorium , next to the quarantine camp , was decided on.
” Therefore , as late as August 3 , 1942 , the head of the Auschwitz Central Construction Office knew of only one crematorium .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ertl on August 21 , 1942 , in connection with the visit of Kurt Prüfer ( chief engineer of Topf & Söhne , transl . )
to Auschwitz on the 19th , one can read : [ 16 ] “ Regarding the construction of a 2nd crematorium with 5 triple muffle ovens , the results of the negotiations with the Reich Security Main Office about the assignment of [ material ] contingents , now under way , must first be ascertained.
” Therefore , the decision to build crematorium III had not yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us that Prüfer ’ s proposal to transfer two ovens with 8 muffles from Mogilev to Auschwitz was accepted on August 19 .
This proposal ( as results from a hand-written note in the margin ) was approved by WVHA on August 24 .
This signifies at least that up until then the number of muffles for the ovens in crematoria IV and V had not yet been decided upon .
August 1942 was the month with the highest mortality rates ever in the history of the Auschwitz camp .
Altogether 8,600 [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alone , nearly twice as many as had been the case in July ( some 4,400 detainees ) .
The first trace of the decision to build the other three crematoria appears on August 14 ( date on the drawing 1678 of crematorium IV/V ) .
[ 18 ] Up to the day before , over 2,500 detainees had already died , the average mortality being 190 deaths per day .
Between August 14 and 19 ( the day to which the discussion summarized in the file memo of August 21 referred ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2,400 deaths , about 400 per day on average .
The climax occurred on August 19 , when more than 500 deaths were registered .
On August 1 , the strength of the male camp stood at 21,421 detainees .
Until the 19th , 4,113 detainees died , an average of 216 each day , with 1,675 dying between August 14 and 19 , an average rate of 279 per day .
The average strength between August 1 and 19 was about 22,900 detainees .
What would have happened if another typhus epidemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the camp had reached its planned numbers of inmates of 200,000 ?
The reason for the decision to build three more crematoria was , therefore , due solely to worries , more than legitimate , with respect to hygiene and sanitation .
3 .
The “ Special Measures for the improvement of Hygienic installations ” in the Birkenau camp .
Questionaire about use of crematory exhaust gases to heat water for showers in Krematorium II and III ; RGVA , 502-1-312 , p. 8 ( click to enlarge ) .
In early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the SS administration at Auschwitz , in their effort to realize the program decided on by Himmler at the end of July 1942 , were therefore confronted by two serious interrelated problems : a scarcity of manpower caused by the high mortality among the detainees and the serious situation in the field of hygiene and sanitation that was its cause .
It therefore became imperative to improve the hygienic installations of the camp .
On May 7 , 1943 , SS Brigadeführer Kammler , head of Office Group C , Construction , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ six high camp officials at Auschwitz : SS Obersturmbannführer Höß , commander of the camp , SS Obersturmbannführer Möckel , head of SS garrison administration , SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff , head of Central Construction Office , SS Sturmbannführer Cäsar , head of agricultural units , SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths , SS garrison physician , and SS Untersturmführer Kirschnek , chief civil engineer of the construction office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz , to which the Auschwitz main camp was attached .
Two days later , Bischoff wrote a file memo on the topics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ summarizes the statements of the SS garrison physician with respect to the installations under his authority in the following way : [ 19 ] “ General description by garrison physician , stating that the maintenance of the health of the detainees , destined for the important tasks ahead , appears questionable on account of the poor conditions of latrines , an unsatisfactory sewer system , a lack of sick bays and separate latrines for the patients , together with a lack of possibilities for washing , bathing , and disinfestation .
For an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested that the latrines be equipped with seats and lids , and that to counter the repeated failures of the sewage systems a number of adjacent pits be installed , which would be emptied from time to time and the contents removed and put at the disposal of the agriculture .
Regarding this , the head of the Central Construction Office recommends to install a sluice gate upstream from the sewer network and to counter-flush the latrines by means of pressurized water .
He opposes the system of pits , as the high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ground water , and the necessary separation [ from the ground water ] by means of basins is difficult and can not be undertaken at the present time .
A gross estimate of the amount of night-soil leads to the conclusion that this material can not be disposed of at all in the vicinity of the camp .
The principal difficulties could only be overcome by a complete conversion of the sewer system to a pipe network complete with pumping station for which , unfortunately , the necessary equipment is unavailable .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ urgency of these questions and promises to help in any way whatsoever within the limits of his possibilities in order to improve the situation .
He is , however , surprised about favorable reports from the competent medical staff regarding sanitary and hygienic conditions , whereas immediately afterwards , contradicting reports are presented to him .
Head of Central Construction Office is ordered to prepare for Head of Office Group C , by May 15 , 1943 , proposals for the alleviation of the problems , together with a scheme for the proper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficulties of supply , which he will handle himself .
The garrison physician qualified as inadequate the [ conversion of ] stables into sick-bays .
He criticizes the absence of lighting and water in the building section of the Swiss barracks .
Furthermore , the number of barracks is insufficient so that the installation of further barracks in this sick-bay section must be investigated .
The deficiencies observed , on closer inspection , always turn out to be interactions between the difficulties mentioned initially ; the necessity of a separation from all other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ special solution becomes apparent .
As a permanent solution for the delousing in the PoW camp , the garrison physician suggested to create , for each subsection of the building project ( 10 altogether ) , complete disinfestation facilities including the possibility of bathing .
On the other hand , the head of Central Construction Office indicated that the large disinfestation unit of the PoW camp is already under construction and should be finished first .
Excluding further difficulties with respect to the availability of qualified workers , this should be the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definite date could not be set by SS-Stubaf Bischoff .
As an intermediate measure until that date , Brigadeführer will furnish , by way of a loan , a new short-wave delousing train.
” “ Special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations in the PoW camp Auschwitz ” , RGVA , 502-1-83 , p. 311 ( report on next page ; click to enlarge ) .
On May 8 , at 18:05 hours , a telegram addressed to “ command of concentration camp Auschwitz ” arrived from the concentration camp Groß-Rosen , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ SS Stubaf Bischoff and man in charge to report to SS Brigadeführer and Major Generalof the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler on Monday , May 10 , 1943 , at 11 hours bringing all documents , plans , material contingents for water supply and drainage PoW camp 200,000 men.
” The telegram was signed by SS Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Gideon , vice-commander of KL Groß-Rosen .
On his return journey back to Berlin , Kammler had passed through Groß-Rosen and had decided there to have Bischoff come to Berlin , ordering Gideon to convey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety , he had also conveyed the convocation to his Berlin office ; thus , at 20:05 hours , the telex service ( FS-Dienst ) at Auschwitz received another telegram from SS-Oberscharführer Schürmann at the office of the Adjutant of Office C/I of the SS WVHA .
The message , addressed to Bischoff personally , said : [ 21 ] “ SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler has ordered you to appear in Berlin on Monday , May 10 , 1943 , in the morning , with all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drainage of PoW camp Auschwitz.
” “ Report on measures taken for the realization of special program ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler for PoW camp Auschwitz ” : sewage plant , drainage system , toilets , wash rooms , drink water treatment plant ; RGVA , 502-1-83 , p. 311 ( click to enlarge ) .
This started a vast program of improvement in the field of sanitation at the PoW camp ( the Birkenau camp ) , labeled variously in the documents as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” “ special program , ” “ special construction measure , ” and “ special action.
” [ 22 ] The corresponding written order was transmitted by Kammler to the Auschwitz commander on May 14 .
[ 23 ] 4 .
The “ Special Measures for the Improvement of Hygienic Installations ” and the crematoria of Birkenau From the beginning of its realization , the crematoria entered into the program of improvement of the Birkenau camp .
On May 13 , 1943 , Bischoff wrote a “ report concerning the division of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ camp Auschwitz , ” in which each officer , non-com , and civilian employee of the Central Construction Office was charged with specific tasks within the scope of this program .
The tasks for the civilian employee Jährling are outlined as follows under item 9 of this report : [ 24 ] “ Civilian employee Jährling has to carry out the installation of heaters and boilers in the wash barracks , as well as the showers in the undressing room of crematorium III .
Concerning the showers , SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff will consult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ WVHA will transmit an OT-drawing [ OT = Organisation Todt , German national construction organization ] for the disinfestation ovens.
” Two days later , on May 15 , Bischoff sent the following telegram to the Topf company : [ 25 ] Text : Bring along Monday estimated project for hot water supply to 100 showers .
Provide for installation of heating coils or boilers in waste incinerator under construction at crem .
III or flue-gas duct for exploitation of high exhaust temperatures .
Necessary increase of oven level to accommodate large reserve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such drawing to Mr. Prüfer by Monday , May 17.
” On May 16 , Bischoff sent to Kammler a “ report on measures taken for the realization of special program ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler for PoW camp Auschwitz , ” in which we read under item 6 : [ 26 ] “ 6 .
Disinfestation plant .
For the disinfestation of the clothing of detainees , each subsection of BAII will have an OT-disinfestation unit .
To ensure a faultless delousing of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baths of BAI will be equipped with heaters and boilers to provide hot water for the existing showers .
Furthermore , it is planned to install heating coils in the garbage incinerator at crematorium III thereby to provide water for the shower installation to be built in the cellar of crematorium III .
Concerning the design of this unit , negotiations have been carried out with Topf & Söhne of Erfurt.
” The project of setting up shower facilities in the basement of crematorium III was quickly extended to crematorium II as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Co. sent the following letter to the Central Construction Office at Auschwitz , with reference to “ Krematorium II and III waste incineration furnace ” : [ 27 ] “ Enclosed please find drawing D 60446 concerning the incorporation of boilers into garbage incineration furnaces .
Our site-engineer Wilh .
Koch has been sent the same drawing .
In case you agree with the execution of the unit according to this drawing , please inform Mr. Koch .
Please forward also to us your agreement in this matter , in order to allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The extension of the project to crematoria II and III is confirmed by a questionnaire concerning the Birkenau crematoria , undated , drawn up by Bischoff in June of 1943 .
The head of Central Construction Office replies to the first four questions saying that there were 18 ovens [ 28 ] in crematoria II – V with a total of 46 muffles , that they had been built by the Topf company in the years 1942-1943 , that they were coke-fired , that all of them were non-mobile , that they had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m high and that the chimneys were not equipped with forced-draft blowers .
To the fifth question , “ are the exhaust gases being used ?
, ” Bischoff replies “ planned but not realized , ” and to the following question “ if yes , state purpose , ” he answers “ for bath installations in crema .
II and III.
” [ 29 ] The project of installing 100 showers in crematorium III ( and another set of showers in crematorium II ) could not have been aimed at the personnel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time only 54 showers had been planned for the central sauna , the disinfection and disinfestation unit for the entire camp , as Bischoff had written on June 4 , 1943 , to the head of Office C/I of SS WVHA : [ 30 ] “ The shower section for the detainees contains 54 showers , fed by 2 boilers of 3,000 liters each .
The unit has been laid out for continuous use.
” Actually , the “ shower room ” of the central sauna was equipped with only 50 showers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clear that the “ bathing facilities in Krema .
II u. III ” referred to in the questionnaire mentioned were to serve the detainees of the entire camp .
“ Use of exhaust gases of furnaces of Krematorium II through V ” ; RGVA , 502-1-313 , p. 11 ( click to enlarge ) .
On June 24 , 1943 , crematorium III was handed over by the Central Construction Office to the housing administration of the Kommandantur .
In the inventory for the basement , attached to the corresponding transfer statement , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for morgue 1 , which have an obvious relationship with the project discussed .
No showers are mentioned [ 33 ] for the inventory of basement of crematorium II , handed over officially on March 31 , 1943 , precisely because the shower project was started only in May .
Of course , 14 showers may have served for the personnel of the crematorium only .
They were probably installed by the camp workshop .
The initial project was left pending for two reasons .
Primarily because in each of the two disinfestation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 5a and 5b ) 50 showers [ 34 ] were installed .
Those works began at the end of May , as we can learn from the “ construction report concerning special measures at PoW camp , ” which Bischoff wrote on May 30 , 1943 : [ 35 ] “ Installation of hot water supply was started in 2 delousing barracks ( baths for detainees ) .
” By July 13 the two units were already in operation , as we can gather from the “ progress report concerning works for special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” which Bischoff compiled on that date : [ 36 ] “ Hot water supply in the two delousing barracks ( baths for detainees ) of construction section I is operational.
” In parallel , the construction of the “ disinfection and disinfestation facility ” ( the so-called central sauna ) moved ahead diligently , and its termination was scheduled for the beginning of September .
[ 37 ] Eventually , the unit went into operation – albeit “ during the day and for some hours at a time ” – in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be handed over to the Auschwitz administration a month and a half later .
[ 39 ] Still , the project of showers resurfaces on March 25 , 1944 .
On that day , SS Obersturmführer Werner Jothann , who had succeeded Bischoff as head of Central Construction Office on October 1 , 1943 , sent a letter to Topf on the subject “ PoW camp Auschwitz , Kremat.
, exploitation of exhaust gases , ” in which he wrote : [ 40 ] “ You are asked to send soonest offer with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Crematoria II and III , possibly also IV and V are being considered.
” In a listing of Topf dated April 13 , 1943 , referring to an unknown letter with the reference “ 24674/43/Ro-Pru/Pa , ” it is written : [ 41 ] There is also an invoice from the firm Vedag Betriebe Schlesien , dated July 28 , 1943 , on the subject of “ Auschwitz-Krematorium ” which concerns “ sealing works done on the disinfestation plant.
” [ 42 ] It is known that the “ 2 Topf disinfestation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on February 11 , 1943 , ( order no .
148 ) for building 32 , i.e.
, for the central sauna .
[ 43 ] There is also an “ individual invoice ” from Vedag with date and text identical to the one already mentioned , in which there is an explicit reference to “ BW 32 – disinfestation facility.
” [ 44 ] These two documents , even if they contain erroneous references , do confirm the general atmosphere with the crematoria being used for sanitary purposes as described in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PoW camp Birkenau can not have had at one and the same time two opposing functions : health care and extermination.
” Since the planning of the sanitary installations in the crematoria at Birkenau is based on irrefutable documentary proof , whereas the existence of installations for mass exterminations , according to J.-C. Pressac ’ s own admission , is founded solely on “ traces , ” it is quite obvious what the real function of the crematoria was .
II .
The Use of the Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Jean-Claude Pressac ’ s fundamental thesis on Auschwitz is the assumed transformation of the two morgues no .
1 of crematoria II and III into homicidal gas chambers from the end of 1942 onwards .
He also claims that the morgues of crematoria IV and V initially served as corpse storage facilities for the bodies of those gassed in the so-called “ Bunkers ” of Birkenau , and later as corpse storage facilities for the bodies of those gassed in the homicidal gas chambers installed in these crematoria themselves .
One of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based upon drawing 2003 of the Central Construction Office , dated December 19 , 1942 , which is a re-issue of the preceding drawings 932 and 933 and which addresses the “ relocation of basement access to the roadside.
” [ 1 ] Pressac notes that in the design of the basement of this building , a corpse chute – an inclined cement plane which allowed the corpses to be slid down from the outside into the basements of crematoria II and III – is now missing , and he comments : [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take corpses by an ordinary stairway defies all logic – unless the future corpses entered while they were still alive and were able to walk down the stairs.
” Later Pressac came back to this argument with the same claim : [ 2 ] “ On December 19 , Dejaco produced a new drawing – Nr .
2003 – for the basement , and made a major ‘ architectural blunder ’ at the same time .
If we follow the indications on the new drawing , the northern stairway was now the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which meant that the dead would have had to walk down those stairs !
” Listing of metal requirements for , i.a.
, two disinfestation ovens for Krematorium II of PoW camp Auschwitz ; APMO , BW 30/34 , p. 47 ( click to enlarge ) .
Robert Jan van Pelt and Deborah Dwork later took over Pressac ’ s argument with the following comment : [ 3 ] “ He [ Dejaco ] canceled the planned corpse chute , which in the earlier plans had been the main access to the basement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Dead bodies are dropped through a chute .
The victims would walk to their death.
” Of course , the chute for the corpses was not eliminated , [ 4 ] but the assumed transformation of the morgues in the crematoria into “ undressing rooms ” and homicidal “ gas chambers ” implied an important effect : the absence , within the crematoria , of morgues for the corpses of the registered detainees who died a “ normal ” death in the camp .
Robert Jan van Pelt has noted this and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact , the situation was much worse , [ 6 ] because in February 1943 all the morgues in crematoria 2 and 3 had been redesigned and were being equipped to function as undressing rooms and gas chambers , while the morgues in crematoria 4 and 5 were to destined [ sic ] as undressing rooms .
By the time the crematoria were finished , Auschwitz had virtually no permanently dedicated morgue capacity.
” ( emph .
in original ) This would have entailed serious problems of sanitation and hygiene , because one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cremation of registered detainees who had died in the camp and who would thus have had to wait for days or even weeks [ 7 ] on end for the crematoria to be freed from the victims of the alleged homicidal gassing operations .
If Pressac ’ s thesis were true , the documents referring to the storage of corpses of deceased detainees in the morgues of the camp and to their transport to the crematoria would have had to contain explicit references to the dangerous sanitary and hygienic situation that would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to protests and proposals to solve this problem by the SS garrison physician would be expected in the documents .
What do the documents say about this ?
2 .
Documents Regarding the Use of Morgues in the Crematoria at Birkenau “ Immediate hygienic measures in PoW camp Auschwitz , erection of corpse halls in every subsection ” ; RGVA , 502-1-170 , p. 262 ( click to enlarge ) .
On March 20 , 1943 , the SS garrison physician of Auschwitz , SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths , wrote a letter to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ letter in the next section ) on the subject of the enlargement of the hospital facilities for the detainees , in which he states : [ 8 ] “ For the removal of the corpses from the detainee sick-bay to the crematoria 2 covered hand carts must be procured , allowing the transportation of 50 corpses each.
” The reference concerns crematorium II , which had been put into operation at a reduced throughput on February 20 and which was still the only crematory functioning by March 20 .
On July 20 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the following letter to the Central Construction Office : [ 9 ] “ Those camp sections of construction phase II already in use are still lacking corpse chambers made of concrete or brick ; it is essential that they be provided urgently .
The wooden sheds currently used for this purpose are strongly subject to rat attacks ; on removal of the corpses there is hardly a corpse that does not show signs of this .
The rats are strongly attracted by the corpses and are proliferating at a rate , which makes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rat flea is a carrier of the plague .
Any case of plague within the camp can have unimaginable consequences for our men as well as for the detainees of concentration camp Auschwitz .
This can only be avoided by a hygienically satisfactory conservation of the corpses , accompanied by intensive rat control measures .
Therefore , the Auschwitz SS garrison physician makes the urgent request to build the necessary corpse chambers immediately , even if simple means have to be employed.
” The type of corpse shed then in use was otherwise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Main Office for Budget and Buildings ) of November 25 , 1941 .
