The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

210 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
they were saying. They should have stuck to the mainstream story of
simple metal hoses attached to the tail pipe.
Another rather astounding claim can be read on the same page:
“When the defendant Pra.[del] received the order from Rauff to
construct the gas van, he realized immediately that these vans were
also meant to be used for the mass extermination of the Jews for racial
reasons.”
This is said to have happened in September 1941, at a point in time
when no decision about the “final solution” had been made yet and no
systematic mass extermination was happening, even if we follow most
mainstream historians’ point of view. 114 How Pradel could have known
something which wasn’t even decided yet by the German government –
if it ever was – is a complete mystery. In this context it is therefore important
to note that this claim by the court is based on a statement
Pradel made during interrogations in 1961 and 1962 while in pre-trial
detention, four to five years prior to the trial (pp. 639f.). During the trial
itself, Pradel turned around 180° when he stated, as quoted by the German
newsmagazine Spiegel (see p. 207):
“‘Your Honor’, [Pradel] sobs, ‘I really have no knowledge about
exterminations of Jews.’”
The verdict confirms this when it summarizes Pradel’s statements
during the trial as follows (p. 638):
“The defendant Pra.[del] has stated that, when he had received
the order to build the gas vans and had forwarded it to Wen.[tritt],
he had not known that the mass extermination of the Jew was to be
implemented with this. He wants to have learned about this only after
the war. He had thought instead that the gas vans were to be
used during the execution of partisans properly sentenced to death.”
It goes without saying that the court believed what the defendant
said while in pre-trial detention. This cannot have been the case because
Pradel’s earlier statements were more convincing – historically seen
they cannot be convincing – but because they fit into the dogma. The
situation is similar with regards to the other defendant (pp. 641f.).
On page 615 the verdict quotes an absolutely incredible passage
from one of the action reports of the Einsatzgruppen:
“In action report no. 128 of 3 November 1941, Einsatzgruppe C
(of leaf 3 and 4): Even if so far a total of 75,000 Jews have been liq-
114 The decision to prevent Jewish emigration and to deport them to the east (whatever that
meant) was only made in late October 1941; see Rudolf 2010, p. 141.