The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

190 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
“At the same time I also learned from Potzelt that there was a
Jewish extermination camp in Minsk. I flew to Minsk by helicopter,
correction, in a Fiesler Storch [light aircraft] belonging to the
Einsatzgruppe. Travelling with me was Hauptsturmführer Rühl, the
head of the extermination camp at Minsk, with whom I had discussed
business in Riga. […]
When I saw what was going on in Minsk, that people of both sexes
were being exterminated in their masses, that was it – I could not
take it anymore […].” (p. 71)
When it comes to his mode of traveling, Becker’s fantasy lurks once
again when he conjures up a helicopter. The “extermination camp in
Minsk” probably refers to the Maly Trostinec camp 12 km southeast of
Minsk. Orthodox historiography claims that some 40,000 to 60,000
Jews deported to Minsk from Germany, Czechia, and Poland were
killed there en masse. 103 But Becker’s timing is off, as said deportations
began only in early May 1942, so he could not have witnessed any of it.
Another problem with Becker’s statement is the alleged camp commander
Hauptsturmführer Rühl. This person is probably identical with
SS-Hauptsturmführer Felix Rühl. 104 However, Rühl was a member of
Einsatzgruppe D which operated in the Ukraine and Caucasus, not in
the Reichskommissariat Ostland, where Kiev was located. I have found
no evidence that Rühl was ever stationed in that region, or that he had
any connection whatsoever with Minsk or Maly Trostinec. Furthermore
the Maly Trostinec camp was run by the Commander of the Security
Police and the SD Minsk, not by the Einsatzgruppen.
Becker continues:
“In a private conversation lasting about an hour I described to
Pradel the working method of the gas vans and voiced criticism
about the fact that the offenders had not been gassed but had been
suffocated because the operators had set the engine incorrectly. I
told him that people had vomited and defecated.” (Ibid.)
“Offenders”? Is Becker implying that he thought the gas had been
deployed to execute death penalties? I have already discussed the nonsense
about distinguishing between “gassing” or “putting to sleep” and
“suffocating” and about being able to manipulate the way the victims
die by operating the engines in a certain way. This confirms merely that
Becker has learned the content of this document by heart – he was
103 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maly_Trostinec.
104 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_R%C3%BChl.