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

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J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 259<br />

tein’s reports on his “mission” are at the heart <strong>of</strong> this dichotomy. Here<br />

Yitzak Arad has this to say: 770<br />

“The gassing system that had been developed and introduced by<br />

Wirth in the Operation Reinhard death camps proved only partially<br />

satisfactory. The frequent engine breakdowns caused disturbances<br />

and delays in the entire extermination process. Globocnik was<br />

aware <strong>of</strong> these shortcomings and, in coordination with the higher<br />

authorities <strong>of</strong> the SS, decided to look into the possibility <strong>of</strong> introducing<br />

an alternative gassing system. The prevailing opinion among the<br />

higher SS authorities in charge <strong>of</strong> the extermination <strong>of</strong> Jews was that<br />

Zyklon B was more suitable for this task.<br />

Obersturmführer Kurt Gerstein, the chief disinfection <strong>of</strong>ficer in<br />

the Main Hygienic Office <strong>of</strong> the Waffen SS, and SS Obersturmbannführer<br />

Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, pr<strong>of</strong>essor and director <strong>of</strong> the Hygienic<br />

Institute at the University <strong>of</strong> Marburg/Lahn, who had also<br />

served as hygienic adviser <strong>of</strong> the Waffen SS, were sent to Lublin in<br />

the middle <strong>of</strong> August 1942. Gerstein’s main mission was to check the<br />

possibility <strong>of</strong> introducing the gas Zyklon B into the gas chambers.<br />

Zyklon B had already been successfully used in Auschwitz instead <strong>of</strong><br />

the engines that were still supplying the monoxide gas in the death<br />

camps <strong>of</strong> Operation Reinhard.”<br />

As we have seen elsewhere, 771 Gerstein’s “mission” is a chain <strong>of</strong> absurdities<br />

which ends with an even greater absurdity: although he had<br />

been ordered by the RSHA to change the alleged gas chambers running<br />

on Diesel engine exhaust gases into chambers operating with hydrocyanic<br />

acid and having gone to Beec for this purpose with 45 bottles <strong>of</strong><br />

HCN (which is nonsense, as there never was such a thing as bottled<br />

HCN), he then went back to Berlin without having done anything,<br />

without having caused any changes, without reporting to anyone, and<br />

without being asked anything by anyone about his trip!<br />

This absurdity was noticed by the French investigating judge Mattei<br />

in his interrogation <strong>of</strong> Gerstein: 772<br />

“Q: To whom did you report about the results <strong>of</strong> your mission?<br />

770<br />

771<br />

772<br />

Y. Arad, op. cit. (note 49), p. 100.<br />

C. Mattogno, J. Graf, op. cit. (note 10, Engl. ed.), “The ‘Mission’ <strong>of</strong> Kurt Gerstein,” pp.<br />

126-133.<br />

G. Wellers, “Encore sur le Témoignage Gerstein,” in: Le Monde Juif, Jan.-Mar. 1980,<br />

No. 97, p. 29, 32.

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