The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 55
throttle” would therefore indeed have been the best advice, if it could
speed up the process at all, which it couldn’t.
The analysis of this letter leaves behind an awkward impression.
This impression as well as the criticism I have expressed about each
point prompt me to doubt the authenticity of this letter.
I will now turn to the other documents which form part of 501-PS.
2.2.3. The Telegrams of 501-PS
2.2.3.1. Two Versions
The texts of the telegrams of 6 and 15 June 1942 exist in two different
versions, which are reproduced consecutively in IMT vol. 26 (pp.
106-109). Since the documents reproduced in the IMT volumes have
been retyped rather than photographically reproduced, I will subsequently
refer to the alleged originals of these documents as archived in
the U.S. National Archives.
Both versions of each telegram bear handwritten marks, which give
the impression that both versions were prepared in the offices of the
RSHA in Berlin. Version A of the telegram of 9 June 1942 – the one
reproduced first in the IMT volume – is typed on the lower half of a
sheet of paper, while version B of the later telegram of 15 June 1942 is
typed on the upper half; hence they were apparently typed counterchronologically.
Although there were six days between the receipts of
these two telegrams, and although 7749 other telegrams arrived at the
RSHA in the meantime (or so the serial numbers suggest: version A
144,702, version B 152,452), somebody must have taken the trouble to
pull out these two telegrams and retype them in inverted chronological
order on a separate sheet of paper. Even the handwritten note “Repair
immediately after return – report completion” was added at the top left
corner to the retyped telegram of 9 June 1942, although apparently by a
different writer than the one which is on the other, ostensibly original
version. This version also includes a red underlining of the address line
(so the footnote in MT vol. 26, p. 106), whereas version B of this telegram
has the secrecy note beneath the address line framed in red (ibid.,
p. 108, footnote).
2.2.3.2. 9 June 1942 from Belgrade
Apart from the Turner letter, which I will discuss in chapter 2.2.7.,
this is the only documentary evidence hinting at the use of special vehi-