The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 69
4) adding a drain in the floor and slanting the floor toward it;
5) removing observation window (in future vehicles);
6) better protected lamps;
7) adding a retractable grate.
Before discussing these suggested changes, let me first direct our attention
back to the first sentence about the 97,000 processed units.
The second chapter of Nazi Mass Murder bearing the title “A Code
Language” (Kogon et al. 1993, pp. 5-12) deals with the alleged code
terms used by the “Nazis” in order to hide the “extermination.” Doubtlessly
in keeping with this, the author of this memo has not stated in his
introductory sentence with the 97,000 figure, what kind of “units” are
meant. Yet this measure of precaution was most naïve and futile, as it
becomes subsequently all too clear that only human beings can be
meant by those “processed.” (Let’s keep in mind here that this introductory
paragraph serves the function of a statement of accounts and is as
such directed to superiors.)
97,000 “units processed” within six month (180 days) in three vans
means that each truck had processed (97,000 ÷ 3 ÷ 180) 180 units
every single day, which amounts to three “loads” daily per truck of 60
victims each. 46 Considering this result, which must have been very satisfactory
in the eyes of those responsible for this operation, one can only
be surprised by the demand for so many and certainly important
modifications to the vehicles which have accomplished these “achievements”
“without any defects […] becoming apparent.” 47 If they operated
as flawlessly and efficiently as the author claims in his first sentence,
why change them? Remember: Don’t fix it, if it’s not broken!
46 The wartime Saurer heavy goods vehicle had a maximum load capacity of 5 metric tons,
although the RSHA letter of 27 April 1942 mentions 4.5 metric tons (see Appendix 4,
which amounts to 60 people of 75 kg each, or 75 people of 60 kg each).
47 A flawless operation on such a grand scale indicates that the engines were operated normally,
quite in contrast to claims made by Georges Wellers, who writes in Kogon et al.
(pp. 281f.): “In the ‘S-Wagen’ and in the first gas chambers of the extermination camps,
exhaust gases rich in carbon oxide produced by deliberately maladjusted engines were
used.” It is unlikely that such deliberately maladjusted engines would have functioned
flawlessly for an extended period of time; such maladjusted engines tend to overheating,
misfiring, and explosions of explosive fuel/air mixtures in the exhaust muffler. Such engines
also have a greatly reduced power while consuming exorbitant amounts of fuel. It
is, moreover, known that the flooding of the engine with excessive amounts of fuel leads
to excessive wear of the engine, in particular in the case of Diesel engines due to particulate
matter (Diesel smoke). Yet even under such conditions, executions with Diesel engine
exhaust gases still last several hours; see chapter 1.3.1. and Pattle et al. 1957.