renegadetribune--2020-11-13--Zyklon B for the ‘Killing of Human Beings’

Zyklon B for the Killing of Human Beings Germar Rudolf The Rudolf Report Expert Report on Chemical and Technical Aspects of the ‘ Gas Chambers ’ of Auschwitz The effect of hydrogen cyanide is based on the fact that it paralyzes the respiration of every individual cell in the body .
Oxygen can no longer be transported from the blood through the cell walls into the cells .
[ 413 ] As the vital cell functions are thereby starved of oxygen , the animal or human being suffocates .
Insects and , in particular , insect eggs , are considerably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ animals .
On the one hand , this is due to their greater resistance ( slower metabolism ) .
On the other hand , this is due to the fact that lethal concentrations of the gas must penetrate every crack and fissure , no matter how tiny .
Every hem and seam of all the garment in the property to be fumigated must be filled with the poison in order to kill , for example , every concealed louse .
Warm-blooded animals , by contrast , are rapidly exposed to high concentrations of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their size , but above all due to their breathing through lungs .
Lethal doses of cyanide can be ingested orally , inhaled , or absorbed through the skin .
Oral poisoning ( for example , with potassium cyanide KCN ) is very painful due to muscular convulsions caused by cell suffocation .
Even though victims of poisoning by inhalation of high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide become more rapidly unconscious than with oral ingestion , painful convulsions caused by muscular suffocation appear in these cases as well .
For this reason , execution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as performed in some U.S. states , has recently been a topic of much controversy ; see chapter 1 .
A dose of 1 mg cyanide per kg body weight is generally considered lethal .
Non-lethal doses of cyanide are quickly decomposed and excreted by the body .
[ 414 ] The bright red coloration of the blood and bruised spots , caused by over-saturation of the blood with oxygen , since the blood can no longer give off its oxygen to the cells , are generally considered , among other things , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases .
[ 17 ] , [ 415 ] , [ 416 ] , [ 417 ] Testimonies describing a blue or green coloration of the victims are therefore false .
[ 418 ] Absorption through the skin is especially likely when the skin has become moist , for example , as a result of sweating at work .
It is generally advised to avoid sweating during the handling of hydrogen cyanide .
In this regard , concentrations from 6,000 ppm [ 419 ] ( 0.6 % by volume ) constitute a health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % by volume ) can cause death in just a few minutes .
[ 420 ] Table 8 shows the effects of various concentrations of hydrogen cyanide , found in the literature .
[ 421 ] F. Flury and F. Zernik indicate that 200 ppm can be fatal within five to ten minutes , while 270 ppm are immediately fatal .
[ 420 ] These are not , of course , the results of experiments on human beings , but rather extrapolations , in which lower risk thresholds have been determined on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demonstrated in the following .
To kill an average person with a body weight of 100 kg , the victim must therefore ingest approximately 100 mg hydrogen cyanide ( 1 mg per kilo body weight ) .
The respiration of a human being at rest amounts to approximately 15 liters of air per minute .
[ 422 ] With a hydrogen cyanide content of 0.02 % ( approximately 0.24 mg per liter ) the victim must inhale approximately 416 liters of air before ingesting the fatal quantity of hydrogen cyanide .
At 15 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about half an hour .
A very strong person can survive even this period of time .
By contrast , a sensitive person weighing 50 kg breathing at an accelerated rate as a result of physical effort or excitement will inhale 40 liters per minute , ingesting a fatal dose of 208 liters of air in five minutes .
It is obvious from these calculations , that the data in safety instructions are always intended to protect smaller , weaker people from accidents under the most unfavorable circumstances .
The data given in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ rapidly fatal ” doses are furthermore so indefinite as to be unable to satisfy our purposes .
In addition , they only refer to the time when a victim has ingested a fatal dose , but not when death occurs , which can sometimes take a very long time .
[ 423 ] The threshold values will be different if we require even the strongest individual , out of all conceivable individual victims , to die in just a few minutes .
[ 424 ] The concentrations necessary for this purpose will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing , be several times higher than the values indicated above .
They could only be determined by a series of experiments , which is naturally impossible with human beings .
The only data available to us are those gathered during executions with hydrogen cyanide carried out in the United States .
Leuchter speaks of concentrations of hydrogen cyanide used in executions in the USA in the order of magnitude of 3,200 ppm .
In these cases , death occurs after 4 to 10 minutes , depending on the physical constitution of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the USA indicate that executions lasting from 10 to 17 minutes are the rule rather than the exception ( see chapter 1.1. )
.
In relation to the quantities used , the US execution gas chamber in Raleigh ( North Carolina ) , for example , is said to use 454 g KCN in half concentrated sulfuric acid , leading to instant formation of hydrogen cyanide vapor , which is even visible for a short period to the witnesses in the witness room and which reaches the victim in seconds .
[ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calculation , this generates approximately 180 g of hydrogen cyanide , corresponding to 150 liters of gas .
However , since a considerable part of it remains dissolved in the half concentrated sulfuric acid ( approximately 50 % , see chapter 8.3.3.4 . )
, we assume in the following that approximately 90 g or 75 liters hydrogen cyanide are released as gas .
In North Carolina , this gas arises immediately beneath the victim , so that the victim must be exposed , immediately after the beginning of the execution process , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % by volume for a short period , but then falls steadily as a result of diffusion of the hydrogen cyanide throughout the chamber .
[ 426 ] At a normal respiration volume of approximately 15 to 20 liter per minute and assuming an average concentration during the execution of only 0.75 % by volume , approximately 1.35 to 1.8 grams of HCN will be ingested in 10 minutes ( 150-200 liters of inhaled air ) , which corresponds to ten to twenty times the fatal dose .
In the following calculations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in order to kill all the people in the chamber , with certainty , in ten minutes .
Zyklon B does not release its poison gas instantaneously , but rather over an extended period of time .
Since this period of time can be decisive for the evaluation both of eyewitness accounts as well as of chemical analyses , it will be investigated more thoroughly in this chapter .
R. Irmscher of DEGESCH reported in a paper written in 1942 that , at that time , the use of cardboard discs and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commonly used carrier material .
[ 427 ] The gypsum version was used-even according to eyewitness testimony-in the concentration camps .
The evaporation characteristics of this product at various temperatures , low relative humidity of the air , and a fine distribution of the carrier material are reproduced in Graph 9 as given by Irmscher .
The evaporation is “ seriously delayed ” at high atmospheric humidity , because the evaporating hydrogen cyanide withdraws considerable quantities of energy from the liquid HCN , the carrier material , and the ambient air .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ product and the ambient air drops .
If the temperature of the air reaches the dew point , atmospheric humidity condenses out of the air onto the carrier material , which binds the hydrogen cyanide and slows down the evaporation process .
For later references , we want to keep in mind that , at 15°C and in the presence of lower atmospheric humidity , approximately 10 % of the hydrogen cyanide used at Auschwitz have left the carrier material during the first five minutes , and approximately 50 % after half an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a relative humidity of approximately 100 % , the evaporation times would have been “ seriously delayed “ .
The question of how Zyklon B would have behaved if spread on the floor in a room filled with human beings , is somewhat more difficult .
The radiant heat of the bodies would have a slightly accelerating effect upon the evaporation by increasing the temperature in the vicinity of the floor .
Further acceleration of evaporation may occur due to a possible reduction in size of the carrier granules as a result of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human bodies , as well as direct bodily contact .
The relative atmospheric humidity in the cellars of crematoria II and III , which must certainly have approached 100 % , would have “ seriously delayed ” evaporation , [ 428 ] as well as the possible fluid secretions caused by panic on the part of victims lying on the floor , which could very well have occurred as soon as the door was closed , that is , prior to release of the Zyklon B .
Under such conditions , a serious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cyanide from the carrier material would have to be anticipated .
If assuming that Zyklon B introduction devices were installed in some of the Auschwitz ‘ gas chambers ’ as attested to by Michal Kula , [ 429 ] such a device would have had the following effects : a ) the Zyklon B granules would not have been spread out , but rather would have been kept together by the inner wire mesh , reducing the evaporation rate considerably ; b ) all three wire mesh columns would have drastically reduced any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evaporation rate as well as the speed with which the gas spreads out into the chamber ; c ) due to high humidity in the air and the lack of air convection , moisture would have condensed intensively on the Zyklon B carrier , reducing the evaporation rate of HCN “ seriously.
” The present study regarding homicidal mass gassings will be based on the conservative assumption that the Zyklon B would at best have behave in the manner described by Irmscher at 15°C ( see above ) .
This chapter will examine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ determination of the chemical , physical , and technical boundary conditions of the alleged homicidal gassings .
A complete and detailed analysis of the many eyewitness testimonies in the individual trials and in the literature would be too voluminous to include here .
[ 430 ] The following survey is therefore not complete .
For a clarification of the evidence problems , an extract from the judgment of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial may be quoted here : [ 83 ] “ The court lacked almost all possibilities of discovery available in a normal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the actual event at the time of the murder .
It lacked the bodies of the victims , autopsy records , expert reports on the cause of death and the time of death ; it lacked any trace of the murderers , murder weapons , etc .
An examination of the eyewitness testimony was only possible in rare cases .
Where the slightest doubt existed or the possibility of a confusion could not be excluded with certainty , the court did not evaluate the testimony of witnesses [ … ] The general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ … ] the credible testimony of witnesses [ … ] Böck , in addition to the written notes of the first camp commandant Höß.
” In the opinion of the court , many of the witness testimonies possessed insufficient credibility .
But it nevertheless succeeded in obtaining testimonies from a few allegedly credible witnesses that sounded sufficiently credible to the court .
Before we analyze some of these testimonies more closely , a few remarks are necessary about the circumstances and the atmosphere in which these testimonies and confessions of alleged victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ couple of years after the end of World War II .
It was in those years that the story of the conveyor-belt like extermination of human beings in Auschwitz and elsewhere was elevated to ‘ common knowledge.
’ Challenging this story led to a severe increase in legal penalty for any defendant , as it still does to this day in many countries in Europe .
According to reports by Bernard Clarke , who arrested Höß at that time , Höß was tortured after his arrest .
[ 431 ] In his autobiography @ @ @ @ @ @ @ similar procedures during his Polish imprisonment .
[ 295 ] According to a report by a US Senator drawn up at that time , mistreatment of German prisoners by Allied personnel was a frequent occurrence : [ 432 ] • Beds of the nails destroyed by ramming matches under the nails ; • All kinds of wounding by beating with truncheons , brass knuckles , and kicks ; • Confinement while naked in cold , damp , and dark rooms ; • Imprisonment for days in hot rooms without water ; • Mock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A few voices were raised at that time in the USA clearly stating that the Nuremberg Tribunal was a case of revenge , not justice .
[ 433 ] These voices spoke of : • Forced testimony under the threat of punishment ; • Compelled production of all documents to the prosecution ; • Refusal to provide documents or examination of documents for the defense ; • Travel and currency prohibitions against the defense .
A glance at the London Agreement , which established the legal framework for the Nuremberg Trials , reveals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incompatible with the procedures of a state under the rule of law .
Article 19 states : [ 434 ] “ The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence .
It shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent expeditious and nontechnical procedure , and shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative value.
” “ The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof [ … ] “ For a correct evaluation of Holocaust testimony of the witnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is essential to pay attention to the boundary conditions under which the so-called NSG trials were held [ 435 ] and continue to be held .
[ 436 ] What is the credibility of the eyewitness testimonies as to content ?
Reference should be made at this point to a few detailed works on this problem .
[ 437 ] The following is a closer examination of three of the more frequently quoted eyewitnesses : Rudolf Höß , former camp commandant at Auschwitz , Richard Böck , a camp SS man of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tauber , former inmate and member of the “ Sonderkommando ” in crematorium II in Birkenau .
The Höß statements may be consulted in the Broszat edition and read as follows : [ 295 ] “ Maintaining the fire at the ditches , pouring the collected fat [ over the burning bodies … ] They ate and smoked while dragging corpses [ … ] “ ( p. 126 ) “ The bodies were doused first with oil residues , and later with methanol [ … ] He also attempted to destroy the bodies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( p .
157ff . )
“ Half an hour after the introduction of the gas , the door was opened and the ventilation installation was turned on .
Removal of the bodies began immediately [ … ] ” ( p .
166 . )
Q But was not it [ sic ] quite dangerous work for these inmates to go into these chambers and work among the bodies and among the gas fumes ?
A They had some , but they did not need them , as nothing ever happened .
[ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grilled meat knows that fat can not be scooped up from burning flesh .
Fat ignites at approximately 184°C .
[ 439 ] It is therefore the first thing that burns on a corpse located in a fire .
Hence , it is impossible to collect the easily combustible fat during the incineration of a corpse .
After all , the bodies were burnt-not grilled .
The incineration of corpses in the open air with combustible fluids is impracticable because fluids have the property of flowing down or away and/or evaporating .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 60 % water , are burnt , this must take place with the expenditure of quite large quantities of fuel and great heat .
In particular , open oil or methane combustion would be insufficient .
The alleged attempt to destroy bodies by means of explosives requires no further comment .
In reading such testimonies , one must inevitably wonder as to Höß ’ s mental condition in writing them , as well as that of anyone who takes such claims seriously .
Unfortunately , such testimonies are the rule rather than the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ gas chamber ’ without a protective filter , eating and smoking in the ‘ gas chamber ’ , as well as the commencement of the corpse dragging operation immediately after the opening of the doors , would only be conceivable if there were no longer any dangerous quantity of gas in the chamber .
The question of whether this was possible will be the subject of chapter 7.3.2.2 .
It is interesting to note that M. Broszat deleted the last pages of Rudolf Höß ’ s testimony from his edition , since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the numerical strength of these jews “ , as Broszat himself stated in a footnote .
In these pages , Höß speaks of three million jews in Hungary , four million in Romania , two million in Bulgaria .
The actual figures were lower by a factor of approximately ten .
[ 441 ] In addition , the same pages contain the following , which is also incredible : [ 442 ] “ Although well-cared for and plentifully provided with bonus payments , one often saw them [ the jewish Sonderkommandos ] dragging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gnawing on something to eat with the other hand .