[ 10 ] Bischoff replied to Dr. Wirths on August 4 by the following letter : [ 11 ] “ With reference to the above-mentioned letter , please be informed that based on the discussion on Saturday , 31 July 1943 , in which SS Standartenführer Dr. Mrugowski , SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Wirths and the undersigned took part , the construction of dedicated morgues in the individual subsections of the PoW camp , as per the aforementioned request of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out .
SS Standartenführer Mrugowski has decreed during the discussion that the corpses are to be removed twice daily , in the morning and in the evening , into the morgues of the crematoria ; in this way , the separate construction of morgues in the individual subsections can be avoided.
” In early 1944 , the SS garrison physician succeeded in having one brick-type corpse shed built , which became building 8a .
[ 12 ] However , in May 1944 Dr. Wirths again raised the problem of solid corpse sheds for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff , head of Construction Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien .
The latter wrote to SS Obersturmführer Jothann , head of Central Construction Office at Auschwitz , and informed him of the request .
In this letter , dated May 15 , 1944 , Bischoff expressed himself as follows : [ 13 ] “ SS garrison physician Auschwitz has requested the construction of a solid morgue for construction section II – CC II Auschwitz .
Central Construction Office Auschwitz is ordered to plan the construction in cooperation with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immediately the means of construction as well as GB-permission .
[ 14 ] As justification , letter from SS-Main office of Economic Administration dated May 12 , 1944 , – copy attached – is to be annexed at top of request .
On account of urgency of execution , works are allowed to be started as of now.
” “ Erection of corpse halls in construction sections II , camp II Birkenau ” ; RGVA , 502-1-170 , p. 260 ( click to enlarge ) .
On May 22 , a meeting was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff , SS Hauptsturmführer Baer , who had been appointed Kommandant of Auschwitz I on May 11 , 1944 , SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff , head of Construction Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien , and SS Obersturmführer Jothann , head of Central Construction Office .
The latter wrote a file memo , in which he summarized the results as follows : [ 15 ] “ The meeting was called in order to define the location and the size of the c [ orpse ] -halls requested .
It became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lay-out is problematic .
If enough space for the construction of the c [ orpse ] -halls is to be made available , at least part of the toilet and washing barracks would have to be dismantled .
It is however difficult to do without these barracks under the present circumstances .
SS Obersturmbannführer Höß points out that in accordance with a presently valid order , the daily load of c. [ orpses ] is to be removed daily in the morning by means of a dedicated truck ; if this order is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can not arise and therefore the construction of the above-mentioned halls is not imperative .
SS Ostubaf .
Höß therefore demands not to undertake the construction of the halls under discussion.
” But Dr. Wirths does not stop there and on May 25 comes back with a letter addressed to the senior garrison SS officer : [ 16 ] “ On July 20 , 1943 , I brought to the attention of the Central Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz the fact that in the women ’ s camp of Auschwitz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ section II concrete and brick morgues are still missing and that their construction is urgently required in view of the fact that the available wooden sheds are absolutely unsuitable for the conservation of corpses because of the danger of epidemics and because of rat attacks .
Improperly stocked corpses will always attract many rats .
In the sick-bays of the camps at cc Auschwitz II a certain number of corpses accumulate daily on a regular basis .
While their transportation to the crematoria has been organized and takes place twice a day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it does happen that on account of the scarcity of vehicles and/or fuel the corpses are not taken care of for 24 hours .
For reasons of hygiene and as a prevention of epidemics , any hospital has a corpse chamber for the short-term storage of bodies as they accumulate .
Normally , in common hospitals the number of beds does not exceed 500 , whereas in the various sick-bays for the detainees the number of beds amounts to 3-4,000 on average .
In my opinion it is therefore patently evident that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must be available .
In my note of July 20 , 1943 , and in all preceding notes to the Central Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz I have requested only the provision of corpse chambers , never the construction of corpse halls in dedicated buildings or sheds ; I request steps for the provision of such corpse chambers to be undertaken immediately on account of the urgency of the matter .
Otherwise I shall have to advise my superior commander in order to avoid a most serious risk of epidemics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ present hygienically unsatisfactory storage of the corpses .
I enclose a sketch showing a corpse chamber .
Such chambers are urgently required in the inmate sick-bay of the women ’ s camp , of building section II , subcamps a , b , e and f. These chambers can be either built within the out-patient barracks or attached to them on the outside.
” This letter , even though it was addressed to the camp commander , concerned also the head of Central Construction Office who wrote to the head of Construction Inspectorate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June 12 , attaching his own file memo of May 23 , postdating it May 30 , as well as the letter from Dr. Wirths of May 15 with the sketch of a corpse chamber attached to the letter of May 25 .
Jothann declared himself ready to undertake immediately – upon their approval – the construction of the corpse chambers in the form requested .
[ 17 ] 3 .
The Significance of these Documents The documents presented in the preceding section refute totally and radically Pressac ’ s interpretation of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal sense .
There is not even the slightest hint of an improper ( criminal ) use of the morgues in the crematoria in the letters of the SS garrison physician .
Such improper use would have raised immensely the hygienic and sanitary problems that he evoked .
The morgues of all crematoria , on the contrary , appear to be available at any time and unconditionally .
I say at any time , because there is no mention whatsoever , in any of the known documents , of a temporary unavailability of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other than the temporary storage of the bodies of registered detainees .
I add unconditionally , because the use of a morgue for the purpose of storing corpses is never subject to a different use in any of the known documents .
And if Pressac ’ s thesis were true , it is obvious that the authorities of the Auschwitz camp would at least have organized the cremations by assigning one of the smaller crematories – or one or several of the morgues in the smaller crematories – to the bodies of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which however was not the case .
All this demonstrates that the essential function of the morgues in the crematoria was exactly what morgues normally provide , as results already from the letter of Dr. Wirths dated March 20 , 1943 , the day of the alleged gassing of 2,191 jews from Greece , [ 18 ] whose cremation would have taken a whole week .
The first gassing , of 1,492 victims in crematorium II is said to have taken place on March 14 .
Their incineration would have ended on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impossible the alleged second gassing operation , said to have occurred on March 16 , [ 19 ] because there would still have been 900 corpses left in the alleged ‘ gas chamber ’ of the crematorium .
Dr. Wirths , for his part , is only concerned with real dead and requests two hand carts to take them from the camp hospital to the crematorium .
Dr. Wirths ’ letter of July 20 , 1943 , shows how dangerous the storage of corpses of detainees deceased in the camp really was from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the more with respect to an outbreak of the plague that had been evoked .
If Pressac ’ s thesis were true , the risk of an epidemic would have increased enormously , because the bodies of registered detainees would have been lying around in inadequate morgues within the camp for a much longer time , their number would have been greater , and the rats would have multiplied beyond all measure .
But Dr. Wirths never makes even a veiled reference to this hypothetical situation , which could have occurred , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Dr. Wirths proposals concern always and exclusively the real conditions in the camp , and are not suspect in any way .
Bischoff ’ s letter of August 4 , 1943 , mentions the order given by Dr. Mrugowski on July 31 to transport the corpses “ into the morgues of the crematoria ” twice a day , in the morning and in the evening .
The order concerned all the crematoria and had to be carried out twice daily , which implies the total availability of the morgues concerned .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this order would have been foolish , because on the day it was given , preparations for the transports of the jews from the ghettos of Bendsburg and Sosnowitz to Auschwitz were being made , and would have resulted in the gassing of 28,000 persons [ 20 ] in the crematoria of Birkenau between August 1st and 12th .
Dr. Mrugowski , who was the head of the hygiene institute of the Waffen-SS , could not have been unaware of such preparations , in the same way as Dr. Wirths could not have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could not have been unaware of them either .
Therefore , the proven and normal fact that the corpses were taken twice a day to the morgues of the crematoria refutes categorically the hypothesis of mass gassings that have allegedly occurred in these crematoria .
And that we are dealing with an proven fact results unequivocally from Jothann ’ s file memo of May 23 , in which it is said that the camp commander , in the meeting of the previous day , had spoken of the existing order of removing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a suitable truck .
Even more explicitly , Dr. Wirths , in his letter of May 25 , 1944 , declared that transportation of the corpses to the crematoria was regulated and took place twice a day , in the morning and in the evening .
Hence , there is not a shadow of a doubt concerning the fact that , during the second half of May 1944 , this order was valid and was observed , within the limits of the availability of trucks and fuel .
However , the second half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the beginning of the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz , something that no one could have been unaware of , least of all Rudolf Höß .
The first transports reached Auschwitz on May 17 ; by May 22 , the day of the meeting mentioned above , more than 62,000 “ Hungarian ” jews had already arrived .
If we follow the traditional historiography , over two thirds of them , some 41,000 are said to have been gassed and the crematoria at Birkenau , [ 21 ] all of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so inadequate for this task that several trenches had to be dug for the incineration of the corpses in excess .
If that hypothesis were true , the morgues in the crematoria at Birkenau during that period would have been permanently occupied by victims : but then how could Rudolf Höß have calmly recalled the order we spoke of , namely to take the bodies of the registered inmates who had died in the camp to the morgues in the crematoria twice a day ?
Therefore , in this case , too , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strongly , the proven and ordinary fact of transporting the bodies twice a day into the morgues of the crematoria , refutes categorically the hypothesis of mass gassings of “ Hungarian ” jews allegedly carried out in those crematoria .
In conclusion it can be said that the documentation regarding the utilization of the morgues in the Birkenau crematoria demonstrates that , from their very origin in March 1943 onwards , they were not – nor could they have been – used as ‘ undressing rooms ’ and ‘ gas chambers ’ within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by means of gas .
Such a thesis is historically unfounded .
III .
The Undressing Room of Crematorium II at Birkenau : Origin and Function 1 .
Undressing Room – for the Living or for the Dead ?
In section I I mentioned the project to install “ showers in the undressing room of crematorium III ” discussed in Bischoff ’ s report of May 13 , 1943 .
In this section , we will explore the origin and the function of the “ undressing room ” of the Birkenau crematoria .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which was completely adopted by Robert Jan van Pelt , crematorium II of Birkenau was designed and built as a normal hygienic and sanitary installation , however : [ 1 ] “ towards the end of October 1942 one hit upon the idea , quite logical , actually , to move the gassings from Bunkers 1 and 2 into a room in the crematorium , where a mechanical ventilation was available , in the very same manner that had been employed in the morgue of crematorium I [ of the main camp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idea , according to Pressac , took on a concrete form when “ the SS construction office decided to set up gas chambers in the crematoria.
” [ 2 ] The first trace of this decision – as we have already seen – is , in Pressac ’ s view , drawing 2003 of December 19 , 1942 , “ relocation of basement entrance to roadside , ” in which the corpse chute is said to have been removed .
This interpretation , according to which a crematorium , designed and built as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would have later been transformed into a mass extermination unit with total abandonment of the possibility to store corpses in its morgues and burn them in its ovens , appears quite unfounded , if we only look at the documents discussed in section II .
What is important in this case , however , is the date : according to Pressac , the decision to carry out the gassings in the crematoria was taken on December 19 , 1942 , and henceforth put its traces on the projects of the Central Construction Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 was equipped with a ventilation system having aeration and de-aeration equipment , it is clear that this room was to become the homicidal gas chamber .
And as it was intended to carry out mass exterminations , it is also clear that morgue no .
2 was destined to become the undressing room of the future victims , in keeping with the procedure already tested – according to Pressac – in crematorium I .
Hence , the decision to transform morgue no .
1 into a homicidal gas chamber implied the decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an undressing room , and the two decisions were taken at the same time .
It is correct that in certain documents morgue no .
2 of crematorium II is labeled “ undressing room ” or “ undressing cellar , ” and for Pressac this designation is a “ criminal trace ” in favor of the thesis about alleged extermination activity of this cremation unit , which appears for the first time in Bischoff ’ s letter to Topf of March 6 , 1943 , in which he writes , with reference to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] Dr. Wirths keeps complaining about the lack of appropriate morgues : “ Construction of morgues in CC Auschwitz II ” ; RGVA , 502-1-170 , p. 264 ( click to enlarge ) .
“ Furthermore , request is made for the supply of a supplemental offer regarding the changes in the de-aeration installation for the undressing room.
” But did this “ undressing room ” really designate an undressing room for the victims of the gas chambers ?
2 .
Origin and Function of the Undressing Room in Crematorium II at Birkenau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the origin of the decision to create an “ undressing room ” in the basement of crematorium II allow this question to be answered once and for all .
On January 21 , 1943 , the SS garrison physician wrote the following letter to the camp commander : [ 4 ] “ 1 .
SS garrison physician Auschwitz requests the dissecting room , planned for the new construction of the crematorium at Birkenau , to be split into two rooms of equal size by means of a partition and to have 1 or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one , because it is to be used as dissecting room proper whereas the second room is needed for anatomical preparations , the storage of files , writing materials , and books , for the preparation of colored tissue slides and for microscope work .
• None Furthermore , it is requested to provide for an undressing room in the basement rooms.
” The most highly important conclusions for our topic result from this letter .
• None The decision to create an “ undressing room ” in the crematorium was taken neither @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Central Construction Office ( Bischoff ) , but quite simply by the SS garrison physician .
• None The SS garrison physician attributed no particular importance to this matter and presented it as something of an afterthought to the purely hygienic and sanitary request for the dissecting room .
• None The crematorium was attached , from the point of view of hygiene and sanitation as well as in respect of medical-legal matters , to the SS garrison physician who , was fully informed about the relevant projects and , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Central Construction Office demanding modifications .
The letter quoted proves that the SS garrison physician was completely unaware of the alleged project to transform the morgue no .
2 into an undressing room for the victims of gassing actions : he requests the installation of an “ undressing room ” somewhere “ in the basement rooms ” without mentioning specifically morgue no .
2 and without excluding , for this purpose , morgue no .
1 .
But in view of his position , he could not have been unaware of the decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make morgue no .
2 into an “ undressing room , ” because if he did not know about it , such a decision could , in fact , not have been taken .
What results from the above document is that the idea of an “ undressing room ” was conceived by the SS garrison physician in January of 1943 and transmitted to the Auschwitz command on January 21 .
On February 15 , 1943 , SS Untersturmführer Janisch , Head of the Construction Office of the PoW camp ( Birkenau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ physician by a hand-written note which said : [ 5 ] Re 2 . )
for undressing a horse-stable barrack has been set up in front of the cellar entrance.
” What was the purpose for an “ undressing room ” in the crematorium ?
And why was a barrack built for such a purpose ?
Pressac has noted that a horse-stable barrack in front of crematorium II , at a location announced by Janisch , i.e .
“ in front of the cellar entrance , ” does indeed appear on the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ O/S.
” of March 20 , 1943 .
Pressac writes in this respect : [ 6 ] “ The drawing confirms the erection of a hut of the stable type in the north yard of Krematorium II in March 1943 .
We know little about this hut , except that after serving as an undressing room for the first batch of jews to be gassed in this Krematorium , it was quickly dismantled – only a week later according to the Sonderkommando witness Henryk Tauber .
The first mention of an access stairway @ @ @ @ @ @ @ archives , BW 30/40 , page 68e , is dated 26/2/43 ( Document 7a ) .
As soon as this entrance was operational , the undressing hut was no longer required.
” Pressac then comes back to this argument but offers a different explanation : [ 7 ] “ On Sunday 14th March [ 1943 ] , Messing continued installing the ventilation of Leichenkeller 2 , which he called ‘ Auskleidekeller II/Undressing cellar II.
’ In the evening , about 1,500 jews from the Cracow ghetto were the first victims to be gassed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undress in Leichenkeller 2 , still cluttered with tools and ventilation components , but in a stable-type hut temporarily erected in the north yard of the Krematorium.
” Later , he goes back to his first interpretation : [ 8 ] “ This Bauleitung source confirms the erection in mid-March 1943 of a hut running south-north in the north yard of Krematorium II , which was used , according to Henryk Tauber , as an undressing room , apparently because the access stairway to the underground undressing room ( Leichenkeller 2 ) was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the following statement by Henryk Tauber : [ 9 ] “ These persons [ the assumed victims ] were herded into a barrack , which at the time stood perpendicularly to the crematorium building on the entrance side of the yard of crematorium II .
The persons entered this barrack through a door located on the side of the entrance and descended [ into the basement ] by means of steps which were to the right of the Mühlverbrennung [ sic ] , This barrack was used as an undressing room at that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more or less one week and was then dismantled.
” Pressac publishes the complete drawing 2216 of March 20 , 1943 , but with illegible notes .
[ 10 ] He refers , though , also to another version of this drawing ( from another negative of the Auschwitz museum ) , in which the notes are clearly visible .
[ 11 ] Here , the barrack in front of the crematorium II is represented by an empty rectangle – a symbol which corresponds neither to a barrack “ completed , ” which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nor to a barrack “ under construction , ” which is represented by a rectangle with oblique hatching , but to a barrack “ planned.
” This shows up even more clearly in another detail of the drawing published by Pressac .
[ 12 ] There is , by the way , another map of Birkenau , immediately preceding the one referred to by Pressac , in which the barrack in question does not appear at all .
That is the “ lay-out plan for the construction and enlargement of concentration and PoW @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” dated March 1943 .
[ 13 ] As it is numbered 2215 , it precedes the one numbered 2216 and was therefore established on March 20 , 1943 or earlier .
It is not clear why this barrack appears only on drawing 2216 .
It does not appear at all [ 14 ] on drawing 1991 of February 17 , 1943 , which also shows the barracks planned , under construction and completed in the Birkenau camp , in spite of the fact that it had already been set up on February @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stop-gap and temporary character .
It is unknown when the barrack was set up .
What is certain is that this barrack had nothing to do with the alleged homicidal gassings .
Pressac ’ s first explanation that the barrack had been set up because the access to morgue no .
2 was not yet ready , does not make much sense .
With respect to crematorium III Pressac actually states : [ 15 ] “ On 10th February [ 1943 ] , work began on piercing the opening for and building the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future undressing room ) of Krematorium III , under the supervision of Huta foreman Kolbe .
This was done in six days , being completed on 15th ( PMO file BW 30/38 , pages 25 to 27 ) .
It is not known when this operation was carried out for Krematorium II .
The only mention of its realization dates from 26th February , or eleven days after that of Krematorium III was completed.
” On March 20 , 1943 , the day on which drawing 2216 of the Birkenau camp was done @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths , as we have already seen , writes in his letter to the commander : [ 16 ] “ For the removal of the corpses from the detainee sick-bay to the crematoria , 2 covered hand carts must be procured , allowing the transportation of 50 corpses each.
” In this way , the question becomes definitely clear .
The SS garrison physician was worried about the poor conditions of hygiene and sanitation , in which the corpses of the detainees were kept , due to the inadequacy of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that could not prevent the rats from feasting on the bodies – with the risk of an outbreak of the plague .
He states this clearly in his letter of July 20 , 1943 , which describes a situation that obviously existed already in January .
The SS garrison physician therefore wanted to deposit the corpses in a hygienically safer place , and the best place was obviously constituted by the two morgues of crematorium II which , at the time , were in an advanced state of construction .
On January 21 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undressing room ” for these corpses “ in the basement rooms ” of the crematorium .
On January 29 Bischoff replied that the corpses could not be kept in morgue no .
2 , but that this was of no importance because they could be taken to the “ Vergasungskeller ” ( gasification or gassing cellar , see further down ) .
