The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 119
tioned, a device not referred to in any of the extant documents. It would
have been completely superfluous, as a simple hole in the floor or wall
would have sufficed to introduce the gas, which would have spread out
evenly already due to the victims’ movements. The only effect of such a
horizontal floor pipe would have been to render the production of these
vans more expensive and complex, to complicate the cleaning of the
van and to make it more prone for damage. Later we will encounter this
claim frequently during West-German trials.
“The witness Obersturmbannführer Heinisch stated:
‘In the S.D. (Security Service) a so-called “gas lorry” was manufactured.
Outwardly it hardly differs from an ordinary prison van,
but its body is hermetically closed and exhaust gases pass from the
engine along a special pipe to the body. This van holds several dozen
persons. They are usually told that they are to be dispatched to
another jail or camp. When the van starts the gases penetrate inside
the lorry and the people are asphyxiated.’” (p. 50)
“The investigation has also established that after murdering Soviet
people in the ‘murder vans,’ the German invaders conveyed
their bodies to the outskirts of Kharkov, dumped them in empty barracks
or other half-demolished buildings, poured petrol over them
and set them on fire.” (pp. 51f., similar pp. 86, 105)
It can safely be assumed that this and similar stories proffered by
witnesses during this trial were completely made up. When the German
Armed forces entered larger Russian cities, some of its buildings had
been damaged by the fighting, and some had been destroyed on purpose
by the retreating Soviet forces following their scorched earth policy.
Hence the German occupational forces had massive problems finding
sufficient shelter for themselves and for the local population. Under these
circumstance, deliberately burning down some of the remaining
buildings did certainly not happen, all the more so since this was a highly
unsuitable method to incinerate the remains of the alleged mass murder.
“[…] Hitler was extremely annoyed about the talkativeness of
persons who in some way or another had learned about the existence
of the ‘gas lorries.’ As a result of this talkativeness, von Alvensleben
said, and also as a result of the carelessness of certain
S.D. and Gestapo chiefs, documents concerning the ‘gas lorries’ had
fallen into the hands of Russians.” (p. 53)