Even during the horrid work of digging up and burning the mass graves , they did not allow themselves to be disturbed while eating .
Even the burning of their closest relatives could not shake them .
[ … ] “ This is really a bit hard to digest .
Another commonly quoted witness is Henryk Tauber .
Tauber was , according to his own testimony , a member of the inmate Sonderkommando of crematorium II during the war .
J.-C. Pressac @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best in relation to the crematoria , which he considers to be 95 % reliable .
This testimony contains the following : [ 443 ] “ During the incineration of such [ not emaciated ] corpses , we used the coke only to light the fire of the furnace initially , for fatty corpses burned of their own accord thanks to the combustion of the body fat .
On occasion , when coke was in short supply , we would put some straw and wood in the ash bins under the muffles , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began to burn the other corpses would catch light themselves .
[ … ] Later on , as cremations succeeded one another , the furnaces burned thanks to the embers produced by the combustion of the corpses .
So , during the incineration of fat bodies , the fires were generally extinguished .
[ … ] Another time , the SS chased a prisoner who was not working fast enough into a pit near the crematorium that was full of boiling human fat .
At that time [ summer 1944 ] , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from which the fat flowed into a separate reservoir , dug in the ground .
This fat was poured over the corpses to accelerate their combustion .
[ … ] “ Tauber ’ s claims as to self-igniting , self-combustible corpses are completely absurd , and in contradiction to all the laws of physical and technical sciences .
[ 444 ] He also confuses grilling with burning with relation to the allegedly boiling fat from the corpses .
What is more , fat can not boil at all .
It simply begins to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tauber also proves himself a liar in the technical details related by him .
The combustion gases in a crematorium oven stream from the combustion chamber [ 445 ] through the cremation chamber containing the corpse ( muffle ) , through the ash chamber into the flue , which conducts the exhaust gases to the chimney .
[ 446 ] If a fire had been ignited in the ash chamber to burn the bodies located above , this would have reversed the flow of gas : fresh air would have been sucked in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gases would have flowed through the muffle into the combustion chamber , from which they would have found their way out into the oven room .
Starting the fire in the ash chamber , as described by Tauber , would have been disastrous .
On top of this , Tauber also claims that the Sonderkommandos shoved extraordinarily many corpses into each oven ( up to eight ) when they heard Allied planes approaching .
Tauber claims that by so doing , huge flames would have come out of the crematorium ’ s chimney @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Allied bomber pilots aware of them .
But as is common knowledge and has been pointed out many times , no flames ever come out of crematorium chimneys .
It is also impossible to push eight corpses in an cremation muffle whose door is just two feet wide and high .
[ 447 ] And apart from that , before Tauber and his co-inmates would have been able to push eight corpses into each oven and get a huge blaze going , any plane they claim to have heard approaching would have long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testimonies are , to use Pressac ’ s words , nothing but downright lies and pure invention .
[ 448 ] Now to the testimony of the witness Richard Böck as quoted during the Frankfurt tribunal : [ 297 ] “ One day , it was during the winter of 1942/43 , H. asked me , whether I wanted to drive with him to a gassing action .
[ … ] The transport train , which had already arrived , stood on the free stretch of track .
[ … ] They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former farmhouse .
[ … ] After the entire transport-there must have been approximately 1,000 people-was in the building , the door was closed .
Finally , an SS man came , I believe it was a Rottenführer , to our ambulance and got out a gas canister .
He then went to a ladder with this gas canister .
[ … ] At the same time , I noticed that he had a gas mask on while climbing the ladder .
[ … ] he shook [ … ] the contents of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … ] When he had closed the little door again , an indescribable crying began in the chamber .
[ … ] That lasted approximately 8-10 minutes , and then all was silent .
A short time afterwards , the door was opened by inmates and one could see a bluish cloud floating over a gigantic pile of corpses .
[ … ] At any rate , I was surprised that the inmate commando which was assigned to remove the bodies , entered the chamber without gas masks , although this blue vapor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I assumed that it was a gas .
[ … ] “ In winter of 1942/1943 , no crematorium was operable in Birkenau ( the first became operable in spring 1943 ) .
For this reason , the alleged victims of homicidal mass gassings in a farmhouse as attested to by Böck are supposed to have been cremated in open-air pits close to this farmhouse .
In view of our previous study of the subject , we can establish : • According to professional air photo analyses of the decisive locations , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel stockpile , no development of smoke or flames .
[ 449 ] Accordingly , the scenario of destruction is obviously false in this regard .
• One thousand people occupy a surface area of at least 200 m2 .
According to eyewitness testimonies , the farmhouses had only half this much surface area , at the most .
[ 450 ] • Chapter 7.1. : Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless , invisible gas .
Therefore , no “ blue vapor floating over the corpses ” could be seen .
This passage is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested by the German name of HCN , “ Blausäure ” ( blue acid ) , which only relates , however , to the formation of the pigment Iron Blue .
• Chapter 7.2. : Since the events described are alleged to have taken place in winter , the rapidity of the procedure is incredible , since Zyklon B only releases gas slowly at frost temperatures .
• The described entry into chambers with a high concentration of toxic gas without a protective filter is impossible ; such a manner of procedure would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ German public prosecutor Willy Dreßen had the following to say about Böck ’ s testimony : [ 451 ] I enclose a copy of the eyewitness testimonies of former members of the SS on the gassing of inmates at Auschwitz [ … ] for your information .
They are only a selection-there are numerous other such testimonies .
In contrast to yourself , I am of the opinion that these eyewitness testimonies relating to the fact of the occurrence of gassings of human beings , are entirely suitable to refute the denial of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Dear Mr. [ … ] , [ … ] Furthermore , the testimony of B ö c k is only one of numerous similar statements [ … ] Böck ’ s testimony was one of the few which the Frankfurt tribunal considered credible after careful examination , that is , the inconsistencies would not be so easily recognized by the layman , in contrast to the many other testimonies .
And yet it is entirely incredible .
Pressac himself becomes very critical in quite a few of his passages relating to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ 452 ] yet it is upon these eyewitness testimonies that all the descriptions of the ‘ gas chamber ’ killings are based .
He lists the untruths , impossibilities , and exaggerations of the witnesses and explains how they presumably materialized .
Finally , in an interview , he said : [ 453 ] “ No , no .
One can not write serious history based only upon eyewitness testimonies.
” At the same time , however , he bases all of his remarks on the alleged existence of homicidal ‘ gas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
And elsewhere , he states , with a naiveté which can hardly be surpassed : [ 454 ] “ Witnesses never lie , but they can be mistaken.
” Pressac seems to be the only person of the establishment who takes notice of the progress of revisionist research .
He knows that traditional historiography of the Holocaust is reduced to absurdity by the facts revealed by this research .
Consequently , he keeps changing his attitude when making public statements .
The most vehement attack of the media darling Pressac on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as an appendix to a PhD thesis analyzing the history of Holocaust revisionism in France .
In it , Pressac described the established historiography of the Holocaust as “ rotten ” and stated : [ 455 ] “ Can we alter the course ?
It is too late .
A general correction is factually and humanely impossible [ … ] .
New documents will unavoidably turn up and will overthrow the official certainties more and more .
The current view of the world of the [ National Socialist ] camps , though triumphant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be salvaged ?
Only little.
” In his first and so far most comprehensive book , Pressac is compelled to correct the statements of witnesses in many cases in order to eliminate errors and , in his opinion , technical impossibilities .
But when so doing , he never reveals the basis upon which he undertakes these corrections .
In actual fact , he merely replaces the capriciousness of ‘ eyewitnesses ’ with his own .
Thus , the numbers of victims per gassing procedure , as estimated by Pressac , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimated in the eyewitness statements , which often speak of several thousand victims per gassing operation per day for crematoria II and III .
One thousand people could only have been made to enter a cellar with a surface area of 210 m2 under the maintenance of extraordinary discipline accompanied by a readiness to co-operate ( ! )
on the part of the victims ( see chapter 7.3.2.1.1. )
.
The numbers of people reported in places by witnesses , on the other hand ( 2,000 and more [ 456 ] ) could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
To arrive at the number of victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau , as spread by sensationalist media and literature until the late 1980s-four million-one is in fact compelled to resort to technically impossible figures of ‘ gas chamber ’ occupancy , as the witnesses do .
At the moment , the official estimates range from approximately 1 to 11/2 million victims , [ 457 ] though in his second book , Pressac downgraded the ‘ gas chamber ’ victims to 630,000 [ 458 ] and later even further down to 470,000-550,000 , [ 459 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a small German periodical in early 2002 , a German mainstream journalist attempted to reduce the death toll of the Auschwitz ‘ gas chambers ’ down to as little as 356,000 .
[ 460 ] But as long as this revolutionary development is not accepted by most scholars , we will stick to the number of one million ‘ gas chamber ’ victims for all further considerations .
The following is a description of the homicidal gassing procedures for the individual installations , if one were to assume that one million human beings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the concentration of poison gas alleged to have been used in the presumed executions ( see next chapter ) .
The only indirect source available to us are the alleged execution times reported by the eyewitnesses , which in turn permit a crude estimate of the concentrations used .
These reported execution times all allege a gassing time of only a few minutes .
[ 465 ] Assuming an execution time approximately corresponding to those in US execution gas chambers ( ten minutes and more at 3,200 ppm HCN , see chapter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 3,000 ppm ( 3.6g/m3 ) would have had to have reached even the remotest corner of the chamber after only half this time ( five minutes ) .
With a free volume of 430 m3 in morgue 1 of crematoria II and III , [ 466 ] this corresponds to a quantity of hydrogen cyanide of approximately 1.5 kg released and spread out after five minutes .
Since the carrier material only releases approximately 10 % of its hydrogen cyanide content after five minutes ( see chapter 7.2 . )
, @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been required in order to kill in only a few minutes , i.e.
, this would mean the utilization of at least 15 kg of Zyklon B .
[ 467 ] This , of course , only applies on the condition that the hydrogen cyanide released reached the victims immediately , which can not be expected in large , overcrowded cellars .
It must therefore be considered established that quantities of at least 20 kg of Zyklon B per gassing ( ten 2 kg cans or twenty 1 kg cans ) would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the gassing procedures described .
Let us state that the scenarios described by the witnesses would require a quick increase in the concentration of hydrogen cyanide everywhere in the chamber .
At the same time , logically , there can not have been a simultaneous drop in the hydrogen cyanide in the chamber-such as through the respiration of the victims .
Such a loss in hydrogen cyanide would have had to have been overcompensated for through an even more rapid evaporation of fresh hydrogen cyanide , because the hydrogen cyanide concentration would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
After the end of respiration due to increasing numbers of dead victims , who died in a matter of minutes , this most important cause of a loss in hydrogen cyanide would have ceased to exist as a factor .
But since Zyklon B continues to give off large amounts of hydrogen cyanide for many more minutes , it must be assumed that the hydrogen cyanide content in such chambers would continue to increase constantly , and very rapidly , during the first quarter hour at least .
Since deadly concentrations ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been reached even in the remotest corner of the chamber even after a few minutes , this means that the hydrogen cyanide concentration inside the chamber after approximately one quarter hour would have exceeded 10,000 ppm and would have continued to rise thereafter-slowly , of course , but nevertheless constantly at all times .
To assume that the respiration of the victims locked in the chambers would have been capable of perceptibly reducing the concentration of hydrogen cyanide in the air is therefore entirely in contradiction to the eyewitness statements .
[ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to assume that the victims , confined in the chamber , could have acted as quasi-living filters for the greater proportion of the time during which the Zyklon B was releasing hydrogen cyanide ( at least one hour ) .
But one thousand people locked in a hermetically sealed cellar would have died in an hour from lack of oxygen alone .
These considerations show that a concentration of hydrogen cyanide in morgue 1 of crematoria II and III during the alleged gassings would have had an effect on the masonry which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as that occurring during disinfestation .
High rates of hydrogen cyanide absorption would have to be expected during these periods , particularly on the cool and moist masonry of cellars in crematoria II and III .
The duration of the gassing period would have depended above all on the subsequent ventilation , which will be examined below .
Because eyewitness statements about the amount of Zyklon B are rare , and since humans are more sensitive to HCN than insects ( see chapter 7.1 . )
, some scholars opine that only small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the alleged mass murders in Auschwitz , for example J. Bailer , [ 54 ] W. Wegner , [ 49 ] and G. Wellers , [ 55 ] who assume an applied concentration of 1 g per m3 ( 0.083 Vol.
% ) or less .
The few witnesses statements we have , however , claim that several kilograms of Zyklon B were used .
[ 469 ] In his book , Pressac frequently refers to a HCN concentration of 12 g per m3 or 1 vol.
% used for executions .
[ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many witness accounts , according to which four to six 1-kg cans of Zyklon B were allegedly poured into the ‘ gas chambers ’ ( morgues ) of crematorium II and III , which indeed corresponds to a concentration of 1 vol.
% .
[ 302 ] Pressac , on the other hand , assumes that 95 to 98 % of the entire Zyklon B delivered to the camp were used for the original purpose , i.e.
, for delousing clothes and rooms , [ 471 ] for which he relies on statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] Pressac justifies this with the fact that , in relation to other concentration camps , where doubtlessly no extermination took place , the Auschwitz camp did not receive higher amounts of Zyklon B deliveries , if seen in relation to the number of inmates and in relation to the material delousing facilities that doubtlessly operated there .
The supply figures of the Auschwitz camp can be found in the protocols of the International Military Tribunal Nuremberg .
In total , they reached some 19,000 kg during the years 1942 and 1943 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the entire existence of the camp from late 1940 to early 1945 will hardly have exceeded 40 tons .
According to Pressac ’ s statement that not 2-5 % of this was used for killings , 800 to 2,000 kg of the total delivery was used for extermination of humans .
But when dividing up this amount of Zyklon B for one million people allegedly killed with it , with 1,000 victims per gassing-the ‘ gas chambers ’ ( morgues I ) of crematorium II and III could hardly hold 1,000 persons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HCN was available for each gassing .