On February 15 , Janisch informed the SS garrison physician that “ a horse-stable barrack in front of the basement entrance ” of crematorium II had been set up for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Hence , this barrack was set up some time between January 21 and February 15 , and for that very reason it could not have served any criminal purpose .
This is confirmed by the fact that crematorium II went into service on February 20 , 1943 .
A report by Kirschneck , dated March 29 , 1943 , states , in fact , the following as regards this crematorium : [ 17 ] “ Brickwork completely finished and put into operation on Feb. 20 , 1943.
” Hence , the crematorium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ installed in the morgue no .
1 , and it received corpses even before this room could theoretically have been used as a homicidal gas chamber .
But why was an outside barrack needed at all ?
The answer is simple : In January of 1943 , morgue no .
2 was unserviceable .
In the “ Report no .
1 ” Bischoff sent to Kammler on January 23 , 1943 , with reference to “ Krematorien PoW camp , state of construction ” we read with respect to crematorium II : [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be removed from ceiling of morgue because of frost.
” On the same day , SS Obersturmführer Kirschneck confirms in a note for the file : [ 20 ] “ Morgue 2 has been completed except for removal of shuttering from ceiling , which requires temperatures above freezing.
” Finally , in the letter addressed to Kammler on January 29 , 1943 , Bischoff writes : [ 21 ] “ Crematorium II has been completed – save for minor constructional work – by the use of all the forces available working day and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficulties and freezing temperatures .
The ovens were fired up in the presence of the chief engineer , Mr. Prüfer of Topf & Söhne Co. , Erfurt , the contractor , and operate perfectly .
The concrete ceiling of the morgue could not yet be freed from the shuttering because of frost .
This is , however , of no consequence , because the gassing cellar can be used for this.
” During the first two weeks of February 1943 , there were at least 10 days at Birkenau when the morning temperatures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minima were even lower , and maximum afternoon temperatures varied between -3 and +6°C , [ 22 ] which makes it highly probable that morgue 2 remained unusable because of the impossibility of removing the shuttering from the concrete ceiling of the room .
The only document on the subject of the realization of an outside access to morgue 2 dates from February 26 , 1943 [ 23 ] : the work probably started that day or a few days later and was probably finished within a week , as in the crematorium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Topf technician Heinrich Messing began mounting the de-aeration duct in morgue 2 , which he regularly calls “ undressing cellar ” in his weekly reports .
[ 24 ] The work ended on March 31 , 1943 ( “ de-aeration equipment for undressing cellar installed.
” [ 25 ] Accordingly , at the latest by March 8 the Central Construction Office , upon the request of the SS garrison physician , had decided to create an “ undressing room ” in the basement of crematorium II , more specifically in morgue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no .
1 was operational from March 13 ( “ aeration and de-aeration equipment cellar I went into operation ” ) .
[ 26 ] On March 20 , the day reported to have seen the gassing of 2,191 “ Greek ” jews , [ 27 ] the SS garrison physician worried only about the transportation of the corpses of detainees from the camp hospital to crematorium II without even the slightest hint at alleged gassings .
We have thus answered the two questions we asked initially .
• None The “ undressing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of registered detainees who had died at the camp .
During the Belsen trial , SS Kramer , commander of the Auschwitz II camp ( Birkenau ) from May 8 , 1944 , onwards , declared on this subject : “ Whoever died during the day was put into a special building called the mortuary , and they were carried to the crematorium every evening by lorry .
They were loaded on the lorry and off the lorry by prisoners .
They were stripped of their clothes by the prisoners in the crematorium @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cleaned and were re-issued where the people had not died through infectious diseases.
” • None A barrack in front of the crematorium was built initially as an “ undressing room ” because morgue 2 was not yet serviceable on January 21 , 1943 , the day the SS garrison physician requested an “ undressing room.
” 3 .
The “ Gassing Cellar ” of Crematorium II at Birkenau Even before Pressac , the official historiography had taken the term “ gassing cellar , ” which appears for the first time on January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s letter to Kammler , as discussed in the preceding section , to be a trace , if not an outright proof , of the existence of a homicidal gas chamber in crematorium II .
What is of interest to us here is , above all , the context , in which this expression appears , and the significance of the entire sentence .
Bischoff says here that it had not yet been possible to remove completely the shuttering from the concrete ceiling of the morgue no .
2 because of frost , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because “ for this ” one could use the “ gassing cellar.
” Practically speaking , the “ gassing cellar ” could take over the function of morgue no .
2 .
If we do assume that the function of morgue no .
2 was that of an undressing room for the victims and that the “ gassing cellar ” functioned as a homicidal gas chamber , how could a homicidal gas chamber function as an undressing room at the same time ?
One can argue that the homicidal gas chamber could also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but then why – if we follow Tauber and Pressac – did the Central Construction Office allegedly build a barrack in front of the crematorium as an undressing room for the victims ?
It is essential to stress here that the matter had a strictly temporary character and was of interest only as long as “ morgue ” 2 was unavailable : the “ gassing cellar ” could be used “ for this , ” i.e.
, as a morgue , on January 29 , 1943 , and the days immediately thereafter .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ tells us in his letter , the Topf company had not yet shipped “ the aeration and de-aeration equipment ” due to freight restrictions .
Therefore the “ gassing cellar ” could not be operational as a homicidal gas chamber .
The interpretation by the official historiography – the undressing room for the victims is not operational but that does not matter because the homicidal gas chamber can be used instead – is therefore all the more nonsensical : considering that the alleged homicidal gas chamber was unserviceable , for what purpose would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of what , if the homicidal gas chamber did not work ?
In conclusion , the victims could not undress in “ morgue 2 ” because this room was not available ; they could undress in the “ gassing cellar , ” but could be gassed neither in the “ morgue 2 ” nor in the “ gassing cellar.
” It is thus evident that the explanation of Bischoff ’ s letter is quite different : “ morgue 2 ” could not be used as a morgue or undressing room for the bodies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the camp of “ natural ” causes , because this room was unavailable , but that was of no consequence , because the corpses could be placed into the “ gassing cellar.
” One last point has to be elucidated : why was “ morgue no .
1 ” called a “ gassing cellar ” ?
The alleged criminal transformations of the basement of crematorium II began at a time , when the typhus epidemic that had broken out at Birkenau in July of 1942 had not yet been brought under control .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ though clearly dropping , was still high : some 8,600 deaths in August , some 7,400 in September , some 4,500 in October , some 4,100 in November , some 4,600 in December , and some 4,500 [ 29 ] in January 1943 .
On January 9 , 1943 , Bischoff wrote a letter to the head of Office Group C of the SS WVHA , SS Brigadeführer Kammler , on the subject of “ hygienic installations at CC and PoW camp Auschwitz , ” in which he listed all installations of disinfestation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : five installations at CC Auschwitz and four at PoW camp Birkenau .
He ended his letter with the following observation : [ 30 ] “ As can be seen from the foregoing , the need for hygienic installations has largely been fulfilled ; once the screening barrack for civilian workers is operational , it will be possible , at any time , to delouse and disinfest a large number of people.
” However , over the following days the hot air unit of block 1 in the main camp ( built by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ air unit “ in the men ’ s and women ’ s disinfestation barracks at the PoW camp , ” i.e .
in the delousing barracks 5a and 5b ( built by the Hochheim Co. ) , and finally in the “ military disinfestation station ” went out of service on account of fires .
[ 31 ] These failures occurred at a time when the typhus epidemic that had broken out in July of 1942 had not been reined in .
On December 17 , 1942 , Bischoff wrote to the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Bielitz : [ 32 ] “ Concerning your inquiry of Dec. 8 , 1942 , Central Construction Office informs that camp quarantine can probably not be lifted over the next three months .
While all available means of fighting the epidemic are being put to work , new cases have not yet been completely eradicated.
” The same day , Bischoff wrote as follows to the camp commander : [ 33 ] “ Pursuant to order of SS garrison physician , the first delousing and/or disinfestation of civilian workers is to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 1942 .
On account of this it is necessary that the disinfestation units in CC be made available .
The same goes for individual delousings from Dec. 22 , 1942 , for the civilian workers .
Your approval is requested.
” In the “ garrison order no .
1/43 ” of January 8 , 1943 , the Auschwitz commander informed : [ 34 ] “ Head of Office D III has informed by radio message that the camp quarantine for CC Auschwitz will remain in force as before.
” On January 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were identified at the Myslowitz jail ( a town some twenty kilometers north of Auschwitz ) and were rapidly spreading among the inmates .
The president of provincial civil administration , whose seat was at Kattowitz , proposed to send the patients to Auschwitz .
In a letter addressed to the camp commander , he wrote : [ 35 ] “ I do recognize furthermore that these prisoners may introduce new cases of infection into the Auschwitz camp .
On the other hand , as typhus at the Auschwitz camp is still rampant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up there as a countermeasure , I feel entitled to make such a request .
[ … ] “ On January 13 , Rudolf Höß replied that while “ some cases of typhus ” still occurred at the camp , it was no longer an epidemic ( “ the typhus epidemic no longer exists ” ) , he refused this proposal , because the arrival of these sick inmates would greatly increase the resurgence of the typhus epidemic ( “ because in this way the risk of a new outbreak of a typhus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
[ 36 ] However the Police President at Kattowitz decided that the bodies of inmates who had died of typhus at Myslowitz would be taken to Auschwitz by hearse for cremation , after having been treated with a delousing agent and placed in a coffin ( “ for incineration the departed will by transferred to Auschwitz by hearse ” ) .
[ 37 ] Sanitary and hygienic conditions at Auschwitz were not as reassuring as Rudolf Höß had described them .
On January 25 , in “ internal order no .
86 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ 38 ] “ On account of an order emanating from the SS garrison physician of CC Auschwitz , all SS personnel of the Central Construction Office billeted at the Construction Office housing barrack will be subject to a 3 week quarantine.
” During the course of January of 1943 , a resurgence of the typhus epidemic took place , which culminated in the first ten days of February and prompted SS Brigadeführer Glücks , head of office Group D of the SS WVHA , to order drastic measures , as seen from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February 12 , 1943 , on the subject of “ increase in typhus cases ” : [ 39 ] “ In view of the rapid increase in cases of typhus among the members of the guard unit , SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Glücks , has ordered a total quarantine for CC Auschwitz .
In this connection , starting on Feb. 11 , 1943 , all detainees are being disinfested and are not allowed to leave the camp .
As a consequence , the building projects , to which detainees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be stopped .
Resumption of work will be announced by the Central Construction Office.
” Let us return to the “ gassing cellar.
” In the context outlined above , it was most reasonable that at the end of January of 1943 , in order to overcome the loss of the disinfestation units that were out of commission due to fire , the SS authorities planned to utilize as temporary gas chamber employing hydrocyanic acid the morgue 1 of crematorium II .
The name “ gassing cellar ” was evidently taken from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bw 5a and 5b , which was also called “ gassing room.
” [ 40 ] The initiative came , most probably , from Office Group C of the SS WVHA , because Bischoff ’ s letter of January 29 , 1943 , addressed precisely to the head of Office Group C , SS Brigadeführer Kammler , which uses the term “ gassing cellar , ” takes for granted that the addressee knew perfectly well what it was all about .
This is confirmed by the fact that at the end of January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of SS WVHA had requested from the Hans Kori Co. of Berlin an estimate for a “ hot-air disinfestation unit ” for the Auschwitz camp .
The Kori Co. answered on February 2 by a letter to the office in question concerning an “ delousing unit for Auschwitz conc .
camp.
, ” [ 41 ] an “ Listing of iron requirements for a hot-air delousing unit , Auschwitz concentration camp ” for a total of 4,152 kg of metal , [ 42 ] and a “ cost estimate concerning a hot-air delousing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ totaling 4,960.40 RM .
[ 43 ] That same day , February 2 , 1943 , SS Hauptsturmführer Kother , head of Office C/VI of SS WVHA ( commercial questions ) carried out an “ Inspection of disinfestation and sauna units at CC Auschwitz.
” In the corresponding report by SS Standartenführer Eirenschmalz , head of Office C/VI of SS WVHA , on the subject of “ disinfestation units ” it is said that the hot-air units had been originally conceived for a disinfestation by means of hydrocyanic acid , which required a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used for a hot-air disinfestation , which necessitated a temperature of 95°C and had therefore been “ overloaded : ” [ 44 ] “ The ever increasing arrival of many detainees leads to a corresponding utilization of the equipment , and the wear of the latter under such constant employment can only be countered by the installation of air-heaters based on coke .
In order to counteract impending failures of the units , cast-iron hot-air heaters have been envisioned here for the existing disinfestation plants .
Having checked with the supplier , these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three weeks so that the necessary measures against epidemics can be undertaken .
The fires having occurred are for the most part attributable to overheating , which makes it imperative to observe the respective directions when such plants are being utilized.
” The idea of using the morgue no .
1 of the crematorium II as an emergency disinfestation chamber was then extended also to the other crematoria , and the corresponding documentary traces were later interpreted by Jean-Claude Pressac as “ traces ” or “ slip-ups ” referring to homicidal gas chambers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of planning at the Central Construction Office , Kammler changed his program of “ Special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations ” in the Birkenau camp , and suddenly all projects aiming at the use of the crematorium rooms as emergency disinfestation chambers were thrown out .
At the end of July 1943 , disinfestation and disinfection units for 54 000 detainees per day existed or were on order within the complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau .
[ 45 ] But as early as May of 1943 , the documents of the Central Construction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use of rooms in the crematoria as emergency disinfestation units , and thus , according to Pressac , to any kind of “ trace ” or “ slip-up ” hinting at an alleged criminal activity going on in the crematoria .
Already in 1994 I had underlined that , as far as the crematorium II at Birkenau is concerned , no “ criminal trace ” has a date later than March 31 , 1943 , the day of the official hand-over of the crematorium to the camp administration .
Therefore , for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this crematorium for alleged extermination activities there is not even one miserable “ trace , ” and that goes for the other crematoria as well .
[ 46 ] No official historian has ever wondered about the reason for this strange state of affairs , which is certainly not due to a lack of documents : it can be explained only and completely by the fact that the program of improving the normal disinfection and disinfestation units , launched in May of 1943 , rendered absolutely needless any kind of plan to install @ @ @ @ @ @ @ From this project one moved , in fact , to the plan of installing emergency showers for the detainees in the crematoria , which was given up in turn because the 100 showers of buildings 5a and 5b functioned regularly and because – as we have seen in section I.4 .
– completion of the central sauna was now close .
IV .
The Detainee Sick-Bay of Construction Section III at Birkenau In his first study of Auschwitz , which appeared in 1989 , Jean-Claude Pressac has shown a drawing of construction section @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2521 ) drawn in Berlin on June 4 , 1943 .
[ 1 ] On this document , which carries the designation “ CC Auschwitz – construction section III .
Detainee sick-bay a. quarantine sec.
” Construction section III is subdivided into two quarantine camps , one for men and one for women , for 4,088 persons each and two hospital areas , one for men and one for women , for 3,188 persons each .
The two hospital areas contain two barracks for “ surgery , ” 2 barracks for “ X-ray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ pharmacy , ” 4 “ barracks for freshly operated cases ” and 4 “ barracks for the seriously ill. ” [ 1 ] Pressac shows , moreover , the drawing ( plan no .
2417 ) of a “ sick-bay barrack for detainees ” for CC Auschwitz , done the following day , in which we find 6 rooms , 2 for 30 beds , 2 for 24 beds , and 2 for 18 beds .
[ 2 ] The French historian has commented on these documents in the following manner : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Photo 20 ( that of 4 June1943 ) is a real godsend for the revisionists .
Concerning the initial arrangement for the third construction stage at Birkenau ( PoW camp Bauabschnitt III ) , it formally states that this was to serve only as a mixed quarantine and hospital camp .
There is INCOMPATIBILITY in the creation of a health camp a few hundred yards from four Krematorien where , according to official history , people were exterminated on a large scale .
Drawing 2471 of a barracks for sick prisoners planned for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detail the arrangement of the bunks supports this demonstration .
The two drawings date from June 1943 , when the Bauleitung was completing the construction of the four new Krematorien , and it is obvious that PoW camp Birkenau can not have had at one and the same time two opposing functions : health care and extermination .
The plan for building a very large hospital section in BA.III thus shows that the Krematorien were built purely for incineration , without any homicidal gassings , because the SS wanted to ‘ maintain ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argument seems logical and is not easy to counter .
The drawings exist , and what is more they come from SS Economic Administration Head Office in Berlin , so it was no local humanitarian initiative.
” ( Capitals in the original ) Pressac , however , stated that he had found a document contradicting “ this plausible , but theoretical , reasoning ” : [ 1 ] “ The decisive argument proving that drawing 2521 was only a PROJECT , is to compare it with an overall plan of Birkenau , drawing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where BA.III no longer has 16,600 occupants as planned , but 60,000 , i.e .
the occupancy rate of the barracks has increased fourfold , the degree of crowding now being comparable to that of BA.II .
Under these circumstances it becomes nonsense to talk of ‘ hospital barracks . '
” ( capitals and bold-face in the original ) But is this really a decisive argument ?
And did the hospital camp really remain only a “ project ” ?
Many documents unknown to Pressac allow us to give an exhaustive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 .
Genesis and Realization of the Camp Hospital Project of Construction Section III at Birkenau As we have seen in section I , SS Brigadeführer Kammler officially transmitted the written order to the Auschwitz commander concerning “ special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations ” in the Birkenau camp on May 14 , 1943 .
Within the scope of these measures , Kammler ordered construction section III of the Birkenau camp to be turned into a hospital for the detainees on May 17 , 1943 , [ 3 ] as can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bischoff to the SS garrison physician on July 15 , 1943 , which starts with these words : [ 4 ] “ On May 17 [ 1943 ] the construction of a hospital for detainees in construction section III of the PoW camp was ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler.
” The project was entrusted to Office C of the SS WVHA , more specifically to SS Sturmbannführer Wirtz , head of Office C/III – technical questions , and to SS Untersturmführer Birkigt , head of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also the persons signing the drawing 2521 of June 4 , 1943 , [ 5 ] in collaboration with Obersturmführer Grosch , head of main department C/III/1 , civil engineering .
In a memo dated May 28 , 1943 , Birkigt , speaking of himself in the third person , writes : [ 6 ] “ As ordered by the head of Office Group C it is urgently required to have SS Ustuf Birkigt start soonest with the elaboration of the total sanitary installations at Auschwitz in cooperation with the Central Construction Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is to be equipped with a special quarantine area for 8,000 to 12,000 patients .
Within this number , 2,5 [ 00 ] to 4,000 are to be permanent , the remainder as movable enlargement possibility as already planned for Lublin.
” On June 1 , Bischoff sent Kammler a letter concerning “ Immediate measures in PoW camp for improvement of hygienic installations , ” in which he requested the approval of the projects so far elaborated , among them : [ 7 ] “ Planning of construction section III as hospital section @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with isolation section and quarantine , separately for men and women.
” Between May 31 and June 2 , Birkigt was at Auschwitz to discuss with the local staff the “ special measures in PoW camp Auschwitz.
