The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 155
the door lasted about four minutes. The van was not moving at that
time.
After the shouting faded, the vehicle started moving in the direction
of the crematoriums. When the van reached its destination, its
door was unlocked to let the fumes out. Then two Jews went inside
and threw out the bodies.
The gas coming out had all the characteristics of the exhaust
fumes (colour and smell) I cannot be mistaken here. The corpses,
having been searched through, were placed in the furnace. […]”
Note that exhaust gases from gasoline engines would not have any
distinct, perspicuous characteristics, hence this statement indicates the
use of Diesel engines. As to the “trade name” referred to as ‘Otto,’ he
specifies a little later:
“(Here, the witness was shown a van found in the Ostrowski’s
factory in Koo). This is the van used in Chemno for gassing. This is
the vehicle I mentioned in my testimony with the word ‘Otto’ on its
door.”
As mentioned in chapter 2.1., the moving truck found in Koo was
formerly owned by the moving company “Otto Koehn Spedition.” Like
Falborski, this witness as well confirms the identity of his “gas van,”
which was no gas van at all. It shows that his statement, too, was orchestrated.
That the witness is telling invented nonsense can be seen
from the following statement:
“There were a few instances of unintended self-incineration: a
Jew trying to set fire to a pile of bodies died in the flames himself.”
As if humans can suddenly catch fire when exposed to flame and die
in it.
At the ends of his statement, when telling the tall tale of his escape,
the witness recounts yet another nonsensical story:
“Lenz ordered us to lie down on the ground. He shot everybody
in the back of the head. I lost consciousness and regained it when
there was no one around.
All the SS men were shooting inside the granary. I crawled to the
car lighting the spot and broke both headlights. Under the cover of
darkness I managed to run away. The wound was not deadly. The
bullet went through the neck and mouth and pierced the nose and
then went out.”
A miracle, indeed! How much the statements of the witnesses interrogated
by Bednarz had been streamlined due to cross-fertilization can