With the morgues ’ free volume of roughly 430 m3 , [ 466 ] and after all hydrogen cyanide had evaporated from the carrier ( after more than an hour ) , 800 to 2,000 g of hydrogen cyanide would result in a theoretical end concentration of 1.86 to 4.65 g per m3 , which means that the concentration during the first five or ten minutes was much lower .
If , on the other hand , one million victims were killed according to the eyewitness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a few minutes , those 1,000 gassing would have required 1,000×20 kg = 20 tons of Zyklon B , or at least 50 % of the entire Zyklon B delivery to the camp .
This shows an obvious inconsistency in Pressac ’ s statements .
One can not have both high concentrations during homicidal gassings and a low percentage of the entire Zyklon B delivery to Auschwitz used for these gassings .
Let us now have a closer look at the theory endorsed by J. Bailer , [ 54 ] W. Wegner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , [ 55 ] that only a small amount of HCN was used for the killings .
In such a case , the concentration reduction due to the respiration of the victims is no longer a negligible quantity .
Per capita , the respiration of HCN is the higher , the higher the applied concentration is .
The reason for this is that although the victim incorporates lethal amounts of hydrogen cyanide in short periods of time in case of high concentrations , their organism ’ s reaction is delayed .
During this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of hydrogen cyanide .
Graph 10 shows the behavior of the breathing volume per minute of persons dying of suffocation or poisoning ( biochemical suffocations ) .
Respiratory arrest occurs at the end of this period of time ( at 5 ) .
Death occurs only several minutes after respiratory arrest .
If one assumes a time period of 5 minutes until respiratory arrest , the assumed breathing volume during each single minute is : 1. : 20 l ; 2. : 30 l ; 3. : 50 l ; 4. : 80 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 422 ] In total , this yields a breathing volume of ca .
210 l. Furthermore , we assume that the function is independent of the length of time until respiratory arrest .
This means that the double amount of air is inhaled if the time period would be doubled .
Regarding morgue 1 ( ‘ gas chamber ’ ) of crematorium II , we have the following data : Volume : 504 m3 ; volume of 1,000 persons : ca .
75 m3 ; resulting free air volume : ca .
430 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the room may be studied .
In Table 9 , the total inhaled volume of 1,000 victims is given in m3 and multiples of the free air volume as a function of time .
The average oxygen content is reduced by 20-30 % per inhalation .
This results in the remaining oxygen content in the chamber as given in the last two columns .
Oxygen contents below 6 % are lethal .
[ 473 ] So , even without adding any toxic gas , we have to reckon with the victims being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some 45-60 minutes .
If one increases the number of locked-up persons , this process is accelerated accordingly .
However , if there were Zyklon B holes in the morgues I of crematorium II and III during wartime , contrary to the results achieved before , these rooms could not be sealed off in an air tight manner .
Also , small amounts of air would have seeped into the interior through the ventilation shafts .
Due to the extremely high capability of the lungs to absorb HCN , the human lung acts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hydrogen cyanide out of the air .
Taking the experiences of US execution ‘ gas chamber ’ as a base , death occurs after some 10 minutes at the earliest in case of an application of ca .
4 g HCN per m3 .
In assuming a total inhaled volume of ca .
210 l , this corresponds to an incorporated amount of HCN of ca .
800 mg , which is a tenfold overdose of the lethal dose ( 80 mg/person ) .
In the following , it is assumed that an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of HCN are incorporated .
Using these benchmark figures , a relation between incorporated overdose and execution time results as shown in Graph 11 .
The HCN content in the air of a room decreases similarly by breathing as by ventilation ( exponential behavior , see chapter 7.3.2.2.2. )
.
If the victims have inhaled the entire room volume once , the HCN content will be reduced to ca .
37 % of the initial value .
As a function of time passed until respiratory arrest occurs , Table 10 shows , how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in total ( column 3 ) , which portion of the total content of HCN in the air this is ( column 4 ) , how much HCN had been released in total ( column 5 ) , and how much Zyklon B at a carrier temperature of 15°C had to have been applied to release that much HCN as is required in this period of time .
The last column shows the ratio of the inhaled amount of HCN and the applied amount .
In so doing , it was assumed that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victim right from the start .
In reality , the applied amount of hydrogen cyanide had to be a bit higher than assumed here ( delay due to release and distribution of hydrogen cyanide ) .
According to testimonies , the execution times until all victims were dead were shorter than 10 minutes .
[ 465 ] When considering the delays caused by the release of the gas and its distribution , as well as the fact that death occurs only several minutes after respiratory arrest , the first two lines of Table @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ca .
10 and 15 minutes , respectively , are at the upper limit of witness accounts .
This means that an execution within a few moments or minutes would have required enormous amounts of Zyklon B .
Such witness accounts are therefore unrealistic .
Furthermore , it must be assumed that , with the execution times attested to , only a fraction of the applied ( < 10 % ) and at the execution time released amount of hydrogen cyanide ( < 60 % ) actually could have been incorporated by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ react with the walls , among other things .
Therefore , one has to reckon with high adsorption rates of hydrogen cyanide especially at the cool and wet walls of the cellars of crematorium II and III , contrary to Weller ’ s hypothesis , according to which this is not supposed to happen .
[ 55 ] According to his opinion , the little amounts of hydrogen cyanide applied were supposedly inhaled entirely .
This contradicts the witness accounts of the quick ‘ gas chamber ’ death which required large amounts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of small amounts of hydrogen cyanide of an end concentration of only 1g/m³ , i.e.
, the use of only some 400 g Zyklon B per gassing , would have been senseless , if the facilities were indeed air-tight , which would have been imperative for their use as a mass ‘ gas chamber ’ .
This is , because the victims would have died in a similar period of time due to lack of oxygen anyway ( cf .
Table 9 ) .
It is worth taking a look into the HCN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on walls and clothes , as well as due to leaks .
Puntigam et al .
[ 122 ] describe the hydrogen cyanide concentration behavior at different locations of a delousing chamber with and without air circulation ( “ Kreislaufverfahren “ ) .
Puntigam neither gives measures and loading of the chamber , nor the type of carrier material and its distribution , nor the temperature .
Since the different measuring points show different concentrations peaks , this indicates a non-even distribution of the products in the chamber .
For the sake of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the center of the room is reproduced in Graph 12 .
The loss of hydrogen cyanide as a function of temperature in a disinfestation chamber can be seen in Graph 14 .
The higher losses at lower temperatures is caused by a higher moisture content in the gassed material and in the walls of the observed room .
[ 123 ] According to the already quoted publication by Schwarz et al.
, [ 409 ] their measurements were made in the range of room temperature .
Although the interesting part of Graph 13 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nevertheless clear that under these circumstances the maximum concentration is reached as late as 4 to 5 hours after the start .
In these years , circulating air systems did not yet exist , so that only the natural air convection was responsible for distributing the gas .
Remarkable is the strong concentration reduction due to adsorption on the load , here lifeless material to be deloused .
Due to the slow increase towards the maximum concentration , it must be assumed that Puntigam ’ s values without circulating air system ( Graph @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at similar temperatures .
In case of hypothetical homicidal gassings , the sweat produced by the frightened , crowded people and their HCN absorption through skin and lungs will cause similar losses , and in case of the underground morgues of crematorium II and III , additional losses will occur due to the cold and moist walls .
In order to kill all victims quickly , as attested to by the ‘ eyewitnesses ’ , such losses would have to be compensated by introducing even more HCN than calculated before ( chapter 7.3.1.3.1.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly reach and maintain high HCN concentrations everywhere in the ‘ gas chamber.
’ First , a few critical remarks on three topics of eyewitness statements relating to homicidal mass gassings should be made at this point .
Just imagine the following scene : 1,000 people of both sexes plus children enter the undressing room with a surface area of 390 m2 ( 4,200 ft² ) .
Each one would therefore have a area of only 60 cm × 60 cm ( 2×2 ft ) in which to undress .
Experience shows that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the very edge of an enclosed area , unless , of course , they are quite willing to do so .
[ 474 ] In order to get people to do this , the procedure must be rehearsed ; they must be aware of what is happening and what steps they must follow-and they must be willing to co-operate .
Alternatively , few people could be made to undress at a time , but this assumes that the people who have already undressed are in the ‘ gas chamber ’ and waiting patiently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Once inside the ‘ gas chamber ’ , the same problem occurs again .
Here each individual has only an area of 45 cm × 45 cm ( 1.5×1.5 ft ) in which to stand .
The people must press themselves tightly together ; the first people entering the room must proceed to the end of the room in a disciplined manner and line up against the wall .
The next lot will form the line directly in front , and so on , until the entire chamber is full , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , even with perfect choreography .
How did they get these 1,000 people to pack themselves tightly together , as one can expect it from soldiers who have exercised this for weeks on a parade ground ?
The only solution is that this must have been exercised just as intensively and disciplined as soldiers do it .
And of course , at some point in this alleged scenario , people had to realize that they were not gathering for a shower , thus resulting in panic and lack of orderly cooperation with their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known to the author are unanimous in claiming that the victims were not separated by sex before being sent into the ‘ gas chambers ’ .
The eyewitness accounts of the failure to separate the sexes are incredible for the following four reasons : • This procedure is in contradiction to the procedures followed during disinfestation , where , according to the same witnesses , the sexes were carefully separated .
[ 475 ] • Since there were always two alleged ‘ gas chambers ’ of each type available in Birkenau ( in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and V , or bunker I and II ) , there is no apparent reason why the victims could not have been separated by sex .
• The claims were repeatedly made that the victims were made to believe that they were going to shower or undergo disinfestation .
These procedures would have necessarily separated the populace on the basis of sex , if only because of the need for deception .
• Particularly in the 1940s of last century , large numbers of people could only have been made to disrobe completely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they had been threatened with force and violence .
But this would have nullified all the other measures of concealment .
According to a few eyewitnesses , the victims were handed towels and bars of soap to make them believe that they were going to take a shower .
[ 476 ] ( Who , by the way , would go with a towel under a shower ? )
This statement becomes incredible given the chaos in the ‘ gas chamber ’ : 1,000 corpses , 1,000 towels , and 1,000 bars of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and blood from 1,000 victims !
How was it possible to recycle those 1,000 bars of soap ?
How did they clean 1,000 towels ?
Did they waste 1,000 towels and 1,000 soap bars for every gassing ?
It can therefore be concluded that such accounts are untrue , and witnesses testifying about it are not trustworthy .
[ 477 ] It is possible to provide a satisfactory answer to the problem of the Zyklon B introduction holes in the roofs of morgue 1 ( the ‘ gas chambers ’ ) of crematoria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ air photos and structural considerations .
One must therefore conclude that the holes and cracks visible today were only put in during or after the destruction of the building during the winter of 1944-45 .
This means that the poison gas could not have been introduced into the alleged ‘ gas chambers ’ in the manner described by the eyewitnesses .
The rapidity of the executions as described by the eyewitnesses , in their extreme values ( “ a few moments “ , “ a few minutes “ , “ two minutes “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once again , be attained with Zyklon B under the given technical conditions , and can only be attained through the use of very high quantities of Zyklon B .
Entering the ‘ gas chambers ’ without protective measures , the performance of heavy physical work in the chambers , sometimes with a naked torso , while eating and smoking , along with testimony relating to large quantities of toxic gas , reveals the perjury of these eyewitnesses .
[ 490 ] Equally false are the statements relating to the duration of ventilation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chamber ’ ) of crematoria II and III , since the ventilation would be greatly influenced by various factors ( hindrance of circulation by the bodies , the short circuit in the ventilation pathway , the release of hydrogen cyanide by Zyklon B ) .
In fact , safe entry into the ‘ gas chamber ’ without protective measures can hardly have been possible in less than three to four hours .
Finally , heavy physical work could only have been conceivable before the expiration of at least another one and a half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The eyewitness testimonies relating to the alleged cremation of the bodies , finally , are riddled with fantasy : cremation in deep ditches ; cremation with liquid fuels ; entirely without-or with ridiculously little-fuel ; the destruction of corpses with explosives ; the collection of human fat .
These have nothing in common with technical reality or possibility , and are largely refuted by the Allied aerial photographic evidence : no huge ditches , no smoke , no fire , no fuel storage areas .
The illogical and ridiculous- in Pressac ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ of crematoria IV and V as well as the comparable ones in farmhouses I and II , would have been extremely dangerous for the Sonderkommandos ( see chapter 5.4.2. and 5.4.3. )
.
Yet these ‘ gas chambers ’ must have been planned and built as instruments of mass murder , [ 491 ] if mass gassings were already underway elsewhere in the camp during their period of construction .
All of this must compel people accustomed to thinking in terms of technology and the natural sciences to conclude that the Germans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most expensive , laborious , most dangerous and difficult way possible in which to kill people en masse .
It would have been logical , for propaganda purposes , to have described the installations such as the disinfestation chambers intended for personal effects located in buildings 5a and 5b as homicidal ‘ gas chambers ’ .
But this was never attempted , nor are there any eyewitness testimonies as to such a utilization of these premises .
Furthermore , the doors drawn in the plans of the disinfestation chambers of buildings 5b-as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which would have rendered it impossible to remove bodies lying in front of the doors after the mass gassings .
These rooms were , therefore , certainly never used as homicidal ‘ gas chambers ’ .
It is nevertheless possible that an attempt was made to represent the disinfestation chamber in building 5b as a ( fake ) homicidal ‘ gas chamber ’ .
The water pipes visible there hang freely in space inside the room , without any connection ; only a few of them are equipped with shower heads , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the exterior wall , i.e.
, they were installed after the removal of the disinfestation devices ( ovens , ventilators , and so on ) , very probably after the German withdrawal ( see Fig .
20 ) .
Remarkably , all pipes and fittings have been removed from the real shower room in the same wing ( see Fig .
17 ) .
In case this is not an attempted falsification , it is still possible that this wing was clumsily converted into a shower room after the end of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prisoner camp for Germans .
But this is not likely , since this building had proper showers already , so why dismantle them first , and then construct a makeshift shower in a room unsuitable for it ?