” In a note dated June 4 he writes : [ 8 ] “ As ordered by Head of Office Group C , SS Ustuf ( F ) Birkigt held local discussions with Head of Central Construction Auschwitz , SS Stubaf Bischoff , and the engineer in charge , SS-Ustuf Janisch , in order to clarify @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for PoW camp-Auschwitz ” Birkigt then lists the decisions taken with respect to the camp hospital : The lay-out of construction section 3 was discussed , and was sketched out by myself .
An inspection on-site yielded that the first three rows of barracks and part of the fourth have already been set up .
According to the Central Construction Office , only 89 barracks are available for the hospital area .
Therefore , Head of Central Construction wishes that at least the 16 special barracks be taken from the 1000-bed hospitals east @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adapted to the standard size of 42 x 50 ( There is a problem in that , for transportation of these barracks , some 120 – 140 freight cars will be needed .
It appears possible to revamp the RLM [ 9 ] barracks .
This will be taken care of by C II .
A sketched proposal for the revamping of an RLM barrack was handed over to Central Construction Office ; number of beds 150 in case of double bunks ” On June 1 , the Polish detainee Stefan Millauer ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prepared for Central Construction Office the drawing of a “ wooden housing barrack ( Luftwaffe type ) sick-bay barrack ” for construction section III .
[ 10 ] As we have seen above , on June 4 Wirtz and Birkigt prepared drawing no .
2521 “ CC Auschwitz , construction section III , detainee hospital and quarantine area , ” and on June 5 they did drawing no .
2471 “ sick-bay barrack for detainees.
” Drawing 2637 of Central Construction Office – undated , but no doubt done in June of 1943 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s area “ detainee sick-bay in Construction section 3 of PoW camp.
” It shows in detail the barracks for freshly operated patients ( 6a ) and for the seriously ill ( 6b ) .
[ 11 ] An “ listing of the barracks needed for carrying out the special measures in the PoW camp , ” dated June 11 , 1943 , mentions a total of 183 barracks for “ construction section III ( detainee hospital ) ” 183 barracks , ( plus another two for the “ guard hospital ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the end of June .
By July 13th 26 barracks were already erected , and the work on the circular sewer as well as on a temporary settling basin [ 14 ] had started .
On July 19 Bischoff protested because the firm Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke had taken over two barracks of construction section III without authorization : [ 15 ] “ In order to carry out the erection of a detainee hospital in construction section III as ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing .
Kammler on May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phase is not possible .
The erection of the hospital has already started and , as is known , each barrack shall be equipped with sanitary installations ( washing and toilet facilities ) .
” By July 31 another 6 barracks had been set up .
Furthermore , two circular sewers had been dug and work on the enclosure had started .
[ 16 ] On the same day , the SS garrison physician complained to Bischoff that “ individual drawings ” of 8 types of barracks were still missing “ in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the quarantine section.
” [ 17 ] In his “ Explanatory report on the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz , Upper Silesia ” which Bischoff wrote on September 30 , 1943 , the sector of construction section III of the camp was described as follows : [ 18 ] On September 25 , brick work was going on in barracks 68 , 70 , 71 , 74 , 89 , 91 , 92 and 93 , carpentry work in barracks 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 75 , 76 , 77 , 94 , 128 and 146 .
[ 19 ] On October 1 , 1943 , Jothann , who had just succeeded Bischoff as head of Central Construction Office , [ 20 ] elaborated a “ cost estimate for the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz , ” in which the estimated cost was calculated for each building , built or planned .
For construction section III , designated “ detainee hospital , ” which comprised the buildings listed in the explanatory report mentioned above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : [ 21 ] On October 5 , Jothann wrote as follows about the state of advancement of the work on the “ hospital for the detainees ” : [ 22 ] “ As the most urgent items , barrack types 1-2 [ 23 ] – 6a and 6b [ 24 ] were erected .
In total , there are 12 for the section of seriously ill patients , as well as surgery and X-ray barracks .
Except for one , all of these barracks have been erected as a shell .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chimneys , to the extent that they had to be erected in addition , have been executed in brick .
On 4 of them , plastering has already been started on these walls .
The erection of connecting passages between these barracks is complete .
Eight barracks of type 7 [ 25 ] have been erected as a shell , and brickwork has started on walls and chimneys .
Furthermore , since March ( sic ) 43 , 4 laundry barracks of type no .
9 , 3 kitchen barracks of type @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barracks of type no .
7 , i.e .
altogether 47 barracks have been erected as a shell.
” Jothann then mentions the state of advancement for the enclosure , for roadworks ( access roads , camp roads , and connections ) , drainage , leveling , and sewage treatment , for which 4 sedimentation basins had been nearly completed .
In a file memo of October 11 , Jothann refers to the visit to Auschwitz by Mr. A. Knauth , owner of the Dresden company of the same name , from which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Construction section III had been ordered .
[ 26 ] “ Mr .
Knauth , from Dresden , was introduced to the department head , Obersturmführer ( F ) Jothann , and an inspection of the works was ordered .
On site , it was found that the special barracks ( sic ) for operated ( patients ) had been completed and could be commenced right away .
The following was agreed on , among other things : “ For the housing barracks which occur 111 times , prices were reduced considerably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a single one ; a new offer thus became necessary.
” “ So far , 47 barracks came to be erected .
On these , the interior works , i.e .
brick and plaster works , are being executed at present .
Furthermore , the pole gridwork has been completed for another 7 barracks and erection of the barracks is to begin within the next few days.
” The later reports , up to the end of November , mentioned the advancement of erection of the barracks and ancillary works for the construction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ construction section III .
On February 24 , 1944 , Jothann transmitted a request for metal from the Knauth company to the construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien , explaining : [ 28 ] “ This concerns the allotment of 1844.4 kg of zinc-aluminum and 87.8 kg of brass for the valves and other fittings needed for construction section III of the detainee hospital and quarantine camp of the PoW camp .
[ … ] Justification of the amounts requested is based on the fact that BA III of the PoW @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barracks including kitchen , operating , treatment , sick-bay and quarantine barracks.
” In his “ Report on state of construction works at CC Auschwitz including employment of detainees ” dated March 25 , 1944 , Jothann writes the following : [ 29 ] “ In construction section III of the PoW camp , only the two middle sections have been started for the time being .
Almost all barracks have been erected , the internal works have started.
” On March 31 , 1944 , 700 detainees were working in Construction section @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Kammler , were to stop working for three days , and the detainees were instead to be employed in construction section I and II .
[ 30 ] On the day the Birkenau drawing 3764 was made , to which J.-C. Pressac refers , March 23 , 1944 , the Central Construction Office was still working on the realization of the planned “ detainee sick-bay ” of construction section III .
Let us examine how the apparent contradiction between the drawings 2521 and 3764 , that the French historian has noted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Central Construction Office defined all the bureaucratic practices that applied to the camp hospital .
On May 25 , Jothann wrote an “ Explanatory report regarding the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz O/S .
Erection of 111 barracks for patients , ” in which we can read : [ 31 ] “ The works were started on March 15 , 1943 .
[ 32 ] 37 barracks are finished and the interior work partly done.
” The corresponding cost estimate that Jothann drew up the same day states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ 33 ] Both documents show the “ preliminary verification ” stamp of the construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “ Schlesien ” ( dated June 27 , 1944 ) and the “ verified ” stamp of Office C/II of SS WVHA ( dated July 13 , 1944 ) .
On August 10 , 1944 , the head of Office C/V ( central construction inspectorate ) of SS WVHA , who had received the above-mentioned documentation on June 26 , emitted retroactively – in keeping with bureaucratic practices – the corresponding construction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the documents submitted , I hereby give the order to erect 111 barracks for patients in PoW camp , camp II , Auschwitz , BA III , BW e3 and 3f.
” On the subject of the state of the works , the letter , addressed to construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “ Schlesien ” states : “ Because of the urgency , work has already started .
Regular reports are requested concerning advancement and state of works.
” The construction request for the “ 12 barracks for seriously ill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “ Schlesien ” on August 12 , 1944 .
[ 35 ] The documentation comprised an “ explanatory report [ … ] Erection of 12 barracks for seriously ill patients , ” which said that the works had started on July 15 , 1943 , [ 36 ] a “ budget estimate ” of 373,000 RM , [ 37 ] and an “ attachment to cost estimate for 12 barracks for seriously ill patients ” [ 38 ] on the subject of the labor cost involved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of SS WVHA gave the corresponding construction order [ 39 ] and also acknowledges the “ construction request for the erection of 11 barracks for medical personnel ” submitted by Bischoff on October 9 , 1944 .
[ 40 ] On May 31 , 1944 , 63 barracks existed in construction section III .
[ 41 ] The deportation of the “ Hungarian ” jews caught the Central Construction Office completely unprepared and upset the projects regarding the camp hospital .
In early June , construction section III , in spite of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was transformed ( together with camp BIIc and parts of camps BIIa and BIIe ) into a “ transit camp ” for unregistered Jews destined to be moved to other camps .
On June 2 , Kammler ordered Jothann to relinquish 14 barracks of construction section III to house these jews , but the head of Central Construction Office refused .
Asked by Kammler to state his reasons , [ 42 ] Jothann explained that it could not be done “ for reasons of hygiene and sanitation.
” [ 43 ] Jothann obviously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ June 2 , 1944 the commander of CC Auschwitz II , SS Hauptsturnführer Kramer , yielded the 14 barracks .
[ 44 ] On June 16 , 1944 , “ The hygienist with construction inspectorate “ Schlesien , ” SS Obersturmführer Weber , sent to the head of this construction inspectorate and , for information , to the “ Reich physician SS and Police .
Supreme Hygienist ” in Berlin a report on the subject “ PoW camp – construction section III , ” which opens with these words : [ 45 ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the well gallery at Birkenau , a visit was made on June 15 , 1944 , to the newly occupied construction section III of PoW camp Birkenau .
The first transport of detainees arrived on June 9 , 1944 .
Presently , the construction section is occupied by 7,000 detainees ( Jews ) .
From the point of view of construction as well as hygiene , this construction section is in no way ready for occupancy , because it lacks even the most primitive sanitary installations.
” According to the report , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The housing barracks , according to information supplied by medical orderly SS Oberscharführer Scherpel , are occupied by 800 to 1,000 detainees .
Covering of the barracks with roofing felt is still incomplete , and the connecting camp roads are still under construction .
In the absence of bedsteads the detainees are sleeping on the floor.
” After having described the absence of water supply and sewage installations , the report speaks about the quarantine measures : “ As the detainees of construction section III are to be rapidly used for work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out .
If major delays with respect to the employment are to be avoided in case of an epidemic , it is necessary to subdivide the camp into 4 separate fields by means of enclosures , in place of the usual quarantine measures .
In this way , at least part of the detainees can be continued to be employed or moved away in case of an epidemic.
” Weber concludes his report as follows : “ Due to the occupancy of construction section III before completion of the construction works there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to the absence of the most basic hygienic conditions.
” As I have explained elsewhere , [ 46 ] the enormous arrival of “ Hungarian ” jews caught the Central Construction Office completely by surprise .
The Central Construction Office was not even able to furnish decent housing for a large number of the future forced laborers of the Reich , and this goes all the more for the alleged extermination installations .
On September 23 , the project of a camp hospital at Birkenau was definitely abandoned , as results from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien on the subject “ Erection of 12 barracks for seriously ill in BA.III-BW 12b ” dated December 6 , 1944 : [ 47 ] “ On the occasion of the meeting with Head of Main office , the abandonment of work on BA III of PoW camp was ordered , and dismantling of the 12 barracks for seriously ill patients was begun.
” What remains to be explained is why , in spite of the fact that works were still in progress on the hospital camp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Construction Office drawing 3764 of March 23 , 1944 , shows this part of the camp to be intended for 60,000 detainees .
The explanation of this apparent contradiction is quite simple and concerns the working procedures of the construction bureau of the Central Construction Office , where the technical drawings were made – for the most part by engineers , architects , and draftsmen from among the detainees .
[ 48 ] To save time and materials , copies were made from each drawing , on which later modifications of the project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the “ Situation plan of the PoW camp ” no .
3764 , drawn by Polish detainee Stefan Millauer ( ID no .
63003 ) on March 23 , 1944 , and countersigned by Jothann the next day .
This drawing was done to show the positions of the 111 “ barracks for patients ” of construction section III , in which the rectangles representing the barracks were shown in red .
[ 49 ] According to the procedure , this situation plan shows three stamps : the one – already mentioned – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien ( dated June 27 , 1944 ) , the one of the final verification by Office C/II of SS WVHA ( dated July 13 , 1944 ) , and then the one showing its registration in the list of drawings “ entered in plan distribution book ” dated May 22 , 1944 .
As can be seen from the three stamps , this situation plan was part of the documentation Jothann had sent to the construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien on May 25 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
the “ Explanatory report on the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz , Upper Silesia .
Erection of 111 barracks for patients ” and the corresponding cost estimate .
These three documents – explanatory note , cost estimate , and lay-out – were actually indispensable , if approval for the construction of any sort of building was to be obtained .
[ 51 ] The explanatory note , in fact , refers explicitly to this situation plan : [ 52 ] “ The arrangement of buildings in the area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” A copy of this situation plan was later used to show the positions of the 6 corpse chambers ( BW 3b and 3d ) , i.e.
, it was attached as a situation plan for these buildings to the “ explanatory report for the enlargement of Lager II of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz O/S .
Erection of 6 corpse chambers , ” drawn up by Jothann on June 12 , 1944 , and verified by construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien on August 28 , 1944 , [ 53 ] the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ verified ” of the construction inspectorate placed on the situation plan no .
3764 .
The stamp of registration in the “ plan distribution book ” has the date of July 18 , 1944 .
The 6 corpse chambers were to be built in construction section I and II , and precisely below these , in the situation plan in question , there appears unmistakably : [ 54 ] “ The corpse chambers to be included are marked in red on the situation plan.
” Let us look at the copy of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : on this copy we can read “ Construction section-3 for 60,000 pris.
” The document does not show any verification stamp , only the stamp of registration in the “ plan distribution book , ” dated Dec. 7 , 1944 .
It is thus clear that it refers to a project later than that of the 111 barracks for patients and to that of the 6 corpse chambers .
It thus undoubtedly dates from the autumn of 1944 .
In conclusion , because the camp hospital was planned and partly realized and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” to the contrary is worthless , what he has written remains fully valid : “ There is INCOMPATIBILITY in the creation of a health camp a few hundred yards from four Krematorien where , according to official history , people were exterminated on a large scale… The plan for building a very large hospital section in BA.III thus shows that the crematoria were built purely for incineration , without any homicidal gassings , because the SS wanted to “ maintain ” its concentration camp labor force .

The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents
By Carlo Mattogno
Published: 2004-08-01
In the historical expert opinion drawn up for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel trial launched against her by David Irving (January 11 to April 11, 2000), Robert Jan van Pelt, when he was unable to find any proof of the reality of the extermination of jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz, amassed all the available “traces,” most of them already gathered by J.-C. Pressac, raised them falsely to the higher level of “proof,” and later invented a “convergence of evidence” essentially based upon a systematic disfiguration of the documents. Also, all documents that did not lend themselves to such an operation of disguise were simply ignored by him. In his report, van Pelt accuses the revisionist historians of not yet having undertaken the task of “revising history” and adds: [1]
“True revisionist history not only destroys an inherited view of the past, but provides an alternative. […] Up to today holocaust deniers have been unable to produce, in forty years of effort, a counter-narrative to the inherited history of Auschwitz.”
As far as I am personally concerned, I have for years been offering a “counter-narrative” in my writings, both in articles and in books, the latest of which – Special Treatment in Auschwitz – Origin and Meaning of a Term[2] – presents a positive and documented story of Auschwitz with respect to “special treatment” and to “special action” based on documents, which van Pelt either ignores or is unaware of. And it is not an accident that van Pelt, be it in his report or in his recent book The Case for Auschwitz. Evidence from the Irving Trial[3] (which is an enlarged version of the report) does not even quote me a single time!
In this study I shall present another positive contribution to the central topic of the Auschwitz In the historical expert opinion drawn up for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel trial launched against her by David Irving (January 11 to April 11, 2000), Robert Jan van Pelt, when he was unable to find any proof of the reality of the extermination of jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz, amassed all the available “traces,” most of them already gathered by J.-C. Pressac, raised them falsely to the higher level of “proof,” and later invented a “convergence of evidence” essentially based upon a systematic disfiguration of the documents. Also, all documents that did not lend themselves to such an operation of disguise were simply ignored by him. In his report, van Pelt accuses the revisionist historians of not yet having undertaken the task of “revising history” and adds: [1]
“True revisionist history not only destroys an inherited view of the past, but provides an alternative. […] Up to today holocaust deniers have been unable to produce, in forty years of effort, a counter-narrative to the inherited history of Auschwitz.”
As far as I am personally concerned, I have for years been offering a “counter-narrative” in my writings, both in articles and in books, the latest of which – Special Treatment in Auschwitz – Origin and Meaning of a Term[2] – presents a positive and documented story of Auschwitz with respect to “special treatment” and to “special action” based on documents, which van Pelt either ignores or is unaware of. And it is not an accident that van Pelt, be it in his report or in his recent book The Case for Auschwitz. Evidence from the Irving Trial[3] (which is an enlarged version of the report) does not even quote me a single time!
In this study I shall present another positive contribution to the central topic of the Auschwitz historiography: the alleged homicidal gas chambers of the crematoria at Birkenau. It goes without saying that the rich documentation on which my conclusion is based has been systematically ignored by R.J. van Pelt.
I. The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau within the Framework of “special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations” in Birkenau
1. Himmler’s visit to Auschwitz on July 17/18, 1942, and the new functions of the PoW camp at Birkenau
On the occasion of his visit to Auschwitz on July 17 and 18, 1942, Himmler decided to enlarge the PoW camp Birkenau for a capacity of 200,000 detainees. The Central Construction Office (central construction office) went into operation immediately and, on 3 August 1942, its head, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Bischoff, sent to Amt CV (central building inspectorate) of SS WVHA a new lay-out – a modification of lay-out Nr. 1453 of 8 July 1942 – which took into account the enlargement of the camp towards the new capacity. Bischoff’s letter of transmittal referred explicitly to Himmler’s visit:[4]
“The enlargement of the project has been viewed by the Head of Amt C, SS-Brigadeführer und Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. [doctor of engineering] Kammler on the occasion of the visit by the Reichsführer [i.e. Himmler] on July 17 and 18, 1942 […].”
On August 15, 1942, the Central Construction Office drew up another “Situation map of the PoW camp Auschwitz O/S,” which indeed foresaw a strength of 200,000 detainees.[5] On August 27, Bischoff sent to Office C of the SS Main Office of Economic Administration (Wirtschaftsverwaltungs-Hauptamt, WVHA) a letter with attachment of a “Situation map, M: 1:2000, 2 copies,” in which he confirmed:[6]
“The enclosed situation map takes into account the recently decided enlargement of the PoW camp towards a strength of 200,000 men.”
In the succeeding months, the strength of PoW camp Birkenau was reset at 130,000 to 140,000 detainees, but the reason for its enlargement remained unchanged.
