The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

254 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
4.2.2. Vehicle Models
– Saurer (501-PS; IMT, vol. 7, p. 573; 2348-PS, IMT vol. 30, p. 256;
LG Köln, 20 June 1953, pp. 153f., 164; LG Hannover, 7 June 1966,
p. 621)
– Diamond (501-PS, telegram 15 June 1942; Kogon et al. 1993, p. 64;
LG Hannover, 7 June 1966, p. 622)
– American (Beer 1987, p. 412)
– foreign (LG Bonn, 23 July 1965; LG Darmstadt, 18 Apr. 1969, p.
93)
– Opel (Beer 1987, p. 414; Klee 1991, p. 69)
– Renault (Kogon et al. 1993, p. 77)
– Daimler Benz (IMT vol. 19, p. 573; Choumoff 1987, p. 38)
– Magirus Deutz (Falborski; Srebrnik; Fleming 1984, after p. 92)
– Russian Ford truck (LG Kiel, 14 June 1974, p. 662)
Usually neither witnesses nor verdicts make any statements about
the make or model of the vans. In most cases such claims are probably
based on the extant documents discussed in chapter 2.2. When discussing
the makes and models used as gas vans, Beer concedes that, apart
from what we have in the documents, information is scant and inconsistent.
He claims that this mishmash of vehicles existed only during the
early phase of the gas vans’ deployment, caused by “difficulties existing
at the beginning when organizing chassis” (1987, p. 414). Once things
got properly organized, though, that is in late 1941, “the entire order
was with regards to Saurer vehicles” (ibid.). He finds documentary support
for this in the Becker letter, which in its second sentence distinguishes
between a “first group” of vehicles and a “second group” consisting
of Saurer trucks.
Already in chapter 2.2.6. (p. 87) I have pointed out that a systematic
approach to mass murder vans killing with exhaust gases would have
required the use of vehicles equipped with gasoline engines, like the
ubiquitous Opel Blitz. Beer, however, maintains that such vehicles were
used only at the beginning of the haphazardly organized project, while
they were later replaced with vehicles equipped with Diesel engine during
the more systematic phase of the project. If anything, this observation
undermines his entire theory (see chapter 1.3.1.).