The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 137
outward signs of spasms. The gas truck was driven by the driver
Sackenreuter of Nuernberg who had been most carefully instructed
about the handling of the gas truck, having been through special
training courses.”
While it is not likely that a commander of such a unit would waste
his time by sitting in the passenger seat of such a van during its operation,
it sure is possible. But a training course for gas van drivers? Are
we to believe that Germany actually had special training courses for the
teaching of gas van mass murderers? 75 Or is Biberstein here referring to
the instruction of drivers in the handling of producer gas vehicles?
This brings up the issue on how the operators of these gas vans were
instructed on how to use them. Maybe some secret courses to learn the
trade existed indeed. But unless I find evidence for it, I decide in dubio
pro reo.
3.5.5. Karl Braune’s Testimony
Braune, head of Einsatzkommando 11b from October 1941 to October
1924, stated the following in his affidavit (translation of document
NO-4234, NMT, vol. 4, p. 214):
“In the spring of 1942 a gas truck was placed at the disposal of
my unit, but I did not use it for executions. In my opinion an execution
by shooting is more honorable for both parties than killing by
means of a gas truck. This is the reason why I refused to use the gas
truck.”
A brave and honorable act of inner resistance, bravo! And his superiors,
allegedly always short of trucks to kill people, let him get away
with having his gas van just sit there and rust?
3.5.6. Various Testimonies
I now turn to a number of statements by defendants at the IMT as
well as their lawyers. First comes Baldur von Schirach, during the war
head of the Hitler-Jugend and Reichsstatthalter in Vienna (vol. 14, p.
431):
“Dr. Colin Ross came to Vienna in 1944 and told me that he had
received information, via the foreign press, that mass murders of
Jews had been perpetrated on a large scale in the East. I then at-
75 August Becker mentioned such training courses as well in 1960 (Beer 1987, p. 112).