On September 15, 1942, a meeting was in Berlin held between Reich minister Speer and SS Obergruppenführer Pohl, head of SS WVHA, in which another five officials took part, including SS Brigadeführer Kammler, head of Office C of SS WVHA. The next day, Pohl wrote a detailed report of the meeting for Himmler. The discussion had centered on four main points, the first of which was the “enlargement of barrack camp Auschwitz due to eastern migration.” On this topic, Pohl notes:[7]
“Reich minister Speer has fully approved the enlargement of the barrack camp at Auschwitz and has set aside an additional building volume of 13.7 million Reichsmark.
This building volume covers the erection of some 300 barracks together with the corresponding utility and service plants.
The necessary raw materials will be assigned during the 4th quarter of 1942 and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters of 1943.
Upon completion of this additional project a total of 132,000 men can be housed at Auschwitz”
Pohl then notes that:
“All present were in agreement that the workforce available in the concentration camps should now be used for large-scale armament tasks.”
In order to bolster the workforce at other plants, Pohl stressed the necessity to withdraw civilian German and foreign personnel from armament works, whose workforce would thus be insufficient. The missing workers, so Pohl, should be replaced with detainees from the concentration camps. Pohl went on to say:
“Reich minister Speer, in this way, wants to assure the supply of an initial number of 50,000 able-bodied jews in self-contained factories with available housing.
We shall screen out the workforce necessary for this purpose at Auschwitz from the eastern migration, in order to assure that our existing plants will not be adversely affected in their performance and their construction by a permanent change of personnel.
Thus, the able-bodied jews destined for the eastern migration will have to interrupt their journey and will have to serve in the armament plants.”
The “eastern migration” (Ostwanderung) was the deportation of jews to the east. In this context the last sentence obviously means that those jews who were unfit for work would not interrupt their eastern migration, but continue their “journey” to the east – and would thus not stop at Auschwitz.
Showers are to be installed in Krematorium III; RGVA, 502-1-83, p. 338 (click to enlarge).
On the day of the meeting, September 15, 1942, Kammler wrote a letter to the Plenipotentiary for the Organization of the Construction Industry concerning “special construction tasks for concentration camp Auschwitz,” by which he informed him of the decisions taken on the subject of Auschwitz:[8]
“With reference to the meeting between Reich minister Prof. Speer and SS Obergruppenführer und General of the Waffen-SS Pohl please find below [the description of] the additional building volume for the special program of K.L. Auschwitz:
Summary of the additional buildings required, together with the corresponding volume.
Summary of building materials and barracks required.
The work will, for the most part, be executed by detainees. A duration of 50 weeks has been set out for the whole project. Aside from the detainees an average of 350 professional and auxiliary workers will be needed. This results in 105,000 man-days.”
In October of 1942, the construction project “PoW camp Auschwitz” assumed the official name “execution of special treatment,” which thus confirmed the new function of the camp. This task consisted of a vast construction program that was to transform it into a source of manpower for the industries, which had already sprung up or were to spring up in the vicinity of Auschwitz.
The aim of this change in the function of the camp – decided on by Himmler when he visited Auschwitz – was very clearly explained by Rudolf Höß in a speech he gave at Auschwitz on May 22, 1943, in the presence of the head of Office Group C of the SS WVHA, Kammler, and other officials, and in which he outlined the history and the development of the institutional tasks of the camp:[9]
“The Auschwitz camp evolved in 1940, in the triangle between the Vistula and the Sola [its tributary] rivers, after the evacuation of 7 Polish villages, by the enlargement of the area of an artillery barracks and through many additional constructions, reconstructions or changes. Much building material resulting from demolitions was reused in the process. Initially, it was to be a quarantine camp, it later became a Reich camp resulting in a new objective.
In view of the general situation which at times became critical, its location at the juncture of the Reich and the Government General proved to be very useful on account of the fact that replenishment of the camp with manpower was thus assured. An additional factor that has recently arisen was the solution of the jewish question, which necessitated solving the problem of housing for a first load of 60,000 detainees, to grow to 100,000 shortly. The detainees in the camp are, for the most part, destined for the major industrial projects which are taking shape in the vicinity of the camp. Within its territory of interest the camp comprises various armament factories for which manpower must be furnished on a regular basis.”
Hence, the “solution of the jewish question” did not require extermination installations, but rather housing construction projects for 100,000 detainees, and the alleged extermination function was thus not only a minor issue, but was totally absent.
At the end of October, the Central Construction Office drew up the general project for the PoW camp in conformity with the directives given by Speer and Pohl. The corresponding file was entitled:[10]
“Project: PoW camp Auschwitz (carrying out of special treatment). Master of works: Reichsführer SS; SS Main Office of Economic Administration, Office Group C. Berlin-Lichterfelde-West, VIII Up a 2”
The project had an overall budget of 13,760,000 RM and contained among other things a situation plan for Birkenau covering 140,000 detainees.[11]
However, at the beginning of January 1943, the total strength of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp had not even reached 30,000[12] detainees. The reason was essentially the extremely high mortality registered since the summer of 1942, caused by a terrible typhus epidemic, which had broken out in July that year, and by the inadequate hygienic and sanitary conditions at the Birkenau camp. By the end of April 1943, the strength of the camp had gone up to 53,000 detainees[13] but was still far below target.
2. Expanding the Birkenau Cremation Installations
The enlargement of the Birkenau camp, together with the terrible typhus epidemic that ravaged it and the high mortality rate among the detainees resulting from this caused the SS authorities to set out on an adequate enlargement of the cremation plants in the Birkenau camp. It is well known that, in the beginning, a single crematorium (the future crematorium II)[14] had been planned for this camp.
Urgent request for estimate to install 100 showers and water heater in Krematorium III; APMO, BW 30/34, p. 40 (click to enlarge).
In the letter of August 3, 1942, mentioned above, Bischoff said:[15]
“Furthermore, the site for the new crematorium, next to the quarantine camp, was decided on.”
Therefore, as late as August 3, 1942, the head of the Auschwitz Central Construction Office knew of only one crematorium.
In a file memo written by SS Untersturmführer Ertl on August 21, 1942, in connection with the visit of Kurt Prüfer (chief engineer of Topf & Söhne, transl.) to Auschwitz on the 19th, one can read:[16]
“Regarding the construction of a 2nd crematorium with 5 triple muffle ovens, the results of the negotiations with the Reich Security Main Office about the assignment of [material] contingents, now under way, must first be ascertained.”
Therefore, the decision to build crematorium III had not yet been taken.
The same document informs us that Prüfer’s proposal to transfer two ovens with 8 muffles from Mogilev to Auschwitz was accepted on August 19. This proposal (as results from a hand-written note in the margin) was approved by WVHA on August 24. This signifies at least that up until then the number of muffles for the ovens in crematoria IV and V had not yet been decided upon.
August 1942 was the month with the highest mortality rates ever in the history of the Auschwitz camp. Altogether 8,600[17] detainees died during this month alone, nearly twice as many as had been the case in July (some 4,400 detainees). The first trace of the decision to build the other three crematoria appears on August 14 (date on the drawing 1678 of crematorium IV/V).[18] Up to the day before, over 2,500 detainees had already died, the average mortality being 190 deaths per day. Between August 14 and 19 (the day to which the discussion summarized in the file memo of August 21 referred) the mortality was even higher: some 2,400 deaths, about 400 per day on average. The climax occurred on August 19, when more than 500 deaths were registered. On August 1, the strength of the male camp stood at 21,421 detainees. Until the 19th, 4,113 detainees died, an average of 216 each day, with 1,675 dying between August 14 and 19, an average rate of 279 per day. The average strength between August 1 and 19 was about 22,900 detainees.
What would have happened if another typhus epidemic had broken out at a time, when the camp had reached its planned numbers of inmates of 200,000? The reason for the decision to build three more crematoria was, therefore, due solely to worries, more than legitimate, with respect to hygiene and sanitation.
3. The “Special Measures for the improvement of Hygienic installations” in the Birkenau camp.
Questionaire about use of crematory exhaust gases to heat water for showers in Krematorium II and III; RGVA, 502-1-312, p. 8 (click to enlarge).
In early May 1943, the authorities in Berlin and the SS administration at Auschwitz, in their effort to realize the program decided on by Himmler at the end of July 1942, were therefore confronted by two serious interrelated problems: a scarcity of manpower caused by the high mortality among the detainees and the serious situation in the field of hygiene and sanitation that was its cause. It therefore became imperative to improve the hygienic installations of the camp.
On May 7, 1943, SS Brigadeführer Kammler, head of Office Group C, Construction, of the SS WVHA, met with six high camp officials at Auschwitz: SS Obersturmbannführer Höß, commander of the camp, SS Obersturmbannführer Möckel, head of SS garrison administration, SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff, head of Central Construction Office, SS Sturmbannführer Cäsar, head of agricultural units, SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths, SS garrison physician, and SS Untersturmführer Kirschnek, chief civil engineer of the construction office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz, to which the Auschwitz main camp was attached. Two days later, Bischoff wrote a file memo on the topics discussed. In this document, he summarizes the statements of the SS garrison physician with respect to the installations under his authority in the following way:[19]
“General description by garrison physician, stating that the maintenance of the health of the detainees, destined for the important tasks ahead, appears questionable on account of the poor conditions of latrines, an unsatisfactory sewer system, a lack of sick bays and separate latrines for the patients, together with a lack of possibilities for washing, bathing, and disinfestation.
For an improvement within the PoW camp it is suggested that the latrines be equipped with seats and lids, and that to counter the repeated failures of the sewage systems a number of adjacent pits be installed, which would be emptied from time to time and the contents removed and put at the disposal of the agriculture. Regarding this, the head of the Central Construction Office recommends to install a sluice gate upstream from the sewer network and to counter-flush the latrines by means of pressurized water.
He opposes the system of pits, as the high water table would cause an infection of the ground water, and the necessary separation [from the ground water] by means of basins is difficult and cannot be undertaken at the present time. A gross estimate of the amount of night-soil leads to the conclusion that this material cannot be disposed of at all in the vicinity of the camp. The principal difficulties could only be overcome by a complete conversion of the sewer system to a pipe network complete with pumping station for which, unfortunately, the necessary equipment is unavailable.
The Brigadeführer takes note of the particular urgency of these questions and promises to help in any way whatsoever within the limits of his possibilities in order to improve the situation. He is, however, surprised about favorable reports from the competent medical staff regarding sanitary and hygienic conditions, whereas immediately afterwards, contradicting reports are presented to him. Head of Central Construction Office is ordered to prepare for Head of Office Group C, by May 15, 1943, proposals for the alleviation of the problems, together with a scheme for the proper effluent treatment, leaving aside any present difficulties of supply, which he will handle himself.
The garrison physician qualified as inadequate the [conversion of] stables into sick-bays. He criticizes the absence of lighting and water in the building section of the Swiss barracks. Furthermore, the number of barracks is insufficient so that the installation of further barracks in this sick-bay section must be investigated. The deficiencies observed, on closer inspection, always turn out to be interactions between the difficulties mentioned initially; the necessity of a separation from all other questions of construction and of finding a special solution becomes apparent.
As a permanent solution for the delousing in the PoW camp, the garrison physician suggested to create, for each subsection of the building project (10 altogether), complete disinfestation facilities including the possibility of bathing. On the other hand, the head of Central Construction Office indicated that the large disinfestation unit of the PoW camp is already under construction and should be finished first. Excluding further difficulties with respect to the availability of qualified workers, this should be the case by the end of August. A definite date could not be set by SS-Stubaf Bischoff. As an intermediate measure until that date, Brigadeführer will furnish, by way of a loan, a new short-wave delousing train.”
“Special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations in the PoW camp Auschwitz”, RGVA, 502-1-83, p. 311 (report on next page; click to enlarge).
On May 8, at 18:05 hours, a telegram addressed to “command of concentration camp Auschwitz” arrived from the concentration camp Groß-Rosen, worded as follows:[20]
“SS Stubaf Bischoff and man in charge to report to SS Brigadeführer and Major Generalof the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler on Monday, May 10, 1943, at 11 hours bringing all documents, plans, material contingents for water supply and drainage PoW camp 200,000 men.”
The telegram was signed by SS Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Gideon, vice-commander of KL Groß-Rosen.
On his return journey back to Berlin, Kammler had passed through Groß-Rosen and had decided there to have Bischoff come to Berlin, ordering Gideon to convey the message to Auschwitz. For greater safety, he had also conveyed the convocation to his Berlin office; thus, at 20:05 hours, the telex service (FS-Dienst) at Auschwitz received another telegram from SS-Oberscharführer Schürmann at the office of the Adjutant of Office C/I of the SS WVHA. The message, addressed to Bischoff personally, said:[21]
“SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler has ordered you to appear in Berlin on Monday, May 10, 1943, in the morning, with all plans and calculations for water supply and drainage of PoW camp Auschwitz.”
“Report on measures taken for the realization of special program ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler for PoW camp Auschwitz”: sewage plant, drainage system, toilets, wash rooms, drink water treatment plant; RGVA, 502-1-83, p. 311 (click to enlarge).
This started a vast program of improvement in the field of sanitation at the PoW camp (the Birkenau camp), labeled variously in the documents as “immediate program,” “special measure,” “special program,” “special construction measure,” and “special action.”[22]
The corresponding written order was transmitted by Kammler to the Auschwitz commander on May 14.[23]
4. The “Special Measures for the Improvement of Hygienic Installations” and the crematoria of Birkenau
From the beginning of its realization, the crematoria entered into the program of improvement of the Birkenau camp.
On May 13, 1943, Bischoff wrote a “report concerning the division of work for the immediate program at PoW camp Auschwitz,” in which each officer, non-com, and civilian employee of the Central Construction Office was charged with specific tasks within the scope of this program. The tasks for the civilian employee Jährling are outlined as follows under item 9 of this report:[24]
“Civilian employee Jährling has to carry out the installation of heaters and boilers in the wash barracks, as well as the showers in the undressing room of crematorium III. Concerning the showers, SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff will consult with camp commander SS-Obersturmführer Höß.
SS WVHA will transmit an OT-drawing [OT = Organisation Todt, German national construction organization] for the disinfestation ovens.”
Two days later, on May 15, Bischoff sent the following telegram to the Topf company:[25]
“Urgent telegram!
Address: Topfwerke Erfurt.
Text: Bring along Monday estimated project for hot water supply to 100 showers. Provide for installation of heating coils or boilers in waste incinerator under construction at crem. III or flue-gas duct for exploitation of high exhaust temperatures. Necessary increase of oven level to accommodate large reserve tank would be possible. Please furnish such drawing to Mr. Prüfer by Monday, May 17.”
On May 16, Bischoff sent to Kammler a “report on measures taken for the realization of special program ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler for PoW camp Auschwitz,” in which we read under item 6:[26]
“6. Disinfestation plant. For the disinfestation of the clothing of detainees, each subsection of BAII will have an OT-disinfestation unit. To ensure a faultless delousing of the detainees themselves, the two existing detainee baths of BAI will be equipped with heaters and boilers to provide hot water for the existing showers. Furthermore, it is planned to install heating coils in the garbage incinerator at crematorium III thereby to provide water for the shower installation to be built in the cellar of crematorium III. Concerning the design of this unit, negotiations have been carried out with Topf & Söhne of Erfurt.”
The project of setting up shower facilities in the basement of crematorium III was quickly extended to crematorium II as well. On June 5, the Topf Co. sent the following letter to the Central Construction Office at Auschwitz, with reference to “Krematorium II and III waste incineration furnace”:[27]
“Enclosed please find drawing D 60446 concerning the incorporation of boilers into garbage incineration furnaces. Our site-engineer Wilh. Koch has been sent the same drawing. In case you agree with the execution of the unit according to this drawing, please inform Mr. Koch.
Please forward also to us your agreement in this matter, in order to allow us to establish the corresponding change-order.”
The extension of the project to crematoria II and III is confirmed by a questionnaire concerning the Birkenau crematoria, undated, drawn up by Bischoff in June of 1943. The head of Central Construction Office replies to the first four questions saying that there were 18 ovens[28] in crematoria II – V with a total of 46 muffles, that they had been built by the Topf company in the years 1942-1943, that they were coke-fired, that all of them were non-mobile, that they had a total of 6 chimneys, 16 m high and that the chimneys were not equipped with forced-draft blowers. To the fifth question, “are the exhaust gases being used?,” Bischoff replies “planned but not realized,” and to the following question “if yes, state purpose,” he answers “for bath installations in crema. II and III.”[29]
The project of installing 100 showers in crematorium III (and another set of showers in crematorium II) could not have been aimed at the personnel of the crematoria, because at that time only 54 showers had been planned for the central sauna, the disinfection and disinfestation unit for the entire camp, as Bischoff had written on June 4, 1943, to the head of Office C/I of SS WVHA:[30]
“The shower section for the detainees contains 54 showers, fed by 2 boilers of 3,000 liters each. The unit has been laid out for continuous use.”
Actually, the “shower room” of the central sauna was equipped with only 50 showers,[31] but it is thus clear that the “bathing facilities in Krema. II u. III” referred to in the questionnaire mentioned were to serve the detainees of the entire camp.
“Use of exhaust gases of furnaces of Krematorium II through V”; RGVA, 502-1-313, p. 11 (click to enlarge).
On June 24, 1943, crematorium III was handed over by the Central Construction Office to the housing administration of the Kommandantur. In the inventory for the basement, attached to the corresponding transfer statement, 14 showers[32] are mentioned for morgue 1, which have an obvious relationship with the project discussed. No showers are mentioned[33] for the inventory of basement of crematorium II, handed over officially on March 31, 1943, precisely because the shower project was started only in May. Of course, 14 showers may have served for the personnel of the crematorium only. They were probably installed by the camp workshop.
The initial project was left pending for two reasons. Primarily because in each of the two disinfestation units of construction section I (buildings 5a and 5b) 50 showers[34] were installed. Those works began at the end of May, as we can learn from the “construction report concerning special measures at PoW camp,” which Bischoff wrote on May 30, 1943:[35]
“Installation of hot water supply was started in 2 delousing barracks (baths for detainees).”
By July 13 the two units were already in operation, as we can gather from the “progress report concerning works for special measures at PoW camp and main camp,” which Bischoff compiled on that date:[36]
“Hot water supply in the two delousing barracks (baths for detainees) of construction section I is operational.”
In parallel, the construction of the “disinfection and disinfestation facility” (the so-called central sauna) moved ahead diligently, and its termination was scheduled for the beginning of September.[37] Eventually, the unit went into operation – albeit “during the day and for some hours at a time” – in early December,[38] to be handed over to the Auschwitz administration a month and a half later.[39]
Still, the project of showers resurfaces on March 25, 1944. On that day, SS Obersturmführer Werner Jothann, who had succeeded Bischoff as head of Central Construction Office on October 1, 1943, sent a letter to Topf on the subject “PoW camp Auschwitz, Kremat., exploitation of exhaust gases,” in which he wrote:[40]
“You are asked to send soonest offer with pictorial representation and calculations plus detailed explanation. Crematoria II and III, possibly also IV and V are being considered.”