Brief mention should be made at this point of the widespread notion that the toxic gas streamed into the alleged homicidal ‘ gas chamber ’ through shower heads , especially as there are even a few such eyewitness statements .
Zyklon B consists of the active ingredient , hydrogen cyanide , adsorbed on a solid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ released gradually .
Since it was neither a liquid nor a gas under pressure , the hydrogen cyanide from this product could never have traveled through narrow water pipes and shower heads .
Possible showers , or fake shower heads , could therefore only have been used to deceive the victims ; they could never have been used for the introduction of this poison gas .
There is general unanimity as to this point , no matter what else might be in dispute .
7.3.4 .
An Expert on Cyanide Speaks Out Sir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of which you are a victim in the name of ‘ freedom of expression ’ , let me express all of my sympathy and my total solidarity to you .
I have spent 20 years of my career as an engineer in the hydrogen cyanide industry in the service of the groups Pechiney-Ugine-Kuhlmann and Charbonnages de France .
In particular , I have been the director of the St. Avold plant , which in 1970 , with its production of 40 tons of cyanides per day , was the most important plant worldwide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowed the lethal poisoning of 500 human beings on a single day .
This shows how I am aware of the problems regarding the handling of HCN .
Well , I affirm that the ‘ testimonies ’ I have read or heard of concerning these gas chambers , in which 2 to 3,000 people were crammed , are nothing but total fantasy .
I congratulate you for your admirable battle against the hoax .
The truth is on its way .
[ signed Roubeix ] P.S : You may use this testimony , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teacher of history and geography in the West of France .
At the beginning of July 1997 , as a former lady deportee to the concentration camp of Ravensbrück was giving a conference at his school telling about her ‘ memories , ’ he opposed the lady several times by using solid revisionist arguments .
Michel Adam was immediately suspended and , after one year of troubles of all sorts , he was dismissed by French Minister for the Arts Claude Allègre on account of the three following official reasons : • showing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pupils ; • disturbing a meeting of his pupils with a former deportee ; • showing doubts about the credibility of a deportee ’ s testimony .
Already in 1998 , Gérard Roubeix wrote a similar letter which has been published elsewhere .
[ 492 ] He died in 2001 .
ANEC stands for Association normande pour l ’ éveil du citoyen , ( Norman Association for the Warning of Citizens ) , which was an association created by the Normandy teacher Vincent Reynouard , who , just as Michel Adams before him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revisionist views and was sentenced to fines and a three months prison term .
[ 493 ] ANEC published 36 issues of the revisionist periodical Nouvelle Vision .
One might naturally wonder why the SS are supposed to have decided to use Zyklon B as an instrument of mass murder .
The Soviets , at any rate , killed countless millions of human beings either simply by shooting them in the back of the neck or allowing them to die in camps under miserable conditions .
Surely it would have been simpler to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their fate ; they would have perished from hunger and epidemics within a very short time anyway .
That is how the Americans murdered approximately 1 million German civilian internees after the end of the Second World War .
[ 494 ] Instead , the SS at Auschwitz spent almost one billion dollars , in today ’ s values , to bring the epidemics raging there under control , incurring huge expenditures on medical facilities , to cure the internees from the typhus epidemics , which were very often fatal .
[ 495 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credibility of the conventional wisdom .
The academic question , therefore , of whether or not some other poison gas would have been better suited for the mass murders instead of hydrogen cyanide in the form of Zyklon B can not , in the last analysis , be answered , since there are no scientifically documented experimental values for mass murder by poison gas .
Theoretically , one could , at that time , have chosen between nitrogen ( N ) , carbon dioxide ( CO ) , carbon monoxide ( CO ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Cl ) , hydrogen cyanide ( HCN ) , nerve gases such as Tabun and Sarin , Diesel engine exhaust , internal combustion engine exhaust , producer gas , coke or city gas , process gas , and , possibly , still other , entirely different , instruments of mass murder , suitable even under completely different circumstances ( shooting in the back of the neck , hunger , epidemics ) .
But if one really wished to take the trouble to commit mass killings with poison gas , it is most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monoxide , which is definitely lethal to human beings above 0.1 % , for the following reasons : • • The poison gas CO was available in limitless quantities and in lethal concentrations at giveaway prices , substantially cheaper than Zyklon B , on almost every street corner in the Third Reich : a.Internal combustion engines easily attain a CO content of 7 % by volume , so that it would have been suitable for mass murder .
Nevertheless only a very small minority of eyewitnesses speak of the use of internal combustion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Sobibor ) .
[ 496 ] • • • Producer gas generators generate a gaseous mixture with a proportion of CO of up to 35 % by volume , using only wood or coke , air and water .
These generators were installed in hundreds of thousands of vehicles all over German-occupied Europe during the Second World War , since it was necessary to convert to alternate fuels due to the Allied oil blockade .
As F.P .
Berg has shown , every member of the German Reich Government was familiar with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with their quickly lethal toxic gas , especially the transport experts , whose duty it was to gradually replace all Diesel and internal combustion engines with generator gas installations .
These were , in some cases , exactly the same people who were entrusted with the deportation and allegedly with the killing of jews-such as Adolf Eichmann , for example .
[ 496 ] But it has never been claimed that these installations were used for purposes of homicide .
• • • Toxic city gas with a CO portion of up to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every major city for a ridiculously low price .
Consideration would obviously have been given to committing murder with it .
• • • Process gas : The German corporate giant I.G .
Farbenindustrie AG had already built a coal gasification/liquidification plant only a few kilometers away from Auschwitz concentration camp in the early 1940s .
Here , by means of various conversion processes , coal was converted into chemical end products , from which oils , fats , fuels , and synthetic rubbers could be processed .
The first step in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which has a similar composition to coke gas or city gas .
The I.G .
Farbenindustrie AG factory had a concentration camp in its immediate vicinity by the name of Monowitz , which was connected to the extensive system of more than 30 different Auschwitz concentration camps more than 30 kilometers in Upper Silesia and Western Poland .
If the SS had looked for a simpler way to kill millions of jews , the center of extermination certainly would have been built in the vicinity of Monowitz , with a direct process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AG factory .
• • It would not have been necessary to order and store CO and pay attention to the use-by date , as was necessary in the case of Zyklon B ; carbon monoxide would have been available at all times , as soon as the economical installations were completed .
• • The handling of CO would have been considerably simpler for the executioners .
Almost the only thing to pay attention to would have been the opening and closing of the CO valve .
The handling of Zyklon B @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have demanded a remarkable number of safety precautions on the part of the executioners .
The wearing of gas masks , and , when possible , additional protective clothing ( gloves ) , the careful opening of the cans with a suitable tool , the careful introduction of the carrier through the openings , the careful disposal of the Zyklon B residues .
• • CO can be introduced simply and quickly through pressure pipes or through a blower , while Zyklon B , on the other hand , releases its toxic fumes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case of CO , there would not have been so many problems with ventilating the air in the mass execution areas as with hydrogen cyanide/Zyklon B , since the introduction of CO could be stopped simply by closing a valve , and because CO does not adhere to surfaces and is almost insoluble in water-in extreme contrast to hydrogen cyanide .
• • Zyklon B was scarce and expensive , and was needed everywhere to combat epidemics such as typhus , including in the army and German-allied armed forces , so that any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would have been avoided-even , and especially , at Auschwitz , where typhus threatened not only the lives of the inmates , but also the guards and civilians entering the camp or who lived in the vicinity .
In plain English , this means that the typhus epidemic in Auschwitz concentration camp threatened the extremely important production of the war industries located in Upper Silesia , the second-greatest industrial region in Germany after the Ruhr at that time .
The struggle against epidemics , for which Zyklon B was undoubtedly needed , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ larger quantities than the manufacturer , DEGESCH , was able to deliver at that time .
Naturally , CO would not necessarily speed up the execution procedure in comparison to hydrogen cyanide , but it would have been safer , more easily available nearby , less complicated , and cheaper .
[ 497 ] “ the bottleneck in the extermination process [ …would have been ] the incineration of the bodies , not the gassing itself .
[ An appropriate equipment provided , ] A thousand people could be killed in a matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two at most , counting the entire operation from arrival at the camp to the final ventilation of the gas chamber .
Yet to burn the bodies of those thousand people [ …would have taken ] quite a long while.
” [ 498 ] As C. Mattogno and F. Deana have shown , the cremation installations at Auschwitz were never able to cremate the bodies of the dead from the various epidemics and other unhygienic conditions of Auschwitz camp which occurred anyway , not to mention the bodies allegedly occurring as the result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is a further proof that there was never a program of mass homicide at Auschwitz .

Zyklon B for the Killing of Human Beings
Germar Rudolf
The Rudolf Report
Expert Report on Chemical and Technical Aspects
of the ‘Gas Chambers’ of Auschwitz
7.1. Toxicological Effect of HCN
The effect of hydrogen cyanide is based on the fact that it paralyzes the respiration of every individual cell in the body. Oxygen can no longer be transported from the blood through the cell walls into the cells.[413] As the vital cell functions are thereby starved of oxygen, the animal or human being suffocates.
Insects and, in particular, insect eggs, are considerably less sensitive to hydrogen cyanide than warm-blooded animals. On the one hand, this is due to their greater resistance (slower metabolism). On the other hand, this is due to the fact that lethal concentrations of the gas must penetrate every crack and fissure, no matter how tiny. Every hem and seam of all the garment in the property to be fumigated must be filled with the poison in order to kill, for example, every concealed louse. Warm-blooded animals, by contrast, are rapidly exposed to high concentrations of the gas, not only because of their size, but above all due to their breathing through lungs.
Lethal doses of cyanide can be ingested orally, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. Oral poisoning (for example, with potassium cyanide KCN) is very painful due to muscular convulsions caused by cell suffocation. Even though victims of poisoning by inhalation of high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide become more rapidly unconscious than with oral ingestion, painful convulsions caused by muscular suffocation appear in these cases as well. For this reason, execution by use of hydrogen cyanide gas, as performed in some U.S. states, has recently been a topic of much controversy; see chapter 1. A dose of 1 mg cyanide per kg body weight is generally considered lethal. Non-lethal doses of cyanide are quickly decomposed and excreted by the body.[414]
The bright red coloration of the blood and bruised spots, caused by over-saturation of the blood with oxygen, since the blood can no longer give off its oxygen to the cells, are generally considered, among other things, symptomatic of hydrogen cyanide poisoning in fatal cases.[17],[415],[416],[417] Testimonies describing a blue or green coloration of the victims are therefore false.[418]
Absorption through the skin is especially likely when the skin has become moist, for example, as a result of sweating at work. It is generally advised to avoid sweating during the handling of hydrogen cyanide. In this regard, concentrations from 6,000 ppm[419] (0.6 % by volume) constitute a health hazard, while 10,000 ppm (1% by volume) can cause death in just a few minutes.[420]
Table 8 shows the effects of various concentrations of hydrogen cyanide, found in the literature.[421]
Table 8: Effect of various concentrations of hydrogen cyanide
in air upon human beings 2 to 5 ppm: Perceptible odor 10 ppm: Maximum permissible work site concentration, acc. to German law 20 to 40 ppm: Slight symptoms after a few hours 45 to 54 ppm: Tolerable for 1/2 to 1 hour without significant or delayed effect 100 to 200 ppm: Lethal within 1/2 to 1 hour 300 ppm: Rapidly fatal
F. Flury and F. Zernik indicate that 200 ppm can be fatal within five to ten minutes, while 270 ppm are immediately fatal.[420] These are not, of course, the results of experiments on human beings, but rather extrapolations, in which lower risk thresholds have been determined on the grounds of safety. This will be demonstrated in the following. To kill an average person with a body weight of 100 kg, the victim must therefore ingest approximately 100 mg hydrogen cyanide (1 mg per kilo body weight). The respiration of a human being at rest amounts to approximately 15 liters of air per minute.[422] With a hydrogen cyanide content of 0.02% (approximately 0.24 mg per liter) the victim must inhale approximately 416 liters of air before ingesting the fatal quantity of hydrogen cyanide. At 15 liters per minute, this will take about half an hour. A very strong person can survive even this period of time. By contrast, a sensitive person weighing 50 kg breathing at an accelerated rate as a result of physical effort or excitement will inhale 40 liters per minute, ingesting a fatal dose of 208 liters of air in five minutes. It is obvious from these calculations, that the data in safety instructions are always intended to protect smaller, weaker people from accidents under the most unfavorable circumstances. The data given in the literature as “immediately” or “rapidly fatal” doses are furthermore so indefinite as to be unable to satisfy our purposes. In addition, they only refer to the time when a victim has ingested a fatal dose, but not when death occurs, which can sometimes take a very long time.[423]
The threshold values will be different if we require even the strongest individual, out of all conceivable individual victims, to die in just a few minutes.[424] The concentrations necessary for this purpose will, by its very nature of the thing, be several times higher than the values indicated above. They could only be determined by a series of experiments, which is naturally impossible with human beings. The only data available to us are those gathered during executions with hydrogen cyanide carried out in the United States. Leuchter speaks of concentrations of hydrogen cyanide used in executions in the USA in the order of magnitude of 3,200 ppm. In these cases, death occurs after 4 to 10 minutes, depending on the physical constitution of the victim.[425] Press reports from the USA indicate that executions lasting from 10 to 17 minutes are the rule rather than the exception (see chapter 1.1.).
In relation to the quantities used, the US execution gas chamber in Raleigh (North Carolina), for example, is said to use 454 g KCN in half concentrated sulfuric acid, leading to instant formation of hydrogen cyanide vapor, which is even visible for a short period to the witnesses in the witness room and which reaches the victim in seconds.[1] As a matter of pure calculation, this generates approximately 180 g of hydrogen cyanide, corresponding to 150 liters of gas. However, since a considerable part of it remains dissolved in the half concentrated sulfuric acid (approximately 50%, see chapter 8.3.3.4.), we assume in the following that approximately 90 g or 75 liters hydrogen cyanide are released as gas. In North Carolina, this gas arises immediately beneath the victim, so that the victim must be exposed, immediately after the beginning of the execution process, to a concentration which probably exceeds 10% by volume for a short period, but then falls steadily as a result of diffusion of the hydrogen cyanide throughout the chamber.[426]
At a normal respiration volume of approximately 15 to 20 liter per minute and assuming an average concentration during the execution of only 0.75% by volume, approximately 1.35 to 1.8 grams of HCN will be ingested in 10 minutes (150-200 liters of inhaled air), which corresponds to ten to twenty times the fatal dose. In the following calculations, we will assume a ten-fold overdose only, in order to kill all the people in the chamber, with certainty, in ten minutes.
