The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

50 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
The mould mentioned in the letter did not serve to cast, but rather
to vulcanize [36] the rubber membrane.”
This answer gave rise to the following remarks:
First Point: That the Saurer trucks had a vacuum-supported hydraulic
brake is confirmed by other sources, according to which the Saurer
C-class trucks introduced in 1935 and produced until 1955 were all
equipped with Diesel engines and had “servo-supported hydraulic
brakes; max. load up to 11 tons.” 37
The term “combined hydraulic-pneumatic brakes” used in the Becker
document (Öl-Luftdruckbremse; literally: oil/air-pressure brake) implies,
however, that the system required a compressor in order to generate
pressurized air (Luftdruck). Although pressurized pneumatic braking
systems might have existed in some vehicles, it makes no sense, technically
speaking, to combine a pressurized pneumatic system with a hydraulic
system, nor is there a precedent for such a combination to my
knowledge. But the point is moot, since we know that these trucks had
vacuum-assisted hydraulic brakes. The author of the Becker document
was obviously not only unfamiliar with the proper terms, but seems to
have made up a non-existing technical term in order to appear knowledgeable.
This is surprising when considering that Becker himself had
claimed that he was allegedly selected from the highest quarters “to pay
particular attention to the mechanical functioning of these vans” and
went out of his way in order to organize repairs of the brake system.
Second Point: The definition of the term Manchete fits the context of
the document: mentioning damaged sleeves with the resulting effects
and with a reference to their frequency is in accordance with the facts
and thus does not merit any further comment.
Third Point: This confirms that the rubber pieces could not have
been cast under the circumstance described in the document, but it still
evades me how they could have been vulcanized in their entirety. This
would have required that the manufacturing company sent unvulcanized
spare part sleeves, which doesn’t seem likely; hence this point remains
unclear. One can assume that tears in a membrane could be repaired in a
makeshift way by mending them with unvulcanized rubber patches,
which were then vulcanized by applying a chemical, as it is done with
perforated rubber tubes, but that does not require a mould.
36
Vulcanisation: introduction of sulfur into rubber in order to harden it by crosslinking the
individual polymere strands.
37
www.saureroldtimer.ch/5000geschichte/5200chronosaurer/index.html.