In a listing of Topf dated April 13, 1943, referring to an unknown letter with the reference “24674/43/Ro-Pru/Pa,” it is written:[41]
“2 Topf disinfestation ovens for crematorium II at PoW camp, Auschwitz.”
There is also an invoice from the firm Vedag Betriebe Schlesien, dated July 28, 1943, on the subject of “Auschwitz-Krematorium” which concerns “sealing works done on the disinfestation plant.”[42] It is known that the “2 Topf disinfestation ovens” had been ordered from Topf on February 11, 1943, (order no. 148) for building 32, i.e., for the central sauna.[43] There is also an “individual invoice” from Vedag with date and text identical to the one already mentioned, in which there is an explicit reference to “BW 32 – disinfestation facility.”[44]
These two documents, even if they contain erroneous references, do confirm the general atmosphere with the crematoria being used for sanitary purposes as described in this section.
As J.-C. Pressac has written correctly:[45]
“It is obvious that PoW camp Birkenau cannot have had at one and the same time two opposing functions: health care and extermination.”
Since the planning of the sanitary installations in the crematoria at Birkenau is based on irrefutable documentary proof, whereas the existence of installations for mass exterminations, according to J.-C. Pressac’s own admission, is founded solely on “traces,” it is quite obvious what the real function of the crematoria was.
II. The Use of the Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in 1943 – 1944
1. Jean-Claude Pressac’s Thesis
As is well known, Jean-Claude Pressac’s fundamental thesis on Auschwitz is the assumed transformation of the two morgues no. 1 of crematoria II and III into homicidal gas chambers from the end of 1942 onwards. He also claims that the morgues of crematoria IV and V initially served as corpse storage facilities for the bodies of those gassed in the so-called “Bunkers” of Birkenau, and later as corpse storage facilities for the bodies of those gassed in the homicidal gas chambers installed in these crematoria themselves.
One of the major arguments of this thesis is based upon drawing 2003 of the Central Construction Office, dated December 19, 1942, which is a re-issue of the preceding drawings 932 and 933 and which addresses the “relocation of basement access to the roadside.”[1] Pressac notes that in the design of the basement of this building, a corpse chute – an inclined cement plane which allowed the corpses to be slid down from the outside into the basements of crematoria II and III – is now missing, and he comments:[1]
“Replacing a chute designed to take corpses by an ordinary stairway defies all logic – unless the future corpses entered while they were still alive and were able to walk down the stairs.”
Later Pressac came back to this argument with the same claim:[2]
“On December 19, Dejaco produced a new drawing – Nr. 2003 – for the basement, and made a major ‘architectural blunder’ at the same time. If we follow the indications on the new drawing, the northern stairway was now the only possible access to the morgues, which meant that the dead would have had to walk down those stairs!”
Listing of metal requirements for, i.a., two disinfestation ovens for Krematorium II of PoW camp Auschwitz; APMO, BW 30/34, p. 47 (click to enlarge).
Robert Jan van Pelt and Deborah Dwork later took over Pressac’s argument with the following comment:[3]
“He [Dejaco] canceled the planned corpse chute, which in the earlier plans had been the main access to the basement morgues. Live human beings descend staircases. Dead bodies are dropped through a chute. The victims would walk to their death.”
Of course, the chute for the corpses was not eliminated,[4] but the assumed transformation of the morgues in the crematoria into “undressing rooms” and homicidal “gas chambers” implied an important effect: the absence, within the crematoria, of morgues for the corpses of the registered detainees who died a “normal” death in the camp. Robert Jan van Pelt has noted this and stated:[5]
“In fact, the situation was much worse,[6] because in February 1943 all the morgues in crematoria 2 and 3 had been redesigned and were being equipped to function as undressing rooms and gas chambers, while the morgues in crematoria 4 and 5 were to destined [sic] as undressing rooms. By the time the crematoria were finished, Auschwitz had virtually no permanently dedicated morgue capacity.” (emph. in original)
This would have entailed serious problems of sanitation and hygiene, because one could not have scheduled in advance the cremation of registered detainees who had died in the camp and who would thus have had to wait for days or even weeks[7] on end for the crematoria to be freed from the victims of the alleged homicidal gassing operations. If Pressac’s thesis were true, the documents referring to the storage of corpses of deceased detainees in the morgues of the camp and to their transport to the crematoria would have had to contain explicit references to the dangerous sanitary and hygienic situation that would have arisen. First and foremost, references to protests and proposals to solve this problem by the SS garrison physician would be expected in the documents. What do the documents say about this?
2. Documents Regarding the Use of Morgues in the Crematoria at Birkenau
“Immediate hygienic measures in PoW camp Auschwitz, erection of corpse halls in every subsection”; RGVA, 502-1-170, p. 262 (click to enlarge).
On March 20, 1943, the SS garrison physician of Auschwitz, SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths, wrote a letter to the camp commander (we shall discuss this letter in the next section) on the subject of the enlargement of the hospital facilities for the detainees, in which he states:[8]
“For the removal of the corpses from the detainee sick-bay to the crematoria 2 covered hand carts must be procured, allowing the transportation of 50 corpses each.”
The reference concerns crematorium II, which had been put into operation at a reduced throughput on February 20 and which was still the only crematory functioning by March 20.
On July 20, 1943, the SS garrison physician wrote the following letter to the Central Construction Office:[9]
“Those camp sections of construction phase II already in use are still lacking corpse chambers made of concrete or brick; it is essential that they be provided urgently.
The wooden sheds currently used for this purpose are strongly subject to rat attacks; on removal of the corpses there is hardly a corpse that does not show signs of this. The rats are strongly attracted by the corpses and are proliferating at a rate, which makes any control measures practically futile. The rat flea is a carrier of the plague. Any case of plague within the camp can have unimaginable consequences for our men as well as for the detainees of concentration camp Auschwitz. This can only be avoided by a hygienically satisfactory conservation of the corpses, accompanied by intensive rat control measures.
Therefore, the Auschwitz SS garrison physician makes the urgent request to build the necessary corpse chambers immediately, even if simple means have to be employed.”
The type of corpse shed then in use was otherwise in conformity with the directives of the Main Office for Budget and Buildings) of November 25, 1941.[10] Bischoff replied to Dr. Wirths on August 4 by the following letter:[11]
“With reference to the above-mentioned letter, please be informed that based on the discussion on Saturday, 31 July 1943, in which SS Standartenführer Dr. Mrugowski, SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Wirths and the undersigned took part, the construction of dedicated morgues in the individual subsections of the PoW camp, as per the aforementioned request of the SS garrison physician will not be carried out.
SS Standartenführer Mrugowski has decreed during the discussion that the corpses are to be removed twice daily, in the morning and in the evening, into the morgues of the crematoria; in this way, the separate construction of morgues in the individual subsections can be avoided.”
In early 1944, the SS garrison physician succeeded in having one brick-type corpse shed built, which became building 8a.[12] However, in May 1944 Dr. Wirths again raised the problem of solid corpse sheds for construction phase II at Birkenau, turning to SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff, head of Construction Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien. The latter wrote to SS Obersturmführer Jothann, head of Central Construction Office at Auschwitz, and informed him of the request.
In this letter, dated May 15, 1944, Bischoff expressed himself as follows:[13]
“SS garrison physician Auschwitz has requested the construction of a solid morgue for construction section II – CC II Auschwitz.
Central Construction Office Auschwitz is ordered to plan the construction in cooperation with Auschwitz local SS administration and to request immediately the means of construction as well as GB-permission.[14]
As justification, letter from SS-Main office of Economic Administration dated May 12, 1944, – copy attached – is to be annexed at top of request.
On account of urgency of execution, works are allowed to be started as of now.”
“Erection of corpse halls in construction sections II, camp II Birkenau”; RGVA, 502-1-170, p. 260 (click to enlarge).
On May 22, a meeting was held at Auschwitz grouping SS Obersturmbannführer Höß, SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff, SS Hauptsturmführer Baer, who had been appointed Kommandant of Auschwitz I on May 11, 1944, SS Sturmbannführer Bischoff, head of Construction Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien, and SS Obersturmführer Jothann, head of Central Construction Office. The latter wrote a file memo, in which he summarized the results as follows:[15]
“The meeting was called in order to define the location and the size of the c[orpse]-halls requested. It became evident that an inclusion into the present lay-out is problematic. If enough space for the construction of the c[orpse]-halls is to be made available, at least part of the toilet and washing barracks would have to be dismantled. It is however difficult to do without these barracks under the present circumstances.
SS Obersturmbannführer Höß points out that in accordance with a presently valid order, the daily load of c.[orpses] is to be removed daily in the morning by means of a dedicated truck; if this order is carried out, an accumulation of c. cannot arise and therefore the construction of the above-mentioned halls is not imperative. SS Ostubaf. Höß therefore demands not to undertake the construction of the halls under discussion.”
But Dr. Wirths does not stop there and on May 25 comes back with a letter addressed to the senior garrison SS officer:[16]
“On July 20, 1943, I brought to the attention of the Central Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz the fact that in the women’s camp of Auschwitz II and in the camps of construction section II concrete and brick morgues are still missing and that their construction is urgently required in view of the fact that the available wooden sheds are absolutely unsuitable for the conservation of corpses because of the danger of epidemics and because of rat attacks. Improperly stocked corpses will always attract many rats.
In the sick-bays of the camps at cc Auschwitz II a certain number of corpses accumulate daily on a regular basis. While their transportation to the crematoria has been organized and takes place twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, it does happen that on account of the scarcity of vehicles and/or fuel the corpses are not taken care of for 24 hours.
For reasons of hygiene and as a prevention of epidemics, any hospital has a corpse chamber for the short-term storage of bodies as they accumulate. Normally, in common hospitals the number of beds does not exceed 500, whereas in the various sick-bays for the detainees the number of beds amounts to 3-4,000 on average. In my opinion it is therefore patently evident that proper storage space for the numerous bodies must be available.
In my note of July 20, 1943, and in all preceding notes to the Central Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz I have requested only the provision of corpse chambers, never the construction of corpse halls in dedicated buildings or sheds; I request steps for the provision of such corpse chambers to be undertaken immediately on account of the urgency of the matter. Otherwise I shall have to advise my superior commander in order to avoid a most serious risk of epidemics for the whole camp caused by the present hygienically unsatisfactory storage of the corpses.
I enclose a sketch showing a corpse chamber. Such chambers are urgently required in the inmate sick-bay of the women’s camp, of building section II, subcamps a, b, e and f. These chambers can be either built within the out-patient barracks or attached to them on the outside.”
This letter, even though it was addressed to the camp commander, concerned also the head of Central Construction Office who wrote to the head of Construction Inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Policei Schlesien on June 12, attaching his own file memo of May 23, postdating it May 30, as well as the letter from Dr. Wirths of May 15 with the sketch of a corpse chamber attached to the letter of May 25. Jothann declared himself ready to undertake immediately – upon their approval – the construction of the corpse chambers in the form requested.[17]
3. The Significance of these Documents
The documents presented in the preceding section refute totally and radically Pressac’s interpretation of the transformation of the Birkenau crematoria in a criminal sense.
There is not even the slightest hint of an improper (criminal) use of the morgues in the crematoria in the letters of the SS garrison physician. Such improper use would have raised immensely the hygienic and sanitary problems that he evoked. The morgues of all crematoria, on the contrary, appear to be available at any time and unconditionally. I say at any time, because there is no mention whatsoever, in any of the known documents, of a temporary unavailability of the morgues on account of a reason other than the temporary storage of the bodies of registered detainees. I add unconditionally, because the use of a morgue for the purpose of storing corpses is never subject to a different use in any of the known documents.
And if Pressac’s thesis were true, it is obvious that the authorities of the Auschwitz camp would at least have organized the cremations by assigning one of the smaller crematories – or one or several of the morgues in the smaller crematories – to the bodies of the registered inmates who died at the camp, which however was not the case.
All this demonstrates that the essential function of the morgues in the crematoria was exactly what morgues normally provide, as results already from the letter of Dr. Wirths dated March 20, 1943, the day of the alleged gassing of 2,191 jews from Greece,[18] whose cremation would have taken a whole week. The first gassing, of 1,492 victims in crematorium II is said to have taken place on March 14. Their incineration would have ended on March 19 and would thus have made impossible the alleged second gassing operation, said to have occurred on March 16,[19] because there would still have been 900 corpses left in the alleged ‘gas chamber’ of the crematorium.
Dr. Wirths, for his part, is only concerned with real dead and requests two hand carts to take them from the camp hospital to the crematorium.
Dr. Wirths’ letter of July 20, 1943, shows how dangerous the storage of corpses of detainees deceased in the camp really was from the point of view of hygiene, all the more with respect to an outbreak of the plague that had been evoked. If Pressac’s thesis were true, the risk of an epidemic would have increased enormously, because the bodies of registered detainees would have been lying around in inadequate morgues within the camp for a much longer time, their number would have been greater, and the rats would have multiplied beyond all measure.
But Dr. Wirths never makes even a veiled reference to this hypothetical situation, which could have occurred, if Pressac’s thesis were true. Dr. Wirths proposals concern always and exclusively the real conditions in the camp, and are not suspect in any way. Bischoff’s letter of August 4, 1943, mentions the order given by Dr. Mrugowski on July 31 to transport the corpses “into the morgues of the crematoria” twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. The order concerned all the crematoria and had to be carried out twice daily, which implies the total availability of the morgues concerned. If Pressac’s thesis were true, this order would have been foolish, because on the day it was given, preparations for the transports of the jews from the ghettos of Bendsburg and Sosnowitz to Auschwitz were being made, and would have resulted in the gassing of 28,000 persons[20] in the crematoria of Birkenau between August 1st and 12th. Dr. Mrugowski, who was the head of the hygiene institute of the Waffen-SS, could not have been unaware of such preparations, in the same way as Dr. Wirths could not have been unaware of them, and Jothann could not have been unaware of them either.
Therefore, the proven and normal fact that the corpses were taken twice a day to the morgues of the crematoria refutes categorically the hypothesis of mass gassings that have allegedly occurred in these crematoria.
And that we are dealing with an proven fact results unequivocally from Jothann’s file memo of May 23, in which it is said that the camp commander, in the meeting of the previous day, had spoken of the existing order of removing the corpses in the morning by means of a suitable truck. Even more explicitly, Dr. Wirths, in his letter of May 25, 1944, declared that transportation of the corpses to the crematoria was regulated and took place twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Hence, there is not a shadow of a doubt concerning the fact that, during the second half of May 1944, this order was valid and was observed, within the limits of the availability of trucks and fuel.
However, the second half of May 1944 is also the time of the beginning of the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, something that no one could have been unaware of, least of all Rudolf Höß. The first transports reached Auschwitz on May 17; by May 22, the day of the meeting mentioned above, more than 62,000 “Hungarian” jews had already arrived. If we follow the traditional historiography, over two thirds of them, some 41,000 are said to have been gassed and the crematoria at Birkenau,[21] all of a sudden, had turned out to be so inadequate for this task that several trenches had to be dug for the incineration of the corpses in excess.
If that hypothesis were true, the morgues in the crematoria at Birkenau during that period would have been permanently occupied by victims: but then how could Rudolf Höß have calmly recalled the order we spoke of, namely to take the bodies of the registered inmates who had died in the camp to the morgues in the crematoria twice a day?
Therefore, in this case, too, and I would add, even more strongly, the proven and ordinary fact of transporting the bodies twice a day into the morgues of the crematoria, refutes categorically the hypothesis of mass gassings of “Hungarian” jews allegedly carried out in those crematoria.
In conclusion it can be said that the documentation regarding the utilization of the morgues in the Birkenau crematoria demonstrates that, from their very origin in March 1943 onwards, they were not – nor could they have been – used as ‘undressing rooms’ and ‘gas chambers’ within the framework of an alleged mass exterminations by means of gas. Such a thesis is historically unfounded.
III. The Undressing Room of Crematorium II at Birkenau: Origin and Function
1. Undressing Room – for the Living or for the Dead?
In section I I mentioned the project to install “showers in the undressing room of crematorium III” discussed in Bischoff’s report of May 13, 1943. In this section, we will explore the origin and the function of the “undressing room” of the Birkenau crematoria. According to the thesis of Jean-Claude Pressac, which was completely adopted by Robert Jan van Pelt, crematorium II of Birkenau was designed and built as a normal hygienic and sanitary installation, however:[1]
“towards the end of October 1942 one hit upon the idea, quite logical, actually, to move the gassings from Bunkers 1 and 2 into a room in the crematorium, where a mechanical ventilation was available, in the very same manner that had been employed in the morgue of crematorium I [of the main camp] in December of 1941.”
The idea, according to Pressac, took on a concrete form when “the SS construction office decided to set up gas chambers in the crematoria.”[2]
The first trace of this decision – as we have already seen – is, in Pressac’s view, drawing 2003 of December 19, 1942, “relocation of basement entrance to roadside,” in which the corpse chute is said to have been removed.
This interpretation, according to which a crematorium, designed and built as a normal hygienic and sanitary installation, would have later been transformed into a mass extermination unit with total abandonment of the possibility to store corpses in its morgues and burn them in its ovens, appears quite unfounded, if we only look at the documents discussed in section II.
What is important in this case, however, is the date: according to Pressac, the decision to carry out the gassings in the crematoria was taken on December 19, 1942, and henceforth put its traces on the projects of the Central Construction Office. As only the morgue no. 1 was equipped with a ventilation system having aeration and de-aeration equipment, it is clear that this room was to become the homicidal gas chamber. And as it was intended to carry out mass exterminations, it is also clear that morgue no. 2 was destined to become the undressing room of the future victims, in keeping with the procedure already tested – according to Pressac – in crematorium I.
Hence, the decision to transform morgue no. 1 into a homicidal gas chamber implied the decision to transform morgue no. 2 into an undressing room, and the two decisions were taken at the same time. It is correct that in certain documents morgue no. 2 of crematorium II is labeled “undressing room” or “undressing cellar,” and for Pressac this designation is a “criminal trace” in favor of the thesis about alleged extermination activity of this cremation unit, which appears for the first time in Bischoff’s letter to Topf of March 6, 1943, in which he writes, with reference to morgue no. 2:[3]
Dr. Wirths keeps complaining about the lack of appropriate morgues: “Construction of morgues in CC Auschwitz II”; RGVA, 502-1-170, p. 264 (click to enlarge).
“Furthermore, request is made for the supply of a supplemental offer regarding the changes in the de-aeration installation for the undressing room.”
But did this “undressing room” really designate an undressing room for the victims of the gas chambers?
2. Origin and Function of the Undressing Room in Crematorium II at Birkenau
Two documents unknown to Pressac, concerning the origin of the decision to create an “undressing room” in the basement of crematorium II allow this question to be answered once and for all.
On January 21, 1943, the SS garrison physician wrote the following letter to the camp commander:[4]
“1. SS garrison physician Auschwitz requests the dissecting room, planned for the new construction of the crematorium at Birkenau, to be split into two rooms of equal size by means of a partition and to have 1 or 2 wash basins installed in the first one, because it is to be used as dissecting room proper whereas the second room is needed for anatomical preparations, the storage of files, writing materials, and books, for the preparation of colored tissue slides and for microscope work.
