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

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 145
vegetation on the southern side – nor did the Polish investigators raise
this important issue.
5.3.8. The Duration of the Cremation
According to the official Holocaust historiography, the cremation of
the corpses was carried out in a trench, on grates made of railway rails
which rested on blocks of concrete. This trench, A. Kola informs us,
measured 10 × 3 meters and was 90 centimeters deep. 433
For the assessment of the duration of cremations we may base ourselves
on the cremation of animal carcasses. Between 1 p.m. on 15
April 2001 and 1 p.m. on 18 April two pyres were operated at Whithorn
in Scotland. They measured 50 by 1.5 m each and allowed the cremation
of 511 head of cattle, 90 sheep, and 3 pigs with a combined weight
of 260,300 kg 434 on a total surface area of 150 square meters. Taking
the smaller pit area at Sobibór into account, this corresponds to some
(260,300×30/150=) 52,060 kg in three days.
For the fresh corpses we have established an average weight of 60
kg, hence their total weight amounts to (89,000×60/1000=) about 5,340
tons. Assuming that the previously buried corpses had lost all of their
body water, their residual weight would be (60–[60×0.64] =) 21.6 kg
each, and their total weight would amount to (80,000×21.6/1000=)
1,728 tons. Thus, the total combined weight of the two types of corpses
would be (5,340+1,728=) 7,068 tons, with an average weight of 41.8 kg
for each corpse.
The 52,060 kg mentioned above would thus correspond to 1,200
corpses.
We must, however, consider that in the case taken as a model the
three days in question referred to the actual duration of the fire consuming
the carcasses, whereas at Sobibór a continuous cremation of this
kind could not have been implemented in view of the working hours in
force in the camp: from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. (in the summer) or to 5 p.m. (in
the winter). 435 Actually, “die Arbeitsjuden konnten nachts schlafen” (the
433
434
435
Cf. chapter 5.2.3.
We assume an average weight of 500 kg per cow, 100 kg per pig, 50 kg per sheep. Paul
Watkiss, Alison Smith, AEA Technology Environment, “CBA of Foot and Mouth Disease
Control Strategies: Environmental Impacts,”
www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/fmd/documents/environmental_re
port.pdf; According to the official UK agricultural statistics, the average weights are 335,
80, and 18.2 kg respectively (ibid.).
T. Blatt, op. cit. (note 17), p. 46.