Sobibor - Holocaust Propaganda And Reality - Unity of Nobility ...

110 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
Thus the officially stated purpose is basically the same as for the
1997–1999 excavations at Beec: to enable the construction of a new
memorial by locating mass graves. However, the search for artifacts
“linked to the organization of the genocide” – in other words remains of
the alleged gas chambers – is also recognized as “important.”
Kola next reiterates the basic layout of the camp, denoting camp III
as “the place of extermination” and stating that “the task of the archeologists”
consists of “a highly extensive study of the site.” He goes on to
describe camp III as follows: 301
“Due to a lack of eye witness accounts and the removal of evidence
we do not know the layout of Camp III. It consisted of a gas
chamber (or chambers), barracks for the German, Ukrainian, and
Jewish personnel, and barracks for the storage of the possessions of
the arriving Jews, further a barber’s barrack and also the burial
sites of, as is estimated, more than 200,000 victims. Furthermore,
from the available accounts it would appear that, from the rail ramp
in Camp I through Camp II, a narrow-gauge railway led to Camp
III, with its carts pushed by camp inmates. This railway was used to
transport the sick and handicapped Jews brought to Sobibór over to
Camp III. The route of the railway is not known.”
The claim that there is a “lack of eye witness accounts” concerning
the structure of camp III is incorrect, as the map used at the 1966 Hagen
trial, which shows that part of the camp in detail, was drawn up by none
other than Erich Bauer, the SS-Oberscharführer who allegedly was in
charge of the gas chambers. As will be seen below, there also exists
witness statements on the dimensions of the gas chambers and mass
graves. It is worth noting that Kola consistently avoids comparing his
research results with eye witness testimony, historiography, or judicial
findings. 302
The claim that camp III contained “barracks for the storage of the
possessions of the arriving Jews” lacks any foundation in historiography
or eye witness testimony. Such barracks, the witnesses unanimously
stated, were located in camp II opposite the reception area, 303 and no
302
303
From his 2000 preliminary report on the survey, however, it is clear that Kola is well familiar
with testimonies such as those of Chaim Engel, Moshe Bahir, Alexander Pechersky
and Kurt Bolender; A. Kola, “Sprawozdanie z archeologicznych bada na terenie
byego obozu zagady ydów w Sobiborze w 2000 r.” (Report on the archaeological
investigations at the site of the former extermination camp for Jews at Sobibor in 2000),
Przeszo i Pami, Nr. 3, July-September 2000, p. 89.
See for example the map in Y. Arad, op. cit. (note 49), pp. 34f; items 42-44, “Barracks