7.2. Evaporation Characteristics of Zyklon B
Zyklon B does not release its poison gas instantaneously, but rather over an extended period of time. Since this period of time can be decisive for the evaluation both of eyewitness accounts as well as of chemical analyses, it will be investigated more thoroughly in this chapter.
R. Irmscher of DEGESCH reported in a paper written in 1942 that, at that time, the use of cardboard discs and gypsum (Ercco) were the most commonly used carrier material.[427] The gypsum version was used-even according to eyewitness testimony-in the concentration camps.
The evaporation characteristics of this product at various temperatures, low relative humidity of the air, and a fine distribution of the carrier material are reproduced in Graph 9 as given by Irmscher. The evaporation is “seriously delayed” at high atmospheric humidity, because the evaporating hydrogen cyanide withdraws considerable quantities of energy from the liquid HCN, the carrier material, and the ambient air. As a consequence, the temperature of the product and the ambient air drops. If the temperature of the air reaches the dew point, atmospheric humidity condenses out of the air onto the carrier material, which binds the hydrogen cyanide and slows down the evaporation process.
Graph 9: Evaporation rate of hydrogen cyanide from the Ercco carrier material (gypsum with some starch) at various temperatures and fine distribution, according to R. Irmscher/DEGESCH 1942.[427]
For later references, we want to keep in mind that, at 15°C and in the presence of lower atmospheric humidity, approximately 10% of the hydrogen cyanide used at Auschwitz have left the carrier material during the first five minutes, and approximately 50% after half an hour. In cool cellar areas with a relative humidity of approximately 100%, the evaporation times would have been “seriously delayed“.
The question of how Zyklon B would have behaved if spread on the floor in a room filled with human beings, is somewhat more difficult. The radiant heat of the bodies would have a slightly accelerating effect upon the evaporation by increasing the temperature in the vicinity of the floor. Further acceleration of evaporation may occur due to a possible reduction in size of the carrier granules as a result of being trampled upon or crushed by falling human bodies, as well as direct bodily contact.
The relative atmospheric humidity in the cellars of crematoria II and III, which must certainly have approached 100%, would have “seriously delayed” evaporation,[428] as well as the possible fluid secretions caused by panic on the part of victims lying on the floor, which could very well have occurred as soon as the door was closed, that is, prior to release of the Zyklon B. Under such conditions, a serious delay in the discharge of the hydrogen cyanide from the carrier material would have to be anticipated.
If assuming that Zyklon B introduction devices were installed in some of the Auschwitz ‘gas chambers’ as attested to by Michal Kula,[429] such a device would have had the following effects: a) the Zyklon B granules would not have been spread out, but rather would have been kept together by the inner wire mesh, reducing the evaporation rate considerably; b) all three wire mesh columns would have drastically reduced any air convection within them, reducing both evaporation rate as well as the speed with which the gas spreads out into the chamber; c) due to high humidity in the air and the lack of air convection, moisture would have condensed intensively on the Zyklon B carrier, reducing the evaporation rate of HCN “seriously.”
The present study regarding homicidal mass gassings will be based on the conservative assumption that the Zyklon B would at best have behave in the manner described by Irmscher at 15°C (see above).
7.3. The Gassing of Human Beings
7.3.1. Eyewitness Testimonies
7.3.1.1. Boundary Conditions
This chapter will examine a few related eyewitness testimonies for a determination of the chemical, physical, and technical boundary conditions of the alleged homicidal gassings. A complete and detailed analysis of the many eyewitness testimonies in the individual trials and in the literature would be too voluminous to include here.[430] The following survey is therefore not complete.
For a clarification of the evidence problems, an extract from the judgment of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial may be quoted here:[83]
“The court lacked almost all possibilities of discovery available in a normal murder trial to create a true picture of the actual event at the time of the murder. It lacked the bodies of the victims, autopsy records, expert reports on the cause of death and the time of death; it lacked any trace of the murderers, murder weapons, etc. An examination of the eyewitness testimony was only possible in rare cases. Where the slightest doubt existed or the possibility of a confusion could not be excluded with certainty, the court did not evaluate the testimony of witnesses […]
The general findings […] are based on […] the credible testimony of witnesses […] Böck, in addition to the written notes of the first camp commandant Höß.”
In the opinion of the court, many of the witness testimonies possessed insufficient credibility. But it nevertheless succeeded in obtaining testimonies from a few allegedly credible witnesses that sounded sufficiently credible to the court.
Before we analyze some of these testimonies more closely, a few remarks are necessary about the circumstances and the atmosphere in which these testimonies and confessions of alleged victims and perpetrators came about in the first couple of years after the end of World War II. It was in those years that the story of the conveyor-belt like extermination of human beings in Auschwitz and elsewhere was elevated to ‘common knowledge.’ Challenging this story led to a severe increase in legal penalty for any defendant, as it still does to this day in many countries in Europe.
According to reports by Bernard Clarke, who arrested Höß at that time, Höß was tortured after his arrest.[431] In his autobiography, Höß also reports this and mentioned similar procedures during his Polish imprisonment.[295] According to a report by a US Senator drawn up at that time, mistreatment of German prisoners by Allied personnel was a frequent occurrence:[432]
Burning of the skin;
Beds of the nails destroyed by ramming matches under the nails;
Torn-out fingernails;
Broken teeth;
Broken jaws;
Crushed testicles;
All kinds of wounding by beating with truncheons, brass knuckles, and kicks;
Confinement while naked in cold, damp, and dark rooms;
Imprisonment for days in hot rooms without water;
Mock trials;
Mock judgments;
Mock executions;
Mock priests, and many other methods.
A few voices were raised at that time in the USA clearly stating that the Nuremberg Tribunal was a case of revenge, not justice.[433] These voices spoke of:
Forced testimony under the threat of punishment;
Compelled production of all documents to the prosecution;
Refusal to provide documents or examination of documents for the defense;
Travel and currency prohibitions against the defense.
A glance at the London Agreement, which established the legal framework for the Nuremberg Trials, reveals two remarkable articles, which are clearly incompatible with the procedures of a state under the rule of law. Article 19 states:[434]
“The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. It shall adopt and apply to the greatest possible extent expeditious and nontechnical procedure, and shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative value.”
while Article 21 states:
“The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof […]“
For a correct evaluation of Holocaust testimony of the witnesses and the confessions of the defendants, it is essential to pay attention to the boundary conditions under which the so-called NSG trials were held[435] and continue to be held.[436]
7.3.1.2. Eyewitness Fantasies
What is the credibility of the eyewitness testimonies as to content? Reference should be made at this point to a few detailed works on this problem.[437] The following is a closer examination of three of the more frequently quoted eyewitnesses: Rudolf Höß, former camp commandant at Auschwitz, Richard Böck, a camp SS man of subordinate rank, as well as Henryk Tauber, former inmate and member of the “Sonderkommando” in crematorium II in Birkenau.
The Höß statements may be consulted in the Broszat edition and read as follows:[295]
“Maintaining the fire at the ditches, pouring the collected fat [over the burning bodies …] They ate and smoked while dragging corpses […]“ (p. 126)
“The bodies were doused first with oil residues, and later with methanol […] He also attempted to destroy the bodies with explosives,[…]” (p. 157ff.)
“Half an hour after the introduction of the gas, the door was opened and the ventilation installation was turned on. Removal of the bodies began immediately […]” (p. 166.)
and elsewhere:[438]
“[…]
Q But was not it [sic] quite dangerous work for these inmates to go into these chambers and work among the bodies and among the gas fumes?
A No.
Q Did they carry gas masks?
A They had some, but they did not need them, as nothing ever happened. […]“
Anyone who has ever grilled meat knows that fat cannot be scooped up from burning flesh. Fat ignites at approximately 184°C.[439] It is therefore the first thing that burns on a corpse located in a fire. Hence, it is impossible to collect the easily combustible fat during the incineration of a corpse. After all, the bodies were burnt-not grilled.
The incineration of corpses in the open air with combustible fluids is impracticable because fluids have the property of flowing down or away and/or evaporating. When corpses, which consist of more than 60% water, are burnt, this must take place with the expenditure of quite large quantities of fuel and great heat. In particular, open oil or methane combustion would be insufficient.
The alleged attempt to destroy bodies by means of explosives requires no further comment. In reading such testimonies, one must inevitably wonder as to Höß’s mental condition in writing them, as well as that of anyone who takes such claims seriously. Unfortunately, such testimonies are the rule rather than the exception.[440]
Entering the ‘gas chamber’ without a protective filter, eating and smoking in the ‘gas chamber’, as well as the commencement of the corpse dragging operation immediately after the opening of the doors, would only be conceivable if there were no longer any dangerous quantity of gas in the chamber. The question of whether this was possible will be the subject of chapter 7.3.2.2.
It is interesting to note that M. Broszat deleted the last pages of Rudolf Höß’s testimony from his edition, since they contain “completely erroneous data on the numerical strength of these jews“, as Broszat himself stated in a footnote. In these pages, Höß speaks of three million jews in Hungary, four million in Romania, two million in Bulgaria. The actual figures were lower by a factor of approximately ten.[441] In addition, the same pages contain the following, which is also incredible:[442]
“Although well-cared for and plentifully provided with bonus payments, one often saw them [the jewish Sonderkommandos] dragging corpses with one hand, and holding and gnawing on something to eat with the other hand.
Even during the horrid work of digging up and burning the mass graves, they did not allow themselves to be disturbed while eating. Even the burning of their closest relatives could not shake them. […]“
This is really a bit hard to digest.
Another commonly quoted witness is Henryk Tauber. Tauber was, according to his own testimony, a member of the inmate Sonderkommando of crematorium II during the war. J.-C. Pressac writes that this eyewitness testimony is the best in relation to the crematoria, which he considers to be 95% reliable. This testimony contains the following:[443]
“During the incineration of such [not emaciated] corpses, we used the coke only to light the fire of the furnace initially, for fatty corpses burned of their own accord thanks to the combustion of the body fat. On occasion, when coke was in short supply, we would put some straw and wood in the ash bins under the muffles, and once the fat of the corpse began to burn the other corpses would catch light themselves. […]
Later on, as cremations succeeded one another, the furnaces burned thanks to the embers produced by the combustion of the corpses. So, during the incineration of fat bodies, the fires were generally extinguished. […]
Another time, the SS chased a prisoner who was not working fast enough into a pit near the crematorium that was full of boiling human fat. At that time [summer 1944], the corpses were incinerated in open-air pits, from which the fat flowed into a separate reservoir, dug in the ground. This fat was poured over the corpses to accelerate their combustion. […]“
Tauber’s claims as to self-igniting, self-combustible corpses are completely absurd, and in contradiction to all the laws of physical and technical sciences.[444] He also confuses grilling with burning with relation to the allegedly boiling fat from the corpses. What is more, fat cannot boil at all. It simply begins to ignite at temperatures of approximately 180-190°C.
Tauber also proves himself a liar in the technical details related by him. The combustion gases in a crematorium oven stream from the combustion chamber[445] through the cremation chamber containing the corpse (muffle), through the ash chamber into the flue, which conducts the exhaust gases to the chimney.[446] If a fire had been ignited in the ash chamber to burn the bodies located above, this would have reversed the flow of gas: fresh air would have been sucked in through the chimney, while the exhaust gases would have flowed through the muffle into the combustion chamber, from which they would have found their way out into the oven room. Starting the fire in the ash chamber, as described by Tauber, would have been disastrous.
On top of this, Tauber also claims that the Sonderkommandos shoved extraordinarily many corpses into each oven (up to eight) when they heard Allied planes approaching. Tauber claims that by so doing, huge flames would have come out of the crematorium’s chimney, which they hoped would make the Allied bomber pilots aware of them. But as is common knowledge and has been pointed out many times, no flames ever come out of crematorium chimneys. It is also impossible to push eight corpses in an cremation muffle whose door is just two feet wide and high.[447] And apart from that, before Tauber and his co-inmates would have been able to push eight corpses into each oven and get a huge blaze going, any plane they claim to have heard approaching would have long flown far, far away. Such testimonies are, to use Pressac’s words, nothing but downright lies and pure invention.[448]
Now to the testimony of the witness Richard Böck as quoted during the Frankfurt tribunal:[297]
“One day, it was during the winter of 1942/43, H. asked me, whether I wanted to drive with him to a gassing action. […]
The transport train, which had already arrived, stood on the free stretch of track. […]
They were all loaded, and driven to a former farmhouse. […]
After the entire transport-there must have been approximately 1,000 people-was in the building, the door was closed. Finally, an SS man came, I believe it was a Rottenführer, to our ambulance and got out a gas canister. He then went to a ladder with this gas canister. […] At the same time, I noticed that he had a gas mask on while climbing the ladder. […] he shook […] the contents of the canister into the opening. […] When he had closed the little door again, an indescribable crying began in the chamber. […] That lasted approximately 8-10 minutes, and then all was silent. A short time afterwards, the door was opened by inmates and one could see a bluish cloud floating over a gigantic pile of corpses. […] At any rate, I was surprised that the inmate commando which was assigned to remove the bodies, entered the chamber without gas masks, although this blue vapor floated over the corpses, from which I assumed that it was a gas. […]“
In winter of 1942/1943, no crematorium was operable in Birkenau (the first became operable in spring 1943). For this reason, the alleged victims of homicidal mass gassings in a farmhouse as attested to by Böck are supposed to have been cremated in open-air pits close to this farmhouse.