Furthermore, it is requested to provide for an undressing room in the basement rooms.”
The most highly important conclusions for our topic result from this letter.
The decision to create an “undressing room” in the crematorium was taken neither by the Kommandantur (Höß) nor by the Central Construction Office (Bischoff), but quite simply by the SS garrison physician. The SS garrison physician attributed no particular importance to this matter and presented it as something of an afterthought to the purely hygienic and sanitary request for the dissecting room. The crematorium was attached, from the point of view of hygiene and sanitation as well as in respect of medical-legal matters, to the SS garrison physician who, was fully informed about the relevant projects and, when the occasion arose, intervened with the Central Construction Office demanding modifications. The letter quoted proves that the SS garrison physician was completely unaware of the alleged project to transform the morgue no. 2 into an undressing room for the victims of gassing actions: he requests the installation of an “undressing room” somewhere “in the basement rooms” without mentioning specifically morgue no. 2 and without excluding, for this purpose, morgue no. 1. But in view of his position, he could not have been unaware of the decision, supposedly taken two months earlier, to make morgue no. 2 into an “undressing room,” because if he did not know about it, such a decision could, in fact, not have been taken. What results from the above document is that the idea of an “undressing room” was conceived by the SS garrison physician in January of 1943 and transmitted to the Auschwitz command on January 21.
On February 15, 1943, SS Untersturmführer Janisch, Head of the Construction Office of the PoW camp (Birkenau) answered the letter of SS garrison physician by a hand-written note which said:[5]
“Re 1.) has been launched
Re 2.) for undressing a horse-stable barrack has been set up in front of the cellar entrance.”
What was the purpose for an “undressing room” in the crematorium? And why was a barrack built for such a purpose?
Pressac has noted that a horse-stable barrack in front of crematorium II, at a location announced by Janisch, i.e. “in front of the cellar entrance,” does indeed appear on the “Situation map of the PoW camp Auschwitz O/S.” of March 20, 1943. Pressac writes in this respect:[6]
“The drawing confirms the erection of a hut of the stable type in the north yard of Krematorium II in March 1943. We know little about this hut, except that after serving as an undressing room for the first batch of jews to be gassed in this Krematorium, it was quickly dismantled – only a week later according to the Sonderkommando witness Henryk Tauber. The first mention of an access stairway through Leichenkeller 2 found in the PMO archives, BW 30/40, page 68e, is dated 26/2/43 (Document 7a). As soon as this entrance was operational, the undressing hut was no longer required.”
Pressac then comes back to this argument but offers a different explanation:[7]
“On Sunday 14th March [1943], Messing continued installing the ventilation of Leichenkeller 2, which he called ‘Auskleidekeller II/Undressing cellar II.’ In the evening, about 1,500 jews from the Cracow ghetto were the first victims to be gassed in Krematorium II. They did not undress in Leichenkeller 2, still cluttered with tools and ventilation components, but in a stable-type hut temporarily erected in the north yard of the Krematorium.”
Later, he goes back to his first interpretation:[8]
“This Bauleitung source confirms the erection in mid-March 1943 of a hut running south-north in the north yard of Krematorium II, which was used, according to Henryk Tauber, as an undressing room, apparently because the access stairway to the underground undressing room (Leichenkeller 2) was not yet completed.”
Pressac refers to the following statement by Henryk Tauber:[9]
“These persons [the assumed victims] were herded into a barrack, which at the time stood perpendicularly to the crematorium building on the entrance side of the yard of crematorium II. The persons entered this barrack through a door located on the side of the entrance and descended [into the basement] by means of steps which were to the right of the Mühlverbrennung [sic], This barrack was used as an undressing room at that time. But it was used for more or less one week and was then dismantled.”
Pressac publishes the complete drawing 2216 of March 20, 1943, but with illegible notes.[10] He refers, though, also to another version of this drawing (from another negative of the Auschwitz museum), in which the notes are clearly visible.[11] Here, the barrack in front of the crematorium II is represented by an empty rectangle – a symbol which corresponds neither to a barrack “completed,” which is represented by a dark rectangle, nor to a barrack “under construction,” which is represented by a rectangle with oblique hatching, but to a barrack “planned.” This shows up even more clearly in another detail of the drawing published by Pressac.[12]
There is, by the way, another map of Birkenau, immediately preceding the one referred to by Pressac, in which the barrack in question does not appear at all. That is the “lay-out plan for the construction and enlargement of concentration and PoW camp, drawing no. 2215,” dated March 1943.[13] As it is numbered 2215, it precedes the one numbered 2216 and was therefore established on March 20, 1943 or earlier.
It is not clear why this barrack appears only on drawing 2216. It does not appear at all[14] on drawing 1991 of February 17, 1943, which also shows the barracks planned, under construction and completed in the Birkenau camp, in spite of the fact that it had already been set up on February 15. This obviously results from its stop-gap and temporary character. It is unknown when the barrack was set up. What is certain is that this barrack had nothing to do with the alleged homicidal gassings.
Pressac’s first explanation that the barrack had been set up because the access to morgue no. 2 was not yet ready, does not make much sense. With respect to crematorium III Pressac actually states:[15]
“On 10th February [1943], work began on piercing the opening for and building the western access stairway to morgue 2 (future undressing room) of Krematorium III, under the supervision of Huta foreman Kolbe. This was done in six days, being completed on 15th (PMO file BW 30/38, pages 25 to 27). It is not known when this operation was carried out for Krematorium II. The only mention of its realization dates from 26th February, or eleven days after that of Krematorium III was completed.”
On March 20, 1943, the day on which drawing 2216 of the Birkenau camp was done, SS garrison physician for Auschwitz, SS Hauptsturmführer Wirths, as we have already seen, writes in his letter to the commander:[16]
“For the removal of the corpses from the detainee sick-bay to the crematoria, 2 covered hand carts must be procured, allowing the transportation of 50 corpses each.”
In this way, the question becomes definitely clear. The SS garrison physician was worried about the poor conditions of hygiene and sanitation, in which the corpses of the detainees were kept, due to the inadequacy of the existing corpse chambers – simple wood sheds that could not prevent the rats from feasting on the bodies – with the risk of an outbreak of the plague. He states this clearly in his letter of July 20, 1943, which describes a situation that obviously existed already in January. The SS garrison physician therefore wanted to deposit the corpses in a hygienically safer place, and the best place was obviously constituted by the two morgues of crematorium II which, at the time, were in an advanced state of construction. On January 21 he asked to set up an “undressing room” for these corpses “in the basement rooms” of the crematorium. On January 29 Bischoff replied that the corpses could not be kept in morgue no. 2, but that this was of no importance because they could be taken to the “Vergasungskeller” (gasification or gassing cellar, see further down).
On February 15, Janisch informed the SS garrison physician that “a horse-stable barrack in front of the basement entrance” of crematorium II had been set up for the undressing of the corpses of the camp. Hence, this barrack was set up some time between January 21 and February 15, and for that very reason it could not have served any criminal purpose.
This is confirmed by the fact that crematorium II went into service on February 20, 1943. A report by Kirschneck, dated March 29, 1943, states, in fact, the following as regards this crematorium:[17]
“Brickwork completely finished and put into operation on Feb. 20, 1943.”
Hence, the crematorium went into operation even before ventilation was installed in the morgue no. 1, and it received corpses even before this room could theoretically have been used as a homicidal gas chamber.
But why was an outside barrack needed at all? The answer is simple: In January of 1943, morgue no. 2 was unserviceable.
In the “Report no. 1” Bischoff sent to Kammler on January 23, 1943, with reference to “Krematorien PoW camp, state of construction” we read with respect to crematorium II:[18]
“Cellar II. Concrete ceiling finished (removal of form-work shuttering dependent on weather conditions).”
In his report dated January 29, 1943, Topf engineer Prüfer confirmed:[19]
“Shuttering cannot yet be removed from ceiling of morgue because of frost.”
On the same day, SS Obersturmführer Kirschneck confirms in a note for the file:[20]
“Morgue 2 has been completed except for removal of shuttering from ceiling, which requires temperatures above freezing.”
Finally, in the letter addressed to Kammler on January 29, 1943, Bischoff writes:[21]
“Crematorium II has been completed – save for minor constructional work – by the use of all the forces available working day and night shifts, in spite of unspeakable difficulties and freezing temperatures.
The ovens were fired up in the presence of the chief engineer, Mr. Prüfer of Topf & Söhne Co., Erfurt, the contractor, and operate perfectly.
The concrete ceiling of the morgue could not yet be freed from the shuttering because of frost. This is, however, of no consequence, because the gassing cellar can be used for this.”
During the first two weeks of February 1943, there were at least 10 days at Birkenau when the morning temperatures were between -1 and -8°C, overnight minima were even lower, and maximum afternoon temperatures varied between -3 and +6°C,[22] which makes it highly probable that morgue 2 remained unusable because of the impossibility of removing the shuttering from the concrete ceiling of the room.
The only document on the subject of the realization of an outside access to morgue 2 dates from February 26, 1943[23]: the work probably started that day or a few days later and was probably finished within a week, as in the crematorium III. On March 8, 1943, the Topf technician Heinrich Messing began mounting the de-aeration duct in morgue 2, which he regularly calls “undressing cellar” in his weekly reports.[24] The work ended on March 31, 1943 (“de-aeration equipment for undressing cellar installed.”[25]
Accordingly, at the latest by March 8 the Central Construction Office, upon the request of the SS garrison physician, had decided to create an “undressing room” in the basement of crematorium II, more specifically in morgue 2. For its part, morgue no. 1 was operational from March 13 (“aeration and de-aeration equipment cellar I went into operation”).[26]
On March 20, the day reported to have seen the gassing of 2,191 “Greek” jews,[27] the SS garrison physician worried only about the transportation of the corpses of detainees from the camp hospital to crematorium II without even the slightest hint at alleged gassings.
We have thus answered the two questions we asked initially.
The “undressing room” was used for the corpses of registered detainees who had died at the camp. During the Belsen trial, SS Hauptsturmführer Kramer, commander of the Auschwitz II camp (Birkenau) from May 8, 1944, onwards, declared on this subject: [28]
“Whoever died during the day was put into a special building called the mortuary, and they were carried to the crematorium every evening by lorry. They were loaded on the lorry and off the lorry by prisoners. They were stripped of their clothes by the prisoners in the crematorium before being cremated. The clothes were cleaned and were re-issued where the people had not died through infectious diseases.” A barrack in front of the crematorium was built initially as an “undressing room” because morgue 2 was not yet serviceable on January 21, 1943, the day the SS garrison physician requested an “undressing room.”
3. The “Gassing Cellar” of Crematorium II at Birkenau
Even before Pressac, the official historiography had taken the term “gassing cellar,” which appears for the first time on January 29, 1943, in Bischoff’s letter to Kammler, as discussed in the preceding section, to be a trace, if not an outright proof, of the existence of a homicidal gas chamber in crematorium II. What is of interest to us here is, above all, the context, in which this expression appears, and the significance of the entire sentence.
Bischoff says here that it had not yet been possible to remove completely the shuttering from the concrete ceiling of the morgue no. 2 because of frost, but that this was of no consequence because “for this” one could use the “gassing cellar.” Practically speaking, the “gassing cellar” could take over the function of morgue no. 2. If we do assume that the function of morgue no. 2 was that of an undressing room for the victims and that the “gassing cellar” functioned as a homicidal gas chamber, how could a homicidal gas chamber function as an undressing room at the same time?
One can argue that the homicidal gas chamber could also be used as an undressing room, but then why – if we follow Tauber and Pressac – did the Central Construction Office allegedly build a barrack in front of the crematorium as an undressing room for the victims?
It is essential to stress here that the matter had a strictly temporary character and was of interest only as long as “morgue” 2 was unavailable: the “gassing cellar” could be used “for this,” i.e., as a morgue, on January 29, 1943, and the days immediately thereafter. At a time when, as Bischoff tells us in his letter, the Topf company had not yet shipped “the aeration and de-aeration equipment” due to freight restrictions. Therefore the “gassing cellar” could not be operational as a homicidal gas chamber.
The interpretation by the official historiography – the undressing room for the victims is not operational but that does not matter because the homicidal gas chamber can be used instead – is therefore all the more nonsensical: considering that the alleged homicidal gas chamber was unserviceable, for what purpose would the victims undress? And the victims of what, if the homicidal gas chamber did not work? In conclusion, the victims could not undress in “morgue 2” because this room was not available; they could undress in the “gassing cellar,” but could be gassed neither in the “morgue 2” nor in the “gassing cellar.”
It is thus evident that the explanation of Bischoff’s letter is quite different: “morgue 2” could not be used as a morgue or undressing room for the bodies of registered detainees who had died in the camp of “natural” causes, because this room was unavailable, but that was of no consequence, because the corpses could be placed into the “gassing cellar.” One last point has to be elucidated: why was “morgue no. 1” called a “gassing cellar”?
The alleged criminal transformations of the basement of crematorium II began at a time, when the typhus epidemic that had broken out at Birkenau in July of 1942 had not yet been brought under control. The death rate among the inmates, though clearly dropping, was still high: some 8,600 deaths in August, some 7,400 in September, some 4,500 in October, some 4,100 in November, some 4,600 in December, and some 4,500[29] in January 1943. On January 9, 1943, Bischoff wrote a letter to the head of Office Group C of the SS WVHA, SS Brigadeführer Kammler, on the subject of “hygienic installations at CC and PoW camp Auschwitz,” in which he listed all installations of disinfestation and disinfection that existed at the time: five installations at CC Auschwitz and four at PoW camp Birkenau. He ended his letter with the following observation:[30]
“As can be seen from the foregoing, the need for hygienic installations has largely been fulfilled; once the screening barrack for civilian workers is operational, it will be possible, at any time, to delouse and disinfest a large number of people.”
However, over the following days the hot air unit of block 1 in the main camp (built by Topf & Söhne), the hot air unit “in the men’s and women’s disinfestation barracks at the PoW camp,” i.e. in the delousing barracks 5a and 5b (built by the Hochheim Co.), and finally in the “military disinfestation station” went out of service on account of fires.[31] These failures occurred at a time when the typhus epidemic that had broken out in July of 1942 had not been reined in.
On December 17, 1942, Bischoff wrote to the “Military registration office, department W” at Bielitz:[32]
“Concerning your inquiry of Dec. 8, 1942, Central Construction Office informs that camp quarantine can probably not be lifted over the next three months. While all available means of fighting the epidemic are being put to work, new cases have not yet been completely eradicated.”
The same day, Bischoff wrote as follows to the camp commander:[33]
“Pursuant to order of SS garrison physician, the first delousing and/or disinfestation of civilian workers is to be carried out on Saturday, Dec. 19, 1942. On account of this it is necessary that the disinfestation units in CC be made available. The same goes for individual delousings from Dec. 22, 1942, for the civilian workers. Your approval is requested.”
In the “garrison order no. 1/43” of January 8, 1943, the Auschwitz commander informed:[34]
“Head of Office D III has informed by radio message that the camp quarantine for CC Auschwitz will remain in force as before.”
On January 5, 1943, several cases of typhus were identified at the Myslowitz jail (a town some twenty kilometers north of Auschwitz) and were rapidly spreading among the inmates. The president of provincial civil administration, whose seat was at Kattowitz, proposed to send the patients to Auschwitz. In a letter addressed to the camp commander, he wrote:[35]
“I do recognize furthermore that these prisoners may introduce new cases of infection into the Auschwitz camp. On the other hand, as typhus at the Auschwitz camp is still rampant and considerable sanitation measures have been set up there as a countermeasure, I feel entitled to make such a request. […]“
On January 13, Rudolf Höß replied that while “some cases of typhus” still occurred at the camp, it was no longer an epidemic (“the typhus epidemic no longer exists”), he refused this proposal, because the arrival of these sick inmates would greatly increase the resurgence of the typhus epidemic (“because in this way the risk of a new outbreak of a typhus epidemic would become very great”).[36]
However the Police President at Kattowitz decided that the bodies of inmates who had died of typhus at Myslowitz would be taken to Auschwitz by hearse for cremation, after having been treated with a delousing agent and placed in a coffin (“for incineration the departed will by transferred to Auschwitz by hearse”).[37]
Sanitary and hygienic conditions at Auschwitz were not as reassuring as Rudolf Höß had described them. On January 25, in “internal order no. 86,” Bischoff announced the following:[38]
“On account of an order emanating from the SS garrison physician of CC Auschwitz, all SS personnel of the Central Construction Office billeted at the Construction Office housing barrack will be subject to a 3 week quarantine.”
During the course of January of 1943, a resurgence of the typhus epidemic took place, which culminated in the first ten days of February and prompted SS Brigadeführer Glücks, head of office Group D of the SS WVHA, to order drastic measures, as seen from the letter Bischoff wrote to Kammler on February 12, 1943, on the subject of “increase in typhus cases”:[39]
“In view of the rapid increase in cases of typhus among the members of the guard unit, SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Glücks, has ordered a total quarantine for CC Auschwitz. In this connection, starting on Feb. 11, 1943, all detainees are being disinfested and are not allowed to leave the camp. As a consequence, the building projects, to which detainees had predominantly been assigned, had to be stopped. Resumption of work will be announced by the Central Construction Office.”
Let us return to the “gassing cellar.” In the context outlined above, it was most reasonable that at the end of January of 1943, in order to overcome the loss of the disinfestation units that were out of commission due to fire, the SS authorities planned to utilize as temporary gas chamber employing hydrocyanic acid the morgue 1 of crematorium II. The name “gassing cellar” was evidently taken from the gas chamber employing hydrocyanic acid of buildings Bw 5a and 5b, which was also called “gassing room.”[40]
The initiative came, most probably, from Office Group C of the SS WVHA, because Bischoff’s letter of January 29, 1943, addressed precisely to the head of Office Group C, SS Brigadeführer Kammler, which uses the term “gassing cellar,” takes for granted that the addressee knew perfectly well what it was all about. This is confirmed by the fact that at the end of January, Office C/III (Technical questions) of SS WVHA had requested from the Hans Kori Co. of Berlin an estimate for a “hot-air disinfestation unit” for the Auschwitz camp. The Kori Co. answered on February 2 by a letter to the office in question concerning an “delousing unit for Auschwitz conc. camp.,”[41] an “Listing of iron requirements for a hot-air delousing unit, Auschwitz concentration camp” for a total of 4,152 kg of metal,[42] and a “cost estimate concerning a hot-air delousing unit for the Auschwitz concentration camp” totaling 4,960.40 RM.[43]
That same day, February 2, 1943, SS Hauptsturmführer Kother, head of Office C/VI of SS WVHA (commercial questions) carried out an “Inspection of disinfestation and sauna units at CC Auschwitz.” In the corresponding report by SS Standartenführer Eirenschmalz, head of Office C/VI of SS WVHA, on the subject of “disinfestation units” it is said that the hot-air units had been originally conceived for a disinfestation by means of hydrocyanic acid, which required a temperature of 30°C, but had been used for a hot-air disinfestation, which necessitated a temperature of 95°C and had therefore been “overloaded:”[44]
“The ever increasing arrival of many detainees leads to a corresponding utilization of the equipment, and the wear of the latter under such constant employment can only be countered by the installation of air-heaters based on coke. In order to counteract impending failures of the units, cast-iron hot-air heaters have been envisioned here for the existing disinfestation plants. Having checked with the supplier, these will be made available for supply within three weeks so that the necessary measures against epidemics can be undertaken. The fires having occurred are for the most part attributable to overheating, which makes it imperative to observe the respective directions when such plants are being utilized.”
