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

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 161
could as well be jammed into the gas chambers located only a few meters
away?
In the context of a transit camp it is possible that deportees who
were severely disabled, infected by epidemic diseases, mentally ill, or
dying, and therefore deemed unfit for further transport and resettlement
or a hazard to other deportees, were liquidated on the spot. 469 A more
innocuous explanation would be that the site was used as a storage for
spent ammunition collected for the sake of recycling the metal – a procedure
practiced by the military not only in war time. However, until
more exact details about this finding are revealed, such as the bullets’
degree of deformation and their placement in the soil, the question of
the nature of this site must remain open.
Kola’s interpretation that Object E served as an undressing or sorting
barrack lacks a basis in the testimonial evidence and is in fact contradicted
by the eye witnesses who claim that the Jewish deportees had to
undress 470 before they entered the camouflaged pathway, known as the
Schlauch (tube), which led from the reception area in camp II to the
haircutting barrack and the alleged gas chambers in camp III. According
to Arad the Schlauch was 150 m long. 471
As already mentioned in connection with Object D, the presence of
toilet articles (hairclips, combs, mirrors) and remains of clothing (buttons,
belt clasps) are inexplicable within the frame of the established
narrative. The possible explanation that we are dealing with the belongings
of members of the camp III work commando does not hold water.
It is unanimously asserted that this group consisted of male prisoners
only. What use would those men have for perfume bottles and hairclips?
Furthermore, all witnesses concur that the sorting of the victims’
confiscated belongings took place in barracks located in camp II. The
469
470
471
See further chapter 8.5.
This is not to say that this claim must necessarily correspond to the truth. In fact, it seems
most likely, as indicated by the finds of toilet articles, buttons, etc., that the deportees entered
camp III still clothed. Knowledge we have of other transit camps also indicate such
a procedure. For example, a plan of the Entlausungsanstalt at Transit Camp Strasshof
shows that deportees entered the building with their clothes on. They undressed inside
and handed over their clothes to be deloused, went through a medical assessment, took a
shower, and then were handed back their deloused clothes; Franz Puntigam, Hermann
Breymesser, Erich Bernfus, Blausäuregaskammern zur Fleckfieberabwehr. Grundlagen,
Planung und Betrieb, Sonderveröffentlichung des Reichsarbeitsblattes, Berlin 1943, pp.
56f. One may further recall in this context the claim found in S. Szmajzner’s memoirs
that the victims did not undress completely until they had passed through the “Schlauch”
and reached the gas chambers (cf. chapter I, section e).
Y. Arad, op. cit. (note 49), p. 32.