In view of our previous study of the subject, we can establish:
According to professional air photo analyses of the decisive locations, there were no large cremation ditches, no fuel stockpile, no development of smoke or flames.[449] Accordingly, the scenario of destruction is obviously false in this regard.
One thousand people occupy a surface area of at least 200 m 2 . According to eyewitness testimonies, the farmhouses had only half this much surface area, at the most.[450]
. According to eyewitness testimonies, the farmhouses had only half this much surface area, at the most.[450] Chapter 7.1.: Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless, invisible gas. Therefore, no “ blue vapor floating over the corpses ” could be seen. This passage is a sign of pure fantasy, obviously suggested by the German name of HCN, “ Blausäure ” (blue acid), which only relates, however, to the formation of the pigment Iron Blue.
” could be seen. This passage is a sign of pure fantasy, obviously suggested by the German name of HCN, “ ” (blue acid), which only relates, however, to the formation of the pigment Iron Blue. Chapter 7.2.: Since the events described are alleged to have taken place in winter, the rapidity of the procedure is incredible, since Zyklon B only releases gas slowly at frost temperatures.
The described entry into chambers with a high concentration of toxic gas without a protective filter is impossible; such a manner of procedure would obviously sooner or later be fatal.
German public prosecutor Willy Dreßen had the following to say about Böck’s testimony:[451]
“Dear Mr. […],
I enclose a copy of the eyewitness testimonies of former members of the SS on the gassing of inmates at Auschwitz […] for your information. They are only a selection-there are numerous other such testimonies. In contrast to yourself, I am of the opinion that these eyewitness testimonies relating to the fact of the occurrence of gassings of human beings, are entirely suitable to refute the denial of this fact.
Faithfully, (Dreßen), Public Prosecutor”
And yet again: “Dear Mr. […],
[…] Furthermore, the testimony of B ö c k is only one of numerous similar statements […]
Faithfully, (Dreßen), Public Prosecutor”
Böck’s testimony was one of the few which the Frankfurt tribunal considered credible after careful examination, that is, the inconsistencies would not be so easily recognized by the layman, in contrast to the many other testimonies. And yet it is entirely incredible.
Pressac himself becomes very critical in quite a few of his passages relating to the reliability and credibility of eyewitness testimonies;[452] yet it is upon these eyewitness testimonies that all the descriptions of the ‘gas chamber’ killings are based. He lists the untruths, impossibilities, and exaggerations of the witnesses and explains how they presumably materialized. Finally, in an interview, he said:[453]
“No, no. One cannot write serious history based only upon eyewitness testimonies.”
At the same time, however, he bases all of his remarks on the alleged existence of homicidal ‘gas chambers’ exclusively on these eyewitness testimonies! And elsewhere, he states, with a naiveté which can hardly be surpassed:[454]
“Witnesses never lie, but they can be mistaken.”
Pressac seems to be the only person of the establishment who takes notice of the progress of revisionist research. He knows that traditional historiography of the Holocaust is reduced to absurdity by the facts revealed by this research. Consequently, he keeps changing his attitude when making public statements. The most vehement attack of the media darling Pressac on the dominating historiography occurred during an interview published as an appendix to a PhD thesis analyzing the history of Holocaust revisionism in France. In it, Pressac described the established historiography of the Holocaust as “rotten” and stated:[455]
“Can we alter the course? It is too late. A general correction is factually and humanely impossible […]. New documents will unavoidably turn up and will overthrow the official certainties more and more. The current view of the world of the [National Socialist] camps, though triumphant, is doomed. What of it can be salvaged? Only little.”
In his first and so far most comprehensive book, Pressac is compelled to correct the statements of witnesses in many cases in order to eliminate errors and, in his opinion, technical impossibilities. But when so doing, he never reveals the basis upon which he undertakes these corrections. In actual fact, he merely replaces the capriciousness of ‘eyewitnesses’ with his own. Thus, the numbers of victims per gassing procedure, as estimated by Pressac, for example, are considerably lower than those estimated in the eyewitness statements, which often speak of several thousand victims per gassing operation per day for crematoria II and III. One thousand people could only have been made to enter a cellar with a surface area of 210 m2 under the maintenance of extraordinary discipline accompanied by a readiness to co-operate(!) on the part of the victims (see chapter 7.3.2.1.1.). The numbers of people reported in places by witnesses, on the other hand (2,000 and more[456]) could not have been contained by morgue 1. To arrive at the number of victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as spread by sensationalist media and literature until the late 1980s-four million-one is in fact compelled to resort to technically impossible figures of ‘gas chamber’ occupancy, as the witnesses do. At the moment, the official estimates range from approximately 1 to 11/2 million victims,[457] though in his second book, Pressac downgraded the ‘gas chamber’ victims to 630,000[458] and later even further down to 470,000-550,000,[459] and in an article published in a small German periodical in early 2002, a German mainstream journalist attempted to reduce the death toll of the Auschwitz ‘gas chambers’ down to as little as 356,000.[460] But as long as this revolutionary development is not accepted by most scholars, we will stick to the number of one million ‘gas chamber’ victims for all further considerations.
The following is a description of the homicidal gassing procedures for the individual installations, if one were to assume that one million human beings were actually gassed:
Crematorium I: Blocking the crematorium environs to third parties; 500-700 victims undressing in open air (what a spectacle for all other inmates!); entry into ‘gas chamber’ (morgue) near oven room; on their way to the ‘gas chamber,’ victims march past piles of corpses of earlier victims; introduction of Zyklon B through pillars with utilization of gas masks after closure of doors; turning on of ventilators (if available) and opening of doors after death of victims (approximately five min.); evacuation of chambers without gas masks; removal and cremation of victims.[461] According to Pressac only a few gassings, with a total of only 10,000 victims.[462] Crematoria II/III: Entry of 800 to 1,200 victims into western entrance stairway into crematorium II; undressing in undressing cellar; travel through stairwell into morgue 1 (‘gas chamber’); introduction of Zyklon B through pillars with utilization of gas masks; turning on ventilators after death of victims (approximately five min.); opening of doors after approximately 20 minutes; hosing down of corpses, soiled with blood, vomit, and excrement; removal of bodies without utilization of gas masks; cutting of hair and removal of gold teeth while bodies are still in cellar; transport with lift (payload 1.5 tons) to ground floor; there, transport through water-filled channels to ovens; cremation.[302] Approximately 400,000 victims for crematorium II, 350,000 for crematorium III according to Pressac.[463] Crematorium IV/V: Undressing of a few hundred victims in open air (again: what a spectacle for all other inmates!), otherwise in morgue, some of them next to corpses of last gassing victims awaiting cremation; entry into ‘gas chambers’ past coal room and doctor’s office; evacuation of the entire building; introduction of Zyklon B through hatches from a ladder after closure of door(s); opening of doors after 15 to 20 minutes; removal of corpses to morgue or to cremation ditches behind crematorium V by the Sonderkommando, some of them wearing gas masks, some not. According to Pressac, the number of victims can only be estimated with difficulty, probably approximately 100,000.[464] A similar scenario applies to farmhouses I and II (see chapter 5.4.3.).
7.3.1.3. Quantities of Poison Gas
7.3.1.3.1. Overview
Opinions differ as to the concentration of poison gas alleged to have been used in the presumed executions (see next chapter). The only indirect source available to us are the alleged execution times reported by the eyewitnesses, which in turn permit a crude estimate of the concentrations used. These reported execution times all allege a gassing time of only a few minutes.[465]
Assuming an execution time approximately corresponding to those in US execution gas chambers (ten minutes and more at 3,200 ppm HCN, see chapter 7.1.), a concentration of at least 3,000 ppm (3.6g/m3) would have had to have reached even the remotest corner of the chamber after only half this time (five minutes). With a free volume of 430 m3 in morgue 1 of crematoria II and III,[466] this corresponds to a quantity of hydrogen cyanide of approximately 1.5 kg released and spread out after five minutes. Since the carrier material only releases approximately 10% of its hydrogen cyanide content after five minutes (see chapter 7.2.), at least ten times that amount would have been required in order to kill in only a few minutes, i.e., this would mean the utilization of at least 15 kg of Zyklon B.[467] This, of course, only applies on the condition that the hydrogen cyanide released reached the victims immediately, which cannot be expected in large, overcrowded cellars. It must therefore be considered established that quantities of at least 20 kg of Zyklon B per gassing (ten 2 kg cans or twenty 1 kg cans) would probably have had to have been used for the gassing procedures described.
Let us state that the scenarios described by the witnesses would require a quick increase in the concentration of hydrogen cyanide everywhere in the chamber. At the same time, logically, there cannot have been a simultaneous drop in the hydrogen cyanide in the chamber-such as through the respiration of the victims. Such a loss in hydrogen cyanide would have had to have been overcompensated for through an even more rapid evaporation of fresh hydrogen cyanide, because the hydrogen cyanide concentration would have had to increase for rapid executions. After the end of respiration due to increasing numbers of dead victims, who died in a matter of minutes, this most important cause of a loss in hydrogen cyanide would have ceased to exist as a factor. But since Zyklon B continues to give off large amounts of hydrogen cyanide for many more minutes, it must be assumed that the hydrogen cyanide content in such chambers would continue to increase constantly, and very rapidly, during the first quarter hour at least. Since deadly concentrations (3,200 ppm) would have had to have been reached even in the remotest corner of the chamber even after a few minutes, this means that the hydrogen cyanide concentration inside the chamber after approximately one quarter hour would have exceeded 10,000 ppm and would have continued to rise thereafter-slowly, of course, but nevertheless constantly at all times.
To assume that the respiration of the victims locked in the chambers would have been capable of perceptibly reducing the concentration of hydrogen cyanide in the air is therefore entirely in contradiction to the eyewitness statements.[468] In particular, this would have to assume that the victims, confined in the chamber, could have acted as quasi-living filters for the greater proportion of the time during which the Zyklon B was releasing hydrogen cyanide (at least one hour). But one thousand people locked in a hermetically sealed cellar would have died in an hour from lack of oxygen alone.
These considerations show that a concentration of hydrogen cyanide in morgue 1 of crematoria II and III during the alleged gassings would have had an effect on the masonry which would have been at least as great as that occurring during disinfestation. High rates of hydrogen cyanide absorption would have to be expected during these periods, particularly on the cool and moist masonry of cellars in crematoria II and III. The duration of the gassing period would have depended above all on the subsequent ventilation, which will be examined below.
7.3.1.3.2. Excursus 1: Poisoning or Suffocation?
Because eyewitness statements about the amount of Zyklon B are rare, and since humans are more sensitive to HCN than insects (see chapter 7.1.), some scholars opine that only small amounts of Zyklon B were used for the alleged mass murders in Auschwitz, for example J. Bailer,[54] W. Wegner,[49] and G. Wellers,[55] who assume an applied concentration of 1 g per m3 (0.083 Vol.%) or less.
The few witnesses statements we have, however, claim that several kilograms of Zyklon B were used.[469] In his book, Pressac frequently refers to a HCN concentration of 12 g per m3 or 1 vol.% used for executions.[470] He backs this up with many witness accounts, according to which four to six 1-kg cans of Zyklon B were allegedly poured into the ‘gas chambers’ (morgues) of crematorium II and III, which indeed corresponds to a concentration of 1 vol.%.[302]
Pressac, on the other hand, assumes that 95 to 98% of the entire Zyklon B delivered to the camp were used for the original purpose, i.e., for delousing clothes and rooms,[471] for which he relies on statements from the Nuremberg tribunal.[472] Pressac justifies this with the fact that, in relation to other concentration camps, where doubtlessly no extermination took place, the Auschwitz camp did not receive higher amounts of Zyklon B deliveries, if seen in relation to the number of inmates and in relation to the material delousing facilities that doubtlessly operated there.
The supply figures of the Auschwitz camp can be found in the protocols of the International Military Tribunal Nuremberg. In total, they reached some 19,000 kg during the years 1942 and 1943.[157] The total supplied amount during the entire existence of the camp from late 1940 to early 1945 will hardly have exceeded 40 tons. According to Pressac’s statement that not 2-5% of this was used for killings, 800 to 2,000 kg of the total delivery was used for extermination of humans.
But when dividing up this amount of Zyklon B for one million people allegedly killed with it, with 1,000 victims per gassing-the ‘gas chambers’ (morgues I) of crematorium II and III could hardly hold 1,000 persons per execution-only roughly 0.8 to 2 kg HCN was available for each gassing. With the morgues’ free volume of roughly 430 m3,[466] and after all hydrogen cyanide had evaporated from the carrier (after more than an hour), 800 to 2,000 g of hydrogen cyanide would result in a theoretical end concentration of 1.86 to 4.65 g per m3, which means that the concentration during the first five or ten minutes was much lower.
If, on the other hand, one million victims were killed according to the eyewitness statements, i.e., with high concentrations in a few minutes, those 1,000 gassing would have required 1,000×20 kg = 20 tons of Zyklon B, or at least 50% of the entire Zyklon B delivery to the camp.
This shows an obvious inconsistency in Pressac’s statements. One cannot have both high concentrations during homicidal gassings and a low percentage of the entire Zyklon B delivery to Auschwitz used for these gassings.
Let us now have a closer look at the theory endorsed by J. Bailer,[54] W. Wegner,[49] and G. Wellers,[55] that only a small amount of HCN was used for the killings. In such a case, the concentration reduction due to the respiration of the victims is no longer a negligible quantity.
Per capita, the respiration of HCN is the higher, the higher the applied concentration is. The reason for this is that although the victim incorporates lethal amounts of hydrogen cyanide in short periods of time in case of high concentrations, their organism’s reaction is delayed. During this delay, the victim incorporates more overdoses of hydrogen cyanide.
Graph 10 shows the behavior of the breathing volume per minute of persons dying of suffocation or poisoning (biochemical suffocations). Respiratory arrest occurs at the end of this period of time (at 5). Death occurs only several minutes after respiratory arrest. If one assumes a time period of 5 minutes until respiratory arrest, the assumed breathing volume during each single minute is: 1.: 20 l; 2.: 30 l; 3.: 50 l; 4.: 80 l; 5.: 30 l.[422] In total, this yields a breathing volume of ca. 210 l. Furthermore, we assume that the function is independent of the length of time until respiratory arrest. This means that the double amount of air is inhaled if the time period would be doubled.
