The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 378
Appendix 11: Drawings of “Gas Vans”
Illustration 26: The Impossible Claim. A Saurer truck with a Diesel
engine, whose exhaust gases are piped via a flexible metal hose connected
to a simple pipe in the bottom at the front part of the cargo box
(first 20 trucks), which is hermetically sealed according to witnesses.
Execution is claimed to have lasted up to 20 minutes while idling or in
transit under low engine load. (Author’s drawing.)
Problems:
1. Diesel engines, while idling or when running under low load, do not
produce gases to be lethal within 20 minutes.
2. An airtight cargo box, as claimed by many witnesses, would have
burst open under the exhaust gas pressure. However, the extant documents
speak of opening in the door (first 20 trucks) or in the walls (last
10 trucks).
3. During the 1940s metal hoses of the required size were not flexible
enough to make a 90° bend underneath the truck without danger of
contact with the road surface. An L-shaped pipe in the floor of the cargo
box would have been required, although this is not mentioned by
any witness.
4. The pipe opening in the floor could have been blocked by objects
falling or fluids flowing into it. Although still functional, it is bad design.