The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 161
“There was an accident when guard Hannes threw one of the
Jewish workers alive into a burning furnace. I cannot remember the
name of the Jew. […] There were cases were people thrown out of
the van were still alive. They were nevertheless thrown into the furnace.
If they groaned too loud, they were finished off with a shot
from his revolver.” (ibid.)
Well, what can we say… accidents happen.
urawski’s story of his escape is heartening as well. He tells how he
fought with a knife (another inmates with a knife) and managed to run
away, even though he was shot at. There is a problem with that statement,
though: urawski and all of the other witness stated that their ankles
had been shackled together with a short chain during their entire
stay at Chemno, disabling them from walking fast, let alone running.
Apparently asked by the judge to explain how he could run away with
those chains, he explained:
“On mentioning these chains, I’ve been shackled, so before escaping
I dropped back in the granary. I had hidden a pair of large
tailor’s scissors, with which I cut the chain’s junction link.” (p. 65)
Sure, he swiftly cut the link of a steel chain with a pair of scissors,
and all this while they were chasing him and shooting at him.
A final slip-up happened toward the end of the testimony, when
judge Bednarz showed the famous Ostrowski truck photo to urawski
as well, suggesting that he would identify it as the gas van, as the other
three witnesses had done before. But for some inscrutable reason
urawski refused to go along with the story and stated instead:
“Having shown me the van (the van being shown to the witness is
located in the former Ostrowski factory), I state that it was used to
disinfect clothing. It stood in the garden of the palace (the wheels
were removed).” (p. 66)
Oops! Another Chemno witness, the defendant Bruno Israel, could
even tell details about this disinfestation truck (p. 72):
“In addition [to two gas vans] there was a third vehicle for disinfecting
clothes. This vehicle had its wheels removed. I do not know
whether it served to gas people.
Clothes and underwear were hung into the van or put on special
benches. Then a basin with burning sulfur was put inside and the
vehicle closed over night. The photos shown to me (the defendant
was shown pictures on cards 397 and 398 of the data sets) is the vehicle
described by me.”