The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

66 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
first minutes of operation. The lighting is advantageous also during
operations at night and for cleaning the vehicle’s interior.
7.) In order to achieve a faster and easier unloading of the vehicle, a retractable
grate is to be installed. It is to be guided on small wheels in
U-shaped iron rails. The extraction and retraction has to happen by
means of a cable winch mounted below the vehicle. The firm commissioned
with this installation considers this design to be unfeasible
at this time due to a lack of personnel and material. The implementation
is to be suggested to another firm.
The above mentioned technical modifications are to be implemented
for the vehicles in service only, if one vehicle has to undergo a different
major repair. The aforementioned modifications are to be considered as
far as possible for the 10 commissioned Saurer chassis. Since the manufacturer
has emphasized on occasion of a consultation that technical
modifications are currently not possible or only for minimal modification,
it ought to be tried, using a different company, to equip at least one
of these 10 vehicles with all the improvements and modifications resulting
from practical experience made so far. I suggest commissioning the
firm in Hohenmauth with the single implementation.
Considering the circumstances, a late completion has to be expected
for this vehicle. It then has to be kept available or to be deployed not
only as a model but also as a back-up vehicle. In case it proves reliable,
the other vehicles are to be withdrawn from service one by one and are
to be converted following the model vehicle.
II. Group Leader II D
SS-Obersturmbannführer Rauff
submitted for your attention and for adjudication.
p.p. Su 4/6
Just wa”
2.2.4.2. Analysis
2.2.4.2.1. Form
Ingrid Weckert was the first to thoroughly criticism this document,
to which I refer the interested reader (Weckert 1985, 2003). I will give a
summary of some passages of Weckert’s most recent paper below. But