The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

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SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 263 erated with bottled carbon monoxide (in Morsch/Perz/Ley 2011, p. 180), but such bottles don’t have buttons to turn them one either. Besides, bottled CO is said to have been used only in the context of the euthanasia action during the years 1939 to 1941 in a tractor-trailer setup sporting the infamous “Kaiser’s Coffee Shop” sign (Beer in ibid., p. 158; Beer 1987, pp. 404-406), which is not what the report describes. Apart from the button (and straw mats in the cargo box), the report’s description clearly follows the stereotypical pattern of the claimed “moving truck” type gas vans with grey color, hermetically closing double doors, wooden grates, sheet metal lining, observation window, cargo box lamp (maybe inspired from the Gaubschat correspondence). The other testimony stems from Walter Piller, the former deputy commander of the Chemno camp (Kogon et al. 1993, p. 98). According to him the exhaust gases from a gasoline engine were piped into the cargo box using a valve in the driver’s cabin, killing the victims within two to three minutes (see chapter 3.6.2.2.). He should have known better. Another frequently mentioned, yet utterly useless feature was some fanciful piping inside the van to distribute the gas (The Peoples’ Verdict 1944, p. 49; IMT, vol. 7, pp. 572f., LG Bonn, 30 Mar. 1963, p. 230; LG Hannover, 7 June 1966, p. 619; LG Darmstadt, 18 Apr. 1969, p. 93; LG Kiel, 28 Nov. 1969, p. 284; Kogon et al. 1993, p. 54; LG Frankfurt/M., 19 Mar. 1971, p. 138; Kohl 2003, pp. 69f.; Sakowska 1993, pp. 162f.), one of which is said to have had the gas entry not through the floor, as is the standard method, but at the front (Kogon et al. 1993, p. 77). According to the standard version, the gassing itself is said to have occurred during transit, that is to say, while the van was moving. Not all witnesses agreed with this, though, as some examples show: – drive to ditch, then turn on the gas while stationary (Kogon et al. 1993, p. 58; LG Koblenz, 21 May 1963, p. 194; Benz/Distel 2009, pp. 575f.; Kohl 2003, pp. 69f.; LG Wuppertal, 30 Dec. 1965; p. 513 (optional); LG Frankfurt/M., 12 Mar. 1966, p. 344; LG Kiel, 11 Apr. 1969, p. 33; 28 Nov. 1969, p. 286; LG München I, 29 Mar. 1974, p. 601) – gassing in stationary van before departure (Kogon et al. 1993, pp. 65, 66, 69-71, 86 (2 ×), 87; Lanzmann 1985; Podchlebnik; Srebrnik; Bednarz 1946c, p. 60; LG Karlsruhe, 20 Dec. 1961, pp. 100, 118; LG Bonn, 23 July 1965, pp. 231f.; LG Kiel, 28 Nov. 1969, p. 284; LG München I, 15 Nov. 1974, p. 287)
264 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS This raises the question: What was the point of a mobile gas chamber, if it was used while stationary only? Or as the Dortmund District Court put it in its verdict of 16 Jan. 1969 regarding the claimed gas van murders in the Semlin camp in Serbia (case 700; Rüter et al. 1968ff., vol. 31, p. 683): “There was finally no plausible reason to commit the killing in the camp [while stationary] and to let the engine run for an extended period of time, if a longer driving route was available.” It must also be kept in mind that the vast majority of gas vans were Saurer trucks with Diesel engines, which, when running idly, will not kill anyone within half an hour, and even when moving they would need a heavy load to accomplish that, if at all possible. This would have required continuously driving up a steep mountain, for instance, but such mountains are far and between in most Soviet areas occupied by the Germans during WWII. 4.2.8. The When, Where, and How Many Since by definition “gas vans” are mobile, they could have been deployed just about anywhere, and so we can find witnesses claiming to have seen them pretty much at any time and any place, so we gain little by analyzing witness statements in this regard. Many witnesses do not specify when and where exactly they made their observation. Usually witnesses claim to have seen only one such vehicle at a time. In some cases time and location of such an observation can be derived indirectly from the biographic data of alleged perpetrators, as it can usually be determined when they were deployed in which region with which unit. Although Kogon et al. try to determine with such data how many gas vans had been deployed by which German unit (1993, pp. 56-70), this attempt is necessarily futile in the face of the contradictory and unreliable nature of the anecdotal evidence used. It is finally turned ad absurdum when Kogon et al. claim that a gas van was even deployed at the concentration camp Majdanek (p. 72), which allegedly had numerous stationary gas chambers and hence no need for mobile ones. And indeed, in her orthodox monograph about the Majdanek camp, the German orthodox historian Barbara Schwindt claimed that the Majdanek “gas van” story is untrue and merely based on the “spreading of errors” caused by a lack of knowledge about the camp’s history (Schwindt 2005, p. 13). However, just six years later the
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The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigat
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The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

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