Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Supplement 4: Zyklon B and Gas Detectors in Birkenau Crematorium II
Robert Faurisson has brought to my attention an anti-revisionist, Pressac supporting
book published in France in early 1997. A footnote declares: 659
“The study of the history of the Topf and Sons company of Erfurt would be
essential to show the progression to mass crime. Topf made, in the Twenties,
crematoria but also grain silos. In the after sale services and maintenance for
these silos, Topf also involved itself in HCN disinfestation and furnished all
necessary material. Thus the two branches of activity of the firm converge in a
striking manner toward the crematoria – gas chambers of Birkenau. On this
particular sort of study, the works of Pressac are of the greatest utility, and it
is in this way that they should be used.”
The author gives no sources, but I think the claim of such Topf involvement
with HCN, presumably via Zyklon, is quite plausible. Under conditions where
Topf would have been the only company that a farmer dealt with in constructing
his silo, it would have been natural for Topf to serve as retailer of supporting materials
and equipment made by DEGESCH and other companies. However, such a
Topf role had no bearing on conditions at Auschwitz in 1941-1945, where a special
department regularly conducted operations with Zyklon. Their personnel
would have been responsible for declaring when a treated facility was again safe
to use. Is it plausible that Prüfer could have been involved in this when, as his letter
shows, he didn’t know very much about it
There remains one possibility. Perhaps some unusual feature of the cremation
process, not understood by the Zyklon delousing personnel, raised a novel problem
with the Zyklon that Prüfer was asked to solve. I can’t imagine such a feature,
since cremation with coke seems basically like any other use of coke. However, if
such an unusual feature existed, would it not have come up earlier in the six muffle
crematorium, also supplied by Topf, that existed in the Stammlager or Auschwitz
I In 1942, this sole crematorium was working at capacity, and the disastrous
typhus epidemics were being fought with Zyklon. However, the February to
March 1943 correspondence marked the first confrontation of Prüfer with the
problem involved. Some novel feature of Crematorium II had to be the problem.
It is also clear that the letter has nothing to do with gas detectors as defenses
against chemical warfare. The German chemical warfare services were highly
competent and organized and would not have sent a furnace maker on a quest for
such equipment.
From one point of view, the problem raised has little to do with the “extermination”
allegations. If the Zyklon were being used to kill people, rather than lice,
then presumably the same specially trained squads would have been used or at
least consulted, and the usual HCN gas detectors would have been used in the last
stages of gassing operations. There would have been no problems in acquiring
such standard equipment. Those who believe Zyklon was used for homicidal purposes
should be as puzzled by this document as I was.
From another point of view, this problem is very relevant to the claim of “extermination”,
as explained below.
659
Jean-François Forges, Éduquer contre Auschwitz, ESF, Paris, 1997, p. 28.
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