The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

208 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
tantly. Question of the judge: ‘More humane for whom – for the executees
or for the execution commands?’ No answer.”
The “97,000” mentioned by Der Spiegel refer to the number mentioned
in the Just document, whereas the “telegrams” mentioned refers
to only one such document dated 15 June 1942, see Appendix 3.
During the court investigations leading up to this trial, Wentritt stated
the following during an interrogation (Kogon et al. 1993, pp. 53f.):
“A removable exhaust hose, which led from the outside to the
floor of the van, was fixed to the exhaust [pipe]. We bored a hole in
the van about 58 to 60 millimeters in diameter, the size of the exhaust
pipe. Over this hole, to the inside of the van, was welded a
metal pipe, which was attached to, or could be attached to, the exhaust
hose that came from the outside. When the engine was
switched on and the connection made, the engine’s exhaust fumes
went through the exhaust pipe into the exhaust hose and from there
into the pipe that led to the inside of the van. Thus the van filled with
gas. Pradel did not go into further details; in any case, that’s all I
can remember now. He instructed to fix the vans in such a way that
the engine exhaust fumes could be introduced into the van. This was
possible with the help of the hose that was attached to the exhaust.
Pradel then told me that another pipe had to be fitted inside the van
to prevent the occupants from interfering with the admission of the
gas. Thus the work carried out by our motor pool was essentially determined
by Pradel or his superiors.”
Wasn’t Wentritt the guy whose workshop was to do the work? Then
why would “all [he] can remember” be merely what Pradel had told
him?
Although it makes sense to secure this gas inlet spot from interventions
by the occupants, it is unclear how this could have been done with
“another pipe” “fitted inside the van.” Maybe Wentritt refers to a long
horizontal pipe underneath the floor grid sporting numerous small
holes. However, considering that the floor grid would have prevented
the victims to interfere with the inlet holes, such a device would have
been quite superfluous. Without such a floor grid, however, any pipe
within the reach of the victims could have been messed with by them.
At the end of this trial Pradel was sentenced to seven years imprisonment
for aiding in the murder of at least 6,000 persons, whereas
Wentritt received only 3 years.