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

152 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
Thus the Munich court reached the verdict that the murder weapon
had a capacity three times the maximum figure presented in the Hagen
court’s findings. How is that possible, if in fact we are dealing with real
events?
The construction of the second gas chamber building is supposed to
have taken place during late summer or early autumn 1942. Erwin
Lambert, who allegedly supervised the construction, mentions receiving
instructions for the rebuilding work from Franz Reichleitner, who was
appointed commandant in early September 1942. 456 This does not stop
Schelvis from writing that the construction took place “between June
and September 1942,” when Stangl was still commandant of Sobibór. 457
Even more curious is Lambert’s claim that he and Lorenz Hackenholt
travelled to a sawmill near Warsaw where they “ordered a large quantity
of wood for the rebuilding works.” 456 Why would acquiring large
amounts of wood be necessary if the new gas chambers were to be built
of bricks and/or concrete?
5.4.2. Building Remains Excavated by Kola
Of the 1,805 drillings made on the 4 hectares of the former camp III,
569 detected disruptions of soil layers directly underneath the surface,
some of them reaching a depth of over 2 m. Kola writes: 458
“The disruptions are located mostly in the area of the graves, especially
between the graves. Their identification is impossible without
excavations. Considering the location (the region of the graves),
we can suspect that they may be remains of the camp buildings with
functions directly linked to the killing of the victims. They could be
remains of e.g. a gas chamber or marks of intensive activity in the
region of the graves e.g. soil surface transformations, which can be
the result of moving the corpses or cremated remains. Excavations
could possibly reveal the origins of these structures.”
In the end no diggings were undertaken within the grave zone despite
Kola’s suggestion (which is contrary to eye witness evidence) that
the alleged gas chambers possibly could have been located there.
Another zone with disruptions was found in the western and southwestern
part of Hectare XVII, around Grave No. 2. This zone was left un-
456
457
458
Erwin Lambert in Stuttgart on 2 October 1962; ZStL-251/59-8-1542/43, quoted in J.
Schelvis, op. cit. (note 71), p. 104.
Ibid., p. 103.
A. Kola, op. cit. (note 300), p. 117.