The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

222 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
Much of the “facts” about the alleged gas van deployed in Serbia as
stated by the verdict have been taken from the various documents discussed
here in chapter 2. Even the height of the van’s cargo box (1.70
m, p. 680) was obviously taken from the Gaubschat correspondence
(memo of 27 April 1942). About the gassing mechanism the verdict
states (ibid.):
“The vehicle was equipped with a special device (lever, connecting
hoses and pipe) allowing for the poisonous carbon monoxide
gases of the running engine to be piped into the cargo box […]. The
device serving this purpose could not be seen from the outside.”
Here we have yet another story about a lever inside the driver’s cabin
(as it was not visible on the outside) and several hoses. This resembles
the description as given in the Cologne verdict against Dr. Schäfer
for the same crimes allegedly committed in Serbia (see chapter 3.7.2.4),
and it may be assumed that it was actually copied from there. No further
detail about the van’s equipment is given.
In one regard the present verdict deviates from the 1953 Cologne
verdict discussed in chapter 3.7.2.4: it claims that the victim’s luggage
was transported in a separate truck along with the gas van to the burial
site (p. 681). If that is so, the question arises: why would the Germans
have sent the victim’s luggage on a separate truck together with the
“gas van” to the burial site? Did they bury the luggage as well? This
makes sense only if this convoy was not a homicidal one driving to a
burial site, but rather one serving to relocate the persons with their luggage.
118
In this context it is interesting to note that Andorfer’s attitude toward
the inmates of the Semlin camp was quite the opposite of what one
might surmise, as Browning reported (Browning 1983, p. 63):
“Finally, the new commandant, Herbert Andorfer, noting that the
food ordered represented the absolute minimum required rations,
threatened that no bills would be authorized until all orders were
filled. The Belgrade municipal government warned its Department
of Social Welfare that the Germans were ready to prosecute those
responsible for unfilled orders for urgently needed supplies. Up to
this point, at least, the German commandants were not behaving as
if they knew that their prisoners were soon to be murdered.”
118 Browning claims that the luggage truck eventually turned off (Browning 1983, p. 80).