The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

80 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS
Table 1: Comparison of the Documents in File R 58/871
FEATURE CORRESPONDENCE JUST LETTER
Sender given* not given
Reference II D 3 a (9) Nr. 668/42-121 II D 3 a (9) Nr. 214/42 g.Rs.
Topic changes to new vehicles changes to old and new vehicles
Term Sonderfahrzeuge Spezialwagen
Secrecy none top secret
Pagination per sheet per page
* “Reichssicherheitshauptamt” on 27 April, “Der Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD” on the others.
One suggested change requested that an “angled gridwork” of 30 to
40 cm (approximately 12" to 16") in height was to be added to the end
of a prospective floor grate in order “that the load does not fall over the
last grate towards the back of the driver’s cabin.” Living, standing people,
however, could never be prevented from falling over such a low
trellis.
Weckert therefore concludes that the special vehicles discussed in
those letters cannot be the same as those discussed in the Just document.
In contrast to this stands the Just document, which has a different
reference number, hence does evidently not belong to this line of correspondence.
It is also the only one with all its pages numbered and rubber-stamped
as “Top Secret.” Plus, it talks about changes to future and
old “Spezialwagen” (special wagons), a term never used in the other
documents. A summary of the discrepancies between this document and
the others can be gleaned from Table 1.
2.2.4.4. The Just Document and the Letter of 23 June 1942
In and of itself, the Just document contains, as we have seen, numerous
anomalies, which raise doubts about its authenticity. When comparing
it with the letter of 23 June 1942, one of the other documents in the
file R 58/871, the authenticity of which cannot be doubted due to its internal
logic and chronological consistency, Ingrid Weckert was able to
show that the Just document is actually a rewritten plagiarism of the
RSHA letter of 23 June 1942.
While both documents have seven points, the RSHA letter’s content
is always innocuous, whereas the Just letter gears them toward homicide
(see Weckert’s tabular juxtaposition in 2003, pp. 234, reproduced
here in on pp. 328f.). Since there is no direct relation between the seven
points made in both letters, this alone may not be a strong argument to