The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 73
5. Remark: Assuming a ceiling height of some two meters for the
gas vans of an unknown make (e.g. Rüter et al. 1968ff., vol. XXI, p.
230) – otherwise the victims couldn’t have stood inside the cargo box –
the volume available for each square meter of floor would have been 2
m³. In case of the Saurer trucks with their cargo box height of merely
1.7 m, it would have been 1.7 m³. Assuming further that 9.5 people with
an average volume of 60 liters each (60 kg) could indeed be crammed
onto one square meter, they would occupy some 0.57 m³, which
amounts to 28.5% of the total volume (2 m ceiling height) and 33.5%
(1.7 m ceiling height) respectively, hence some 71.5% and 66.5% had
to be filled with gas even then. Even when reducing the density drastically
to five persons per m² – a density more likely to be achievable
with non-cooperative victims – then the percentage to be filled with gas
would have risen only from 71.5% to 85% (2 m; +19%) and from
66.5% to 82% (1.7 m; +23%), respectively. Hence, even reducing the
density of the victims drastically would have increased this free volume
only marginally. Considering that flushing the entire cargo box once
Illustration 2: A heavy goods Saurer Diesel truck, series C, as produced
between the mid 1930s and the 1950s. 49
49 http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Saurer1038.jpg&filetimestamp=20041127172501.