The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 205
This may not fit into the cliché the common reader might have about
those camps, which merely indicates that this cliché is somewhat off the
mark.
3.7.4.4. LG Frankfurt/M., Verdict of 12 Mar. 1966
This trial against Adolf Josef Har[?]., a former member of
Einsatzkommando 8 (part of Einsatzgruppe B) deployed in the vicinity
of the Belorussian town of Mogilev, initially ended with a prison term
of four years, which was later revoked on appeal. A retrial mandated by
the court of appeals never occurred.
Even though the defendant had merely been the manager of his
unit’s housing facilities, he was accused of having participated in several
mass shootings of civilians (pp. 346f.) as well as in the gassing of
some 600 prison inmates in a “gas van” (p. 349). About the gas van allegedly
used by Sonderkommando 8 we read in the verdict:
“It was a truck with coachworks resembling a moving truck
which could be closed airtightly and in whose interior the exhaust
gases of the engine could be piped by means of a hose connected to
the van’s exhaust system. […] The gas van, which could hold some
50 to 55 persons, was mainly used to clear out prisons. At the prison’s
ramp the victims had to climb into the van’s cargo box. The
‘special vehicle,’ as it was called back then, subsequently drove to
the tank ditches outside of Mogilev. Here the hose leading into the
van’s cargo box was connected to the engine’s exhaust system, and
the engine was adjusted to 1,200 to 1,500 rpms. After some 8
minutes the engine was turned off and the cargo box was opened.”
(p. 344)
The defendant admitted to his participation in several mass shootings
while at once denying the extent of his involvement as claimed by
the prosecution. He also insisted of not having known the religious
background of his victims, who he considered to have been partisans or
saboteurs (p. 349), a claim which the court rejected as untrue (p. 355).
According to the verdict, the defendant’s reaction toward gas van
claims was as follows: (p. 349)
“He also denies to have supervised the so-called clearings of
prisons, as such clearings are completely unknown to him. He
claims to know nothing about a gas vans, he says that he has never
seen such a van in Mogilev.”