The idea of using the morgue no. 1 of the crematorium II as an emergency disinfestation chamber was then extended also to the other crematoria, and the corresponding documentary traces were later interpreted by Jean-Claude Pressac as “traces” or “slip-ups” referring to homicidal gas chambers. After little more than three months of planning at the Central Construction Office, Kammler changed his program of “Special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations” in the Birkenau camp, and suddenly all projects aiming at the use of the crematorium rooms as emergency disinfestation chambers were thrown out.
At the end of July 1943, disinfestation and disinfection units for 54 000 detainees per day existed or were on order within the complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau.[45]
But as early as May of 1943, the documents of the Central Construction Office stop making any reference to the use of rooms in the crematoria as emergency disinfestation units, and thus, according to Pressac, to any kind of “trace” or “slip-up” hinting at an alleged criminal activity going on in the crematoria.
Already in 1994 I had underlined that, as far as the crematorium II at Birkenau is concerned, no “criminal trace” has a date later than March 31, 1943, the day of the official hand-over of the crematorium to the camp administration. Therefore, for the more than 20 months of use of this crematorium for alleged extermination activities there is not even one miserable “trace,” and that goes for the other crematoria as well.[46] No official historian has ever wondered about the reason for this strange state of affairs, which is certainly not due to a lack of documents: it can be explained only and completely by the fact that the program of improving the normal disinfection and disinfestation units, launched in May of 1943, rendered absolutely needless any kind of plan to install emergency disinfestation units in the crematoria. From this project one moved, in fact, to the plan of installing emergency showers for the detainees in the crematoria, which was given up in turn because the 100 showers of buildings 5a and 5b functioned regularly and because – as we have seen in section I.4. – completion of the central sauna was now close.
IV. The Detainee Sick-Bay of Construction Section III at Birkenau
1. The comments of Jean-Claude Pressac
In his first study of Auschwitz, which appeared in 1989, Jean-Claude Pressac has shown a drawing of construction section III of Birkenau (plan no. 2521) drawn in Berlin on June 4, 1943.[1] On this document, which carries the designation “CC Auschwitz – construction section III. Detainee sick-bay a. quarantine sec.” Construction section III is subdivided into two quarantine camps, one for men and one for women, for 4,088 persons each and two hospital areas, one for men and one for women, for 3,188 persons each. The two hospital areas contain two barracks for “surgery,” 2 barracks for “X-ray and treatment,” 2 barracks for “pharmacy,” 4 “barracks for freshly operated cases” and 4 “barracks for the seriously ill.”[1] Pressac shows, moreover, the drawing (plan no. 2417) of a “sick-bay barrack for detainees” for CC Auschwitz, done the following day, in which we find 6 rooms, 2 for 30 beds, 2 for 24 beds, and 2 for 18 beds.[2]
The French historian has commented on these documents in the following manner:[1]
“The drawing on Photo 20 (that of 4 June1943) is a real godsend for the revisionists. Concerning the initial arrangement for the third construction stage at Birkenau (PoW camp Bauabschnitt III), it formally states that this was to serve only as a mixed quarantine and hospital camp. There is INCOMPATIBILITY in the creation of a health camp a few hundred yards from four Krematorien where, according to official history, people were exterminated on a large scale. Drawing 2471 of a barracks for sick prisoners planned for BA.III (Photo 21) showing in detail the arrangement of the bunks supports this demonstration. The two drawings date from June 1943, when the Bauleitung was completing the construction of the four new Krematorien, and it is obvious that PoW camp Birkenau cannot have had at one and the same time two opposing functions: health care and extermination. The plan for building a very large hospital section in BA.III thus shows that the Krematorien were built purely for incineration, without any homicidal gassings, because the SS wanted to ‘maintain’ its concentration camp labour force.
This argument seems logical and is not easy to counter. The drawings exist, and what is more they come from SS Economic Administration Head Office in Berlin, so it was no local humanitarian initiative.” (Capitals in the original)
Pressac, however, stated that he had found a document contradicting “this plausible, but theoretical, reasoning”:[1]
“The decisive argument proving that drawing 2521 was only a PROJECT, is to compare it with an overall plan of Birkenau, drawing 3764 of 23/3/44 (Photo 22), where BA.III no longer has 16,600 occupants as planned, but 60,000, i.e. the occupancy rate of the barracks has increased fourfold, the degree of crowding now being comparable to that of BA.II. Under these circumstances it becomes nonsense to talk of ‘hospital barracks.'” (capitals and bold-face in the original)
But is this really a decisive argument? And did the hospital camp really remain only a “project”? Many documents unknown to Pressac allow us to give an exhaustive and unequivocal answer to these questions.
2. Genesis and Realization of the Camp Hospital Project of Construction Section III at Birkenau
As we have seen in section I, SS Brigadeführer Kammler officially transmitted the written order to the Auschwitz commander concerning “special measures for the improvement of hygienic installations” in the Birkenau camp on May 14, 1943.
Within the scope of these measures, Kammler ordered construction section III of the Birkenau camp to be turned into a hospital for the detainees on May 17, 1943,[3] as can be seen from a letter written by Bischoff to the SS garrison physician on July 15, 1943, which starts with these words:[4]
“On May 17 [1943] the construction of a hospital for detainees in construction section III of the PoW camp was ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler.”
The project was entrusted to Office C of the SS WVHA, more specifically to SS Sturmbannführer Wirtz, head of Office C/III – technical questions, and to SS Untersturmführer Birkigt, head of division hospitals and sick-bays, who were also the persons signing the drawing 2521 of June 4, 1943,[5] in collaboration with Obersturmführer Grosch, head of main department C/III/1, civil engineering. In a memo dated May 28, 1943, Birkigt, speaking of himself in the third person, writes:[6]
“As ordered by the head of Office Group C it is urgently required to have SS Ustuf Birkigt start soonest with the elaboration of the total sanitary installations at Auschwitz in cooperation with the Central Construction Office and the garrison physician. The camp is to be equipped with a special quarantine area for 8,000 to 12,000 patients. Within this number, 2,5[00] to 4,000 are to be permanent, the remainder as movable enlargement possibility as already planned for Lublin.”
On June 1, Bischoff sent Kammler a letter concerning “Immediate measures in PoW camp for improvement of hygienic installations,” in which he requested the approval of the projects so far elaborated, among them:[7]
“Planning of construction section III as hospital section for 8 – 10,000 detainees, complete with isolation section and quarantine, separately for men and women.”
Between May 31 and June 2, Birkigt was at Auschwitz to discuss with the local staff the “special measures in PoW camp Auschwitz.” In a note dated June 4 he writes:[8]
“As ordered by Head of Office Group C, SS Ustuf (F) Birkigt held local discussions with Head of Central Construction Auschwitz, SS Stubaf Bischoff, and the engineer in charge, SS-Ustuf Janisch, in order to clarify the basis for the special measures planned for PoW camp-Auschwitz”
Birkigt then lists the decisions taken with respect to the camp hospital:
“Detainee Hospital
The lay-out of construction section 3 was discussed, and was sketched out by myself.
An inspection on-site yielded that the first three rows of barracks and part of the fourth have already been set up.
According to the Central Construction Office, only 89 barracks are available for the hospital area. Therefore, Head of Central Construction wishes that at least the 16 special barracks be taken from the 1000-bed hospitals east. These will then have to be adapted to the standard size of 42 x 50 (There is a problem in that, for transportation of these barracks, some 120 – 140 freight cars will be needed. It appears possible to revamp the RLM[9] barracks. This will be taken care of by C II.
A sketched proposal for the revamping of an RLM barrack was handed over to Central Construction Office; number of beds 150 in case of double bunks”
On June 1, the Polish detainee Stefan Millauer (ID no. 63003) had already prepared for Central Construction Office the drawing of a “wooden housing barrack (Luftwaffe type) sick-bay barrack” for construction section III.[10]
As we have seen above, on June 4 Wirtz and Birkigt prepared drawing no. 2521 “CC Auschwitz, construction section III, detainee hospital and quarantine area,” and on June 5 they did drawing no. 2471 “sick-bay barrack for detainees.”
Drawing 2637 of Central Construction Office – undated, but no doubt done in June of 1943 – represents the lay-out of the men’s area “detainee sick-bay in Construction section 3 of PoW camp.” It shows in detail the barracks for freshly operated patients (6a) and for the seriously ill (6b).[11]
An “listing of the barracks needed for carrying out the special measures in the PoW camp,” dated June 11, 1943, mentions a total of 183 barracks for “construction section III (detainee hospital)” 183 barracks, (plus another two for the “guard hospital”) among which:
4 special barracks [12] 6a (freshly operated patients)
4 special barracks 6b (seriously ill)
2 special barracks 2 (X-ray and treatment)
2 special barracks 1 (surgery)
111 barracks for normal patients [13]
Construction work started at the end of June. By July 13th 26 barracks were already erected, and the work on the circular sewer as well as on a temporary settling basin[14] had started.
On July 19 Bischoff protested because the firm Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke had taken over two barracks of construction section III without authorization:[15]
“In order to carry out the erection of a detainee hospital in construction section III as ordered by SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Dr.-Ing. Kammler on May 15, a utilization during the construction phase is not possible. The erection of the hospital has already started and, as is known, each barrack shall be equipped with sanitary installations (washing and toilet facilities).”
By July 31 another 6 barracks had been set up. Furthermore, two circular sewers had been dug and work on the enclosure had started.[16] On the same day, the SS garrison physician complained to Bischoff that “individual drawings” of 8 types of barracks were still missing “in the general plan of the detainee hospital and the quarantine section.”[17] In his “Explanatory report on the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz, Upper Silesia” which Bischoff wrote on September 30, 1943, the sector of construction section III of the camp was described as follows:[18]
“Construction section III
– BW 3e 114 barracks for patients – BW 4c 5 utility barracks – BW 4e 2 utility barracks type 260/9 – BW 4f 13 storage and laundry barracks type 260/9 – BW 4f 4 storage and laundry barracks type 501/34 – BW 6c 4 disinfestation barracks type VII/5 – BW 7c 11 barracks for medical staff (Swiss type) – BW 12b 12 barracks for seriously ill patients 501/34 – BW 12d 2 barracks for block leaders type IV/3 – Transformation of an existing house for special measures – BW 33a 3 barracks for special measures type 260/9″
On September 25, brick work was going on in barracks 68, 70, 71, 74, 89, 91, 92 and 93, carpentry work in barracks 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 94, 128 and 146.[19]
On October 1, 1943, Jothann, who had just succeeded Bischoff as head of Central Construction Office,[20] elaborated a “cost estimate for the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz,” in which the estimated cost was calculated for each building, built or planned. For construction section III, designated “detainee hospital,” which comprised the buildings listed in the explanatory report mentioned above, the cost estimates were as follows:[21]
– “BW 3e 114 barracks for patients 4,542,216 RM – BW 4c 5 utility barracks 138,150 “ – BW 4e 2 utility barracks 167,304 “ – BW 4f 13 storage and laundry barracks 241,618 “ – BW 4f 4 storage and laundry barracks 127,500 “ – BW 6c 4 disinfestation barracks 80,940 “ – BW 7c 11 barracks for medical staff 103,488 “ – BW 12b 12 barracks for seriously ill patients 515,625 “ – BW 12d 2 barracks for block leaders 16,240 “ – Transformation of an existing house for special measures 14,242 “ – BW 33a 3 barracks for special measures 55,758 “ – Total 6,003,081 RM”
On October 5, Jothann wrote as follows about the state of advancement of the work on the “hospital for the detainees”:[22]
“As the most urgent items, barrack types 1-2[23] – 6a and 6b[24] were erected. In total, there are 12 for the section of seriously ill patients, as well as surgery and X-ray barracks. Except for one, all of these barracks have been erected as a shell. For 9 barracks, all inner walls and the chimneys, to the extent that they had to be erected in addition, have been executed in brick. On 4 of them, plastering has already been started on these walls. The erection of connecting passages between these barracks is complete. Eight barracks of type 7[25] have been erected as a shell, and brickwork has started on walls and chimneys. Furthermore, since March (sic) 43, 4 laundry barracks of type no. 9, 3 kitchen barracks of type no. 12, and 20 sick-bay barracks of type no. 7, i.e. altogether 47 barracks have been erected as a shell.”
Jothann then mentions the state of advancement for the enclosure, for roadworks (access roads, camp roads, and connections), drainage, leveling, and sewage treatment, for which 4 sedimentation basins had been nearly completed. In a file memo of October 11, Jothann refers to the visit to Auschwitz by Mr. A. Knauth, owner of the Dresden company of the same name, from which the remaining barracks for the camp hospital of Construction section III had been ordered.[26]
“Mr. Knauth, from Dresden, was introduced to the department head, Obersturmführer (F) Jothann, and an inspection of the works was ordered. On site, it was found that the special barracks (sic) for operated (patients) had been completed and could be commenced right away.
The following was agreed on, among other things:
“For the housing barracks which occur 111 times, prices were reduced considerably, because the order is large and a single one; a new offer thus became necessary.”
In a report of October 30, Jothann announced:[27]
“So far, 47 barracks came to be erected. On these, the interior works, i.e. brick and plaster works, are being executed at present. Furthermore, the pole gridwork has been completed for another 7 barracks and erection of the barracks is to begin within the next few days.”
The later reports, up to the end of November, mentioned the advancement of erection of the barracks and ancillary works for the construction of the “detainee sick-bay” of construction section III.
On February 24, 1944, Jothann transmitted a request for metal from the Knauth company to the construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police Schlesien, explaining:[28]
“This concerns the allotment of 1844.4 kg of zinc-aluminum and 87.8 kg of brass for the valves and other fittings needed for construction section III of the detainee hospital and quarantine camp of the PoW camp. […]
Justification of the amounts requested is based on the fact that BA III of the PoW camp will comprise a total of 180 barracks including kitchen, operating, treatment, sick-bay and quarantine barracks.”
In his “Report on state of construction works at CC Auschwitz including employment of detainees” dated March 25, 1944, Jothann writes the following:[29]
“In construction section III of the PoW camp, only the two middle sections have been started for the time being. Almost all barracks have been erected, the internal works have started.”
On March 31, 1944, 700 detainees were working in Construction section III. The sites, as ordered by Kammler, were to stop working for three days, and the detainees were instead to be employed in construction section I and II.[30]
On the day the Birkenau drawing 3764 was made, to which J.-C. Pressac refers, March 23, 1944, the Central Construction Office was still working on the realization of the planned “detainee sick-bay” of construction section III. Let us examine how the apparent contradiction between the drawings 2521 and 3764, that the French historian has noted, can be explained.
In 1944, the Central Construction Office defined all the bureaucratic practices that applied to the camp hospital. On May 25, Jothann wrote an “Explanatory report regarding the enlargement of the PoW camp of Waffen-SS at Auschwitz O/S. Erection of 111 barracks for patients,” in which we can read:[31]
“The works were started on March 15, 1943.[32] 37 barracks are finished and the interior work partly done.”
The corresponding cost estimate that Jothann drew up the same day states a total sum of 3,799,000 RM.[33] Both documents show the “preliminary verification” stamp of the construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “Schlesien” (dated June 27, 1944) and the “verified” stamp of Office C/II of SS WVHA (dated July 13, 1944). On August 10, 1944, the head of Office C/V (central construction inspectorate) of SS WVHA, who had received the above-mentioned documentation on June 26, emitted retroactively – in keeping with bureaucratic practices – the corresponding construction order:[34]
“Based on the documents submitted, I hereby give the order to erect 111 barracks for patients in PoW camp, camp II, Auschwitz, BA III, BW e3 and 3f.”
On the subject of the state of the works, the letter, addressed to construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “Schlesien” states:
“Because of the urgency, work has already started. Regular reports are requested concerning advancement and state of works.”
The construction request for the “12 barracks for seriously ill patients” was sent by Jothann to construction inspectorate of the Waffen-SS and Police “Schlesien” on August 12, 1944.[35] The documentation comprised an “explanatory report […] Erection of 12 barracks for seriously ill patients,” which said that the works had started on July 15, 1943,[36] a “budget estimate” of 373,000 RM,[37] and an “attachment to cost estimate for 12 barracks for seriously ill patients”[38] on the subject of the labor cost involved. On October 31, Office C/V of SS WVHA gave the corresponding construction order[39] and also acknowledges the “construction request for the erection of 11 barracks for medical personnel” submitted by Bischoff on October 9, 1944.[40]
On May 31, 1944, 63 barracks existed in construction section III.[41] The deportation of the “Hungarian” jews caught the Central Construction Office completely unprepared and upset the projects regarding the camp hospital.
In early June, construction section III, in spite of the fact that it was still uninhabitable, was transformed (together with camp BIIc and parts of camps BIIa and BIIe) into a “transit camp” for unregistered Jews destined to be moved to other camps. On June 2, Kammler ordered Jothann to relinquish 14 barracks of construction section III to house these jews, but the head of Central Construction Office refused. Asked by Kammler to state his reasons,[42] Jothann explained that it could not be done “for reasons of hygiene and sanitation.”[43] Jothann obviously had to follow suit, and on June 2, 1944 the commander of CC Auschwitz II, SS Hauptsturnführer Kramer, yielded the 14 barracks.[44]
On June 16, 1944, “The hygienist with construction inspectorate “Schlesien,” SS Obersturmführer Weber, sent to the head of this construction inspectorate and, for information, to the “Reich physician SS and Police. Supreme Hygienist” in Berlin a report on the subject “PoW camp – construction section III,” which opens with these words:[45]
“In connection with an inspection of the well gallery at Birkenau, a visit was made on June 15, 1944, to the newly occupied construction section III of PoW camp Birkenau. The first transport of detainees arrived on June 9, 1944. Presently, the construction section is occupied by 7,000 detainees (Jews).
From the point of view of construction as well as hygiene, this construction section is in no way ready for occupancy, because it lacks even the most primitive sanitary installations.”
According to the report, the detainees lived in rather precarious circumstances:
“The housing barracks, according to information supplied by medical orderly SS Oberscharführer Scherpel, are occupied by 800 to 1,000 detainees. Covering of the barracks with roofing felt is still incomplete, and the connecting camp roads are still under construction. In the absence of bedsteads the detainees are sleeping on the floor.”
After having described the absence of water supply and sewage installations, the report speaks about the quarantine measures:
“As the detainees of construction section III are to be rapidly used for work, a proper quarantine is not carried out. If major delays with respect to the employment are to be avoided in case of an epidemic, it is necessary to subdivide the camp into 4 separate fields by means of enclosures, in place of the usual quarantine measures. In this way, at least part of the detainees can be continued to be employed or moved away in case of an epidemic.”
Weber concludes his report as follows:
“Due to the occupancy