Graph 10: Schematic representation of the breathing volume behavior relative to time in case of suffocation/poisoning.
Regarding morgue 1 (‘gas chamber’) of crematorium II, we have the following data: Volume: 504 m3; volume of 1,000 persons: ca. 75 m3; resulting free air volume: ca. 430 m3. First, the oxygen content in the room may be studied. In Table 9, the total inhaled volume of 1,000 victims is given in m3 and multiples of the free air volume as a function of time. The average oxygen content is reduced by 20-30% per inhalation. This results in the remaining oxygen content in the chamber as given in the last two columns. Oxygen contents below 6% are lethal.[473] So, even without adding any toxic gas, we have to reckon with the victims being suffocated in an airtight chamber already after some 45-60 minutes.
If one increases the number of locked-up persons, this process is accelerated accordingly. However, if there were Zyklon B holes in the morgues I of crematorium II and III during wartime, contrary to the results achieved before, these rooms could not be sealed off in an air tight manner. Also, small amounts of air would have seeped into the interior through the ventilation shafts.
Table 9: Reduction of O 2 content
in air-tight morgue 1 as a function of time Time until respiratory arrest [min] Inhaled volume
of 1,000 victims [m³] in free volumes
of the room Reduction of O 2
content (30% per Inhalation) Reduction of O 2
content (20% per inhalation) 5 210 0.5 17.9 18.9 10 420 1 15 16.8 20 840 2 10.5 13.4 30 1,260 3 7.4 10.8 45 1,890 4.5 4.2 (lethal) 7.8 60 2,520 6 5.5 (lethal) 120 5,040 12
Due to the extremely high capability of the lungs to absorb HCN, the human lung acts like a perfect filter which absorbs all hydrogen cyanide out of the air. Taking the experiences of US execution ‘gas chamber’ as a base, death occurs after some 10 minutes at the earliest in case of an application of ca. 4 g HCN per m3. In assuming a total inhaled volume of ca. 210 l, this corresponds to an incorporated amount of HCN of ca. 800 mg, which is a tenfold overdose of the lethal dose (80 mg/person). In the following, it is assumed that an execution lasting several hours, no overdoses of HCN are incorporated. Using these benchmark figures, a relation between incorporated overdose and execution time results as shown in Graph 11.
Graph 11: Incorporated amount of HCN as function of time until respiratory arrest in overdoses of lethal dose (ca. 80 mg).
The HCN content in the air of a room decreases similarly by breathing as by ventilation (exponential behavior, see chapter 7.3.2.2.2.). If the victims have inhaled the entire room volume once, the HCN content will be reduced to ca. 37% of the initial value. As a function of time passed until respiratory arrest occurs, Table 10 shows, how much HCN was incorporated by the victims in total (column 3), which portion of the total content of HCN in the air this is (column 4), how much HCN had been released in total (column 5), and how much Zyklon B at a carrier temperature of 15°C had to have been applied to release that much HCN as is required in this period of time. The last column shows the ratio of the inhaled amount of HCN and the applied amount. In so doing, it was assumed that the HCN concentration was available to every victim right from the start. In reality, the applied amount of hydrogen cyanide had to be a bit higher than assumed here (delay due to release and distribution of hydrogen cyanide).
Table 10: Amount of hydrogen cyanide as a function of execution time (lethal dose = 80 mg/person = 80 g/1,000 persons) Time until respiratory arrest [min] Over-
dose Inhaled
Amount of
HCN [g] Portion of released HCN [%] released amount of HCN from carrier [g] Applied Zyklon B (15°C) [g] HCN inhaled / HCN applied [%] 5 10 800 40 2,030 28,600 3 10 6 480 63 760 5,000 10 20 4 320 86 370 1,230 26 30 3 240 95 252 625 38 45 2 160 99 161 320 50 60 1.5 120 100 120 200 60 120 1 80 100 80 100 80
According to testimonies, the execution times until all victims were dead were shorter than 10 minutes.[465] When considering the delays caused by the release of the gas and its distribution, as well as the fact that death occurs only several minutes after respiratory arrest, the first two lines of Table 10, corresponding to execution times of ca. 10 and 15 minutes, respectively, are at the upper limit of witness accounts. This means that an execution within a few moments or minutes would have required enormous amounts of Zyklon B. Such witness accounts are therefore unrealistic. Furthermore, it must be assumed that, with the execution times attested to, only a fraction of the applied (<10%) and at the execution time released amount of hydrogen cyanide (<60%) actually could have been incorporated by the victims. The rest was available to react with the walls, among other things. Therefore, one has to reckon with high adsorption rates of hydrogen cyanide especially at the cool and wet walls of the cellars of crematorium II and III, contrary to Weller’s hypothesis, according to which this is not supposed to happen.[55] According to his opinion, the little amounts of hydrogen cyanide applied were supposedly inhaled entirely. This contradicts the witness accounts of the quick ‘gas chamber’ death which required large amounts of hydrogen cyanide.
Graph 12: Hydrogen cyanide concentration behavior in delousing chamber with and without circulating air systems, measuring points always in center of room (intern. correspondence of DEGESCH; values at various points differed greatly).[122]
Finally, the application of small amounts of hydrogen cyanide of an end concentration of only 1g/m³, i.e., the use of only some 400 g Zyklon B per gassing, would have been senseless, if the facilities were indeed air-tight, which would have been imperative for their use as a mass ‘gas chamber’. This is, because the victims would have died in a similar period of time due to lack of oxygen anyway (cf. Table 9).
7.3.1.3.3. Excursus 2: HCN Loss due to Adsorption
It is worth taking a look into the HCN losses caused during disinfestations due to adsorption on walls and clothes, as well as due to leaks. Puntigam et al.[122] describe the hydrogen cyanide concentration behavior at different locations of a delousing chamber with and without air circulation (“Kreislaufverfahren“). Puntigam neither gives measures and loading of the chamber, nor the type of carrier material and its distribution, nor the temperature. Since the different measuring points show different concentrations peaks, this indicates a non-even distribution of the products in the chamber. For the sake of clarity, only the concentration behavior in the center of the room is reproduced in Graph 12.
Graph 13: Hydrogen cyanide concentration behavior in
disinfestation chamber with and without clothes
at room temperature.[409]
The loss of hydrogen cyanide as a function of temperature in a disinfestation chamber can be seen in Graph 14. The higher losses at lower temperatures is caused by a higher moisture content in the gassed material and in the walls of the observed room.[123]
According to the already quoted publication by Schwarz et al.,[409] their measurements were made in the range of room temperature. Although the interesting part of Graph 13 is only poorly resolved, it is nevertheless clear that under these circumstances the maximum concentration is reached as late as 4 to 5 hours after the start. In these years, circulating air systems did not yet exist, so that only the natural air convection was responsible for distributing the gas. Remarkable is the strong concentration reduction due to adsorption on the load, here lifeless material to be deloused. Due to the slow increase towards the maximum concentration, it must be assumed that Puntigam’s values without circulating air system (Graph 12, lower curve) were achieved at similar temperatures.
Upper curve: Ideal concentration behavior without Adsorption losses.
Center curve: Normal concentration behavior in a w a r m chamber.
Lower curve: Normal concentration behavior in a c o l d chamber. Graph 14: Relation between hydrogen cyanide adsorption on clothing and temperature in a delousing chamber with circulating air system (schematic).[123]
In case of hypothetical homicidal gassings, the sweat produced by the frightened, crowded people and their HCN absorption through skin and lungs will cause similar losses, and in case of the underground morgues of crematorium II and III, additional losses will occur due to the cold and moist walls.
In order to kill all victims quickly, as attested to by the ‘eyewitnesses’, such losses would have to be compensated by introducing even more HCN than calculated before (chapter 7.3.1.3.1. and 7.3.1.3.3.) in order to quickly reach and maintain high HCN concentrations everywhere in the ‘gas chamber.’
7.3.2. Critique of the Eyewitness Descriptions
7.3.2.1. Theatre of the Absurd
First, a few critical remarks on three topics of eyewitness statements relating to homicidal mass gassings should be made at this point.
7.3.2.1.1. Necessity of Co-Operation
Just imagine the following scene: 1,000 people of both sexes plus children enter the undressing room with a surface area of 390 m2 (4,200 ft²). Each one would therefore have a area of only 60 cm × 60 cm (2×2 ft) in which to undress. Experience shows that people do not pack themselves tightly to the very edge of an enclosed area, unless, of course, they are quite willing to do so.[474] In order to get people to do this, the procedure must be rehearsed; they must be aware of what is happening and what steps they must follow-and they must be willing to co-operate.
Alternatively, few people could be made to undress at a time, but this assumes that the people who have already undressed are in the ‘gas chamber’ and waiting patiently for the next arrival of naked inmates. Once inside the ‘gas chamber’, the same problem occurs again. Here each individual has only an area of 45 cm × 45 cm (1.5×1.5 ft) in which to stand. The people must press themselves tightly together; the first people entering the room must proceed to the end of the room in a disciplined manner and line up against the wall. The next lot will form the line directly in front, and so on, until the entire chamber is full, which must have taken approximately half an hour, even with perfect choreography.
How did they get these 1,000 people to pack themselves tightly together, as one can expect it from soldiers who have exercised this for weeks on a parade ground? The only solution is that this must have been exercised just as intensively and disciplined as soldiers do it. And of course, at some point in this alleged scenario, people had to realize that they were not gathering for a shower, thus resulting in panic and lack of orderly cooperation with their murderers’ procedures.
7.3.2.1.2. Failure to Separate the Sexes
All eyewitness accounts known to the author are unanimous in claiming that the victims were not separated by sex before being sent into the ‘gas chambers’. The eyewitness accounts of the failure to separate the sexes are incredible for the following four reasons:
This procedure is in contradiction to the procedures followed during disinfestation, where, according to the same witnesses, the sexes were carefully separated.[475] Since there were always two alleged ‘gas chambers’ of each type available in Birkenau (in crematorium II and III, or IV and V, or bunker I and II), there is no apparent reason why the victims could not have been separated by sex. The claims were repeatedly made that the victims were made to believe that they were going to shower or undergo disinfestation. These procedures would have necessarily separated the populace on the basis of sex, if only because of the need for deception. Particularly in the 1940s of last century, large numbers of people could only have been made to disrobe completely with others of the opposite sex if they had been threatened with force and violence. But this would have nullified all the other measures of concealment.
7.3.2.1.3. Towel and Soap
According to a few eyewitnesses, the victims were handed towels and bars of soap to make them believe that they were going to take a shower.[476] (Who, by the way, would go with a towel under a shower?) This statement becomes incredible given the chaos in the ‘gas chamber’: 1,000 corpses, 1,000 towels, and 1,000 bars of soap, plus vomit, urine, and blood from 1,000 victims! How was it possible to recycle those 1,000 bars of soap? How did they clean 1,000 towels? Did they waste 1,000 towels and 1,000 soap bars for every gassing? It can therefore be concluded that such accounts are untrue, and witnesses testifying about it are not trustworthy.[477]
7.3.3. Evaluation of Eyewitnesses
It is possible to provide a satisfactory answer to the problem of the Zyklon B introduction holes in the roofs of morgue 1 (the ‘gas chambers’) of crematoria II and III through the interpretation of air photos and structural considerations. One must therefore conclude that the holes and cracks visible today were only put in during or after the destruction of the building during the winter of 1944-45. This means that the poison gas could not have been introduced into the alleged ‘gas chambers’ in the manner described by the eyewitnesses.
The rapidity of the executions as described by the eyewitnesses, in their extreme values (“a few moments“, “a few minutes“, “two minutes“, etc.) cannot, once again, be attained with Zyklon B under the given technical conditions, and can only be attained through the use of very high quantities of Zyklon B.
Entering the ‘gas chambers’ without protective measures, the performance of heavy physical work in the chambers, sometimes with a naked torso, while eating and smoking, along with testimony relating to large quantities of toxic gas, reveals the perjury of these eyewitnesses.[490]
Equally false are the statements relating to the duration of ventilation of morgue 1 (the ‘gas chamber’) of crematoria II and III, since the ventilation would be greatly influenced by various factors (hindrance of circulation by the bodies, the short circuit in the ventilation pathway, the release of hydrogen cyanide by Zyklon B). In fact, safe entry into the ‘gas chamber’ without protective measures can hardly have been possible in less than three to four hours. Finally, heavy physical work could only have been conceivable before the expiration of at least another one and a half hours, even with gas masks.
The eyewitness testimonies relating to the alleged cremation of the bodies, finally, are riddled with fantasy: cremation in deep ditches; cremation with liquid fuels; entirely without-or with ridiculously little-fuel; the destruction of corpses with explosives; the collection of human fat. These have nothing in common with technical reality or possibility, and are largely refuted by the Allied aerial photographic evidence: no huge ditches, no smoke, no fire, no fuel storage areas.
The illogical and ridiculous- in Pressac’s words-gassing scenarios in the ‘gas chambers’ of crematoria IV and V as well as the comparable ones in farmhouses I and II, would have been extremely dangerous for the Sonderkommandos (see chapter 5.4.2. and 5.4.3.). Yet these ‘gas chambers’ must have been planned and built as instruments of mass murder,[491] if mass gassings were already underway elsewhere in the camp during their period of construction. All of this must compel people accustomed to thinking in terms of technology and the natural sciences to conclude that the Germans must have decided to choose absolutely the most expensive, laborious, most dangerous and difficult way possible in which to kill people en masse.
