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

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

Eichmann, whom Hitler had charged with the extermination <strong>of</strong><br />

the Jews, was in agreement with these plans. Consequently, there<br />

were ‘no objections to doing away with those Jews who are unable<br />

to work, by means <strong>of</strong> the Brack remedy.’ [829] Kallmeyer, who was<br />

charged with the manufacture <strong>of</strong> the gassing apparatus and equipment,<br />

had been trained for this task in the Euthanasia Program.<br />

Previously he had been responsible for the proper operation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

gas chambers <strong>of</strong> the different euthanasia institutions.”<br />

The foregoing is a summary <strong>of</strong> the draft <strong>of</strong> a letter, allegedly drawn<br />

up by Amtsgerichtsrat E. Wetzel, Sonderdezernent für Rassenpolitik<br />

(special secretary for racial policy) in the Ministry <strong>of</strong> the East, addressed<br />

to Hinrich Lohse, Reichskommissar für das Ostland. The letter<br />

dated 25 October 1941 deals with the “solution <strong>of</strong> the Jewish question.”<br />

The policy <strong>of</strong> deportation to the East is clearly confirmed:<br />

“According to Sturmbannführer Eichmann, camps for Jews are<br />

to be set up at Riga and Minsk, with Jews from the Altreich possibly<br />

being sent there as well. At the moment Jews from the Altreich are<br />

being evacuated to Litzmannstadt, but they may also be moved to<br />

other camps, later on to be employed for work in the East to the extent<br />

that they are physically apt.”<br />

The novelty consisted in the plan to kill the unfit Jews in camps yet<br />

to be set up at Riga and at Minsk. The killing was to be carried out by<br />

means <strong>of</strong> “gassing equipment” (the “Brack remedy” mentioned above).<br />

However, “as Brack thinks that the manufacture <strong>of</strong> the equipment in the<br />

Reich is much more difficult than on site, Brack suggests to detach his<br />

staff, in particular his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, to Riga to take care <strong>of</strong> the<br />

necessary arrangements.” 830<br />

But what kind <strong>of</strong> “gassing equipment” are we dealing with? At the<br />

trial <strong>of</strong> the physicians, Brack described it as follows: 831<br />

“Then the patients were led to a gas chamber and were there<br />

killed by the doctors with carbon monoxide gas (CO).<br />

Q. Where was that carbon monoxide obtained, by what process?<br />

A. It was in a compressed gas container, like a steel oxygen container,<br />

such as is used for welding – a hollow steel container.<br />

829<br />

830<br />

831<br />

“keine Bedenken, wenn diejenigen Juden, die nicht arbeitsfähig sind, mit den Brackschen<br />

Hilfsmitteln beseitigt werden”<br />

NO-365.<br />

“The Medical Case,” op. cit. (note 828), pp. 876, 881.

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