It would have been logical, for propaganda purposes, to have described the installations such as the disinfestation chambers intended for personal effects located in buildings 5a and 5b as homicidal ‘gas chambers’. But this was never attempted, nor are there any eyewitness testimonies as to such a utilization of these premises. Furthermore, the doors drawn in the plans of the disinfestation chambers of buildings 5b-as well as the doors located there today-open inwards, which would have rendered it impossible to remove bodies lying in front of the doors after the mass gassings. These rooms were, therefore, certainly never used as homicidal ‘gas chambers’. It is nevertheless possible that an attempt was made to represent the disinfestation chamber in building 5b as a (fake) homicidal ‘gas chamber’. The water pipes visible there hang freely in space inside the room, without any connection; only a few of them are equipped with shower heads, while they terminate in the ventilation openings in the exterior wall, i.e., they were installed after the removal of the disinfestation devices (ovens, ventilators, and so on), very probably after the German withdrawal (see Fig. 20). Remarkably, all pipes and fittings have been removed from the real shower room in the same wing (see Fig. 17). In case this is not an attempted falsification, it is still possible that this wing was clumsily converted into a shower room after the end of the war, when Birkenau was used as prisoner camp for Germans. But this is not likely, since this building had proper showers already, so why dismantle them first, and then construct a makeshift shower in a room unsuitable for it?
Brief mention should be made at this point of the widespread notion that the toxic gas streamed into the alleged homicidal ‘gas chamber’ through shower heads, especially as there are even a few such eyewitness statements. Zyklon B consists of the active ingredient, hydrogen cyanide, adsorbed on a solid carrier material (gypsum) and only released gradually. Since it was neither a liquid nor a gas under pressure, the hydrogen cyanide from this product could never have traveled through narrow water pipes and shower heads. Possible showers, or fake shower heads, could therefore only have been used to deceive the victims; they could never have been used for the introduction of this poison gas. There is general unanimity as to this point, no matter what else might be in dispute.
Table 16: Evaluation of eyewitnesses Eyewitness Claim Evaluation Death of all victims after 0 (instantaneously) to 15 minutes. If high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide are used, as in American execution chambers, death occurs in a period of 10 minutes or even later. During the process, the victim is therefore exposed to a high overdose concentration of hydrogen cyanide. Technically this is not possible with Zyklon B, since the Zyklon B carrier base releases the gas slowly (50% in 30 to 90 minutes, according to the temperature and relative humidity). The distribution of the gas throughout the chamber from a few sources of hydrogen cyanide only, and the absorption of the gas by the moist walls and the nearby victims would further delay the process. Killing all the victims in a few (less than five) minutes would be impossible. Even during the use of very large quantities of Zyklon B (much more than 10g per m3). Opening of the doors to the ‘gas chamber’ after the execution (and sometimes a short ventilation time) and immediate commencement of transport of the bodies without gas masks and protective clothing. The ventilation system, if it existed, did not have the performance to clear the chambers in the time frame attested to. Assuming that the victims died quickly from the high concentrations of toxic gas, then the workers in the Sonderkommando would also have been killed by the gas. Working without gas masks equipped with a filter is totally inconceivable; at high concentrations of poison gas, even these are very unsafe. Heavy respiratory devices must be worn at concentrations of over 0.5 Vol.%, which would render the removal of the bodies much more difficult. Contamination through the skin must be expected during heavy work, involving perspiration, and due to the high concentrations of hydrogen cyanide on the skin of the victims. At the same time, such concentrations are sufficient to put a stop to the workers’ ability to work (dizziness, nausea, etc.). Protective clothing is therefore required. Blue vapor over the victims. Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless liquid and/or an invisible gas. The name “Blausäure” (blue acid) is due to the reaction of hydrogen cyanide with iron, forming the iron-blue pigment. There cannot, therefore, have been any blue vapor. Bluish/greenish coloration of the skin of the victims. Hydrogen cyanide blocks the oxygen supply to the cells. The blood can no longer give off oxygen to the cells. Saturation of the blood with oxygen therefore occurs; the skin of the victim therefore has a reddish, not bluish, appearance, especially on the mucous membranes and during post-mortem lividity. On the other hand, if the victims had slowly suffocated, this could explain bluish coloration of skin. Attempted destruction of the bodies by means of explosives. Totally unsuited and dangerous. Cremation of bodies in crematorium ovens without fuel. This testimony is quite absurd. Cadavers never burn due to their own fat content alone. Additional fuel is always required. Commencement of body transport from the chamber of crematoria II and III 20 minutes after commencement of ventilation, without gas masks. The unheated morgues 1 of crematoria II and III, filled with bodies, would have been incompletely ventilated in 15 to 20 minutes using the allegedly built-in ventilation installation. Hydrogen cyanide released for hours from the Zyklon B distributed among the bodies, release of hydrogen cyanide absorbed by the skin and walls and the absence of air exchanges between the bodies would have led to ventilation times amounting to several hours, before the cellar could have been entered without gas masks equipped with filters. Cremation of the corpses in pits 1.5 to 3 meters deep. Due to the high water table in Birkenau in 1942-1994, deep pits would have quickly filled with water. The maintenance of fires in such pits was not possible. Cremation of the corpses with methanol and/or old oil. The complete cremation of corpses requires a high temperature. Liquid fuels always burn only near and on the corpse, so that the heat is lost upwards; in addition, they trickle down into the subsoil in open air. Methanol evaporates very easily and therefore has a very low flame temperature. Experiments with cremations in the open air show that corpses can be carbonized on the outside, but not however entirely cremated with these fuels. Pouring escaping human fat over the bodies. This is an entirely absurd testimony. If anything burns in the flesh at all, it is the fat. Since the bodies would have been lying in the fire, the fat cannot possibly have been collected outside the fire by means of channels. Flames shooting out of heavily smoking crematorium chimneys. Coke fires are very short-flamed and develop only little smoke, and this smoke usually burns within the muffle. Even carbonized, burning corpses do not generate any flame and do smoke only slightly if the muffle is working inefficiently. That flames could penetrate through a 10 meter long flue and a 15 ft high chimney to the outside, is technically impossible. Even the fire’s reflections disappear in the flue.
7.3.4. An Expert on Cyanide Speaks Out
“Gérard Roubeix
51 Av. de la Coquetterie
44000 Nantes Nantes, the 2nd Nov. 1997
to M. Michel Adam
c/o ANEC
PO Box 21
44530 St. Gildas-des-Bois
Sir, Having learned about the odious persecution of which you are a victim in the name of ‘freedom of expression’, let me express all of my sympathy and my total solidarity to you.
I have spent 20 years of my career as an engineer in the hydrogen cyanide industry in the service of the groups Pechiney-Ugine-Kuhlmann and Charbonnages de France. In particular, I have been the director of the St. Avold plant, which in 1970, with its production of 40 tons of cyanides per day, was the most important plant worldwide; theoretically, this production would have allowed the lethal poisoning of 500 million human beings on a single day. This shows how I am aware of the problems regarding the handling of HCN. Well, I affirm that all the ‘testimonies’ I have read or heard of concerning these gas chambers, in which 2 to 3,000 people were crammed, are nothing but total fantasy.
I congratulate you for your admirable battle against the hoax. The truth is on its way.
[signed Roubeix] P.S: You may use this testimony, if necessary.”
Michel Adam was a teacher of history and geography in the West of France. At the beginning of July 1997, as a former lady deportee to the concentration camp of Ravensbrück was giving a conference at his school telling about her ‘memories,’ he opposed the lady several times by using solid revisionist arguments. Michel Adam was immediately suspended and, after one year of troubles of all sorts, he was dismissed by French Minister for the Arts Claude Allègre on account of the three following official reasons:
showing his revisionist views in front of his pupils;
disturbing a meeting of his pupils with a former deportee;
showing doubts about the credibility of a deportee’s testimony.
Already in 1998, Gérard Roubeix wrote a similar letter which has been published elsewhere.[492] He died in 2001.
ANEC stands for Association normande pour l’éveil du citoyen, (Norman Association for the Warning of Citizens), which was an association created by the Normandy teacher Vincent Reynouard, who, just as Michel Adams before him, lost his job because of his revisionist views and was sentenced to fines and a three months prison term.[493] ANEC published 36 issues of the revisionist periodical Nouvelle Vision.
7.3.5. Why Precisely Zyklon B?
One might naturally wonder why the SS are supposed to have decided to use Zyklon B as an instrument of mass murder. The Soviets, at any rate, killed countless millions of human beings either simply by shooting them in the back of the neck or allowing them to die in camps under miserable conditions. Surely it would have been simpler to leave the people deported to Auschwitz to their fate; they would have perished from hunger and epidemics within a very short time anyway. That is how the Americans murdered approximately 1 million German civilian internees after the end of the Second World War.[494] Instead, the SS at Auschwitz spent almost one billion dollars, in today’s values, to bring the epidemics raging there under control, incurring huge expenditures on medical facilities, to cure the internees from the typhus epidemics, which were very often fatal.[495] This alone speaks volumes about the credibility of the conventional wisdom.
The academic question, therefore, of whether or not some other poison gas would have been better suited for the mass murders instead of hydrogen cyanide in the form of Zyklon B cannot, in the last analysis, be answered, since there are no scientifically documented experimental values for mass murder by poison gas.
Theoretically, one could, at that time, have chosen between nitrogen (N 2 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), phosgene (COCl 2 ), chlorine (Cl 2 ), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), nerve gases such as Tabun and Sarin, Diesel engine exhaust, internal combustion engine exhaust, producer gas, coke or city gas, process gas, and, possibly, still other, entirely different, instruments of mass murder, suitable even under completely different circumstances (shooting in the back of the neck, hunger, epidemics). But if one really wished to take the trouble to commit mass killings with poison gas, it is most probable that one would have used carbon monoxide, which is definitely lethal to human beings above 0.1%, for the following reasons:
The poison gas CO was available in limitless quantities and in lethal concentrations at giveaway prices, substantially cheaper than Zyklon B, on almost every street corner in the Third Reich:
a.Internal combustion engines easily attain a CO content of 7% by volume, so that it would have been suitable for mass murder. Nevertheless only a very small minority of eyewitnesses speak of the use of internal combustion engines in only one German concentration camp (Sobibor).[496]
Producer gas generators generate a gaseous mixture with a proportion of CO of up to 35% by volume, using only wood or coke, air and water. These generators were installed in hundreds of thousands of vehicles all over German-occupied Europe during the Second World War, since it was necessary to convert to alternate fuels due to the Allied oil blockade. As F.P. Berg has shown, every member of the German Reich Government was familiar with these extraordinarily economical and easily operated installations with their quickly lethal toxic gas, especially the transport experts, whose duty it was to gradually replace all Diesel and internal combustion engines with generator gas installations. These were, in some cases, exactly the same people who were entrusted with the deportation and allegedly with the killing of jews-such as Adolf Eichmann, for example.[496] But it has never been claimed that these installations were used for purposes of homicide.
Toxic city gas with a CO portion of up to 30% by volume was available in every major city for a ridiculously low price. Consideration would obviously have been given to committing murder with it.
Process gas: The German corporate giant I.G. Farbenindustrie AG had already built a coal gasification/liquidification plant only a few kilometers away from Auschwitz concentration camp in the early 1940s. Here, by means of various conversion processes, coal was converted into chemical end products, from which oils, fats, fuels, and synthetic rubbers could be processed. The first step in this process is the generation of process gas, which has a similar composition to coke gas or city gas. The I.G. Farbenindustrie AG factory had a concentration camp in its immediate vicinity by the name of Monowitz, which was connected to the extensive system of more than 30 different Auschwitz concentration camps more than 30 kilometers in Upper Silesia and Western Poland. If the SS had looked for a simpler way to kill millions of jews, the center of extermination certainly would have been built in the vicinity of Monowitz, with a direct process gas pipeline from the I.G. Farbenindustrie AG factory.
It would not have been necessary to order and store CO and pay attention to the use-by date, as was necessary in the case of Zyklon B; carbon monoxide would have been available at all times, as soon as the economical installations were completed.
The handling of CO would have been considerably simpler for the executioners. Almost the only thing to pay attention to would have been the opening and closing of the CO valve. The handling of Zyklon B, on the other hand, would have demanded a remarkable number of safety precautions on the part of the executioners. The wearing of gas masks, and, when possible, additional protective clothing (gloves), the careful opening of the cans with a suitable tool, the careful introduction of the carrier through the openings, the careful disposal of the Zyklon B residues.
CO can be introduced simply and quickly through pressure pipes or through a blower, while Zyklon B, on the other hand, releases its toxic fumes only slowly.
In the case of CO, there would not have been so many problems with ventilating the air in the mass execution areas as with hydrogen cyanide/Zyklon B, since the introduction of CO could be stopped simply by closing a valve, and because CO does not adhere to surfaces and is almost insoluble in water-in extreme contrast to hydrogen cyanide.
Zyklon B was scarce and expensive, and was needed everywhere to combat epidemics such as typhus, including in the army and German-allied armed forces, so that any avoidable squandering of it for other purposes would have been avoided-even, and especially, at Auschwitz, where typhus threatened not only the lives of the inmates, but also the guards and civilians entering the camp or who lived in the vicinity. In plain English, this means that the typhus epidemic in Auschwitz concentration camp threatened the extremely important production of the war industries located in Upper Silesia, the second-greatest industrial region in Germany after the Ruhr at that time. The struggle against epidemics, for which Zyklon B was undoubtedly needed, was therefore of the greatest importance, in larger quantities than the manufacturer, DEGESCH, was able to deliver at that time.
Naturally, CO would not necessarily speed up the execution procedure in comparison to hydrogen cyanide, but it would have been safer, more easily available nearby, less complicated, and cheaper.[497]
Certainly,
“the bottleneck in the extermination process […would have been] the incineration of the bodies, not the gassing itself. [An appropriate equipment provided,] A thousand people could be killed in a matter of minutes, or an hour or two at most, counting the entire operation from arrival at the camp to the final ventilation of the gas chamber.
Yet to burn the bodies of those thousand people […would have taken] quite a long while.”[498]
As C. Mattogno and F. Deana have shown, the cremation installations at Auschwitz were never able to cremate the bodies of the dead from the various epidemics and other unhygienic conditions of Auschwitz camp which occurred anyway, not to mention the bodies allegedly occurring as the result of mass murders,[444] this is a further proof that there was never a program of mass homicide at Auschwitz.
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