THE RUDOLF REPORT

7. ZYKLON B FOR THE KILLING OF HUMAN BEINGSFinally, a poisoning through the sweat-wet skin would have beenavoidable under these circumstances only if the workers would haveworked with protective garments in the ‘gas chamber’, which was notreported by any witness and which would have reduced the workingperformance even more. The accounts of some witnesses regarding theapplied concentrations and the quick clearing of the chamber after theexecution without protective garments and masks, on which even Pressacrelies, exclude each other and thus can certainly not be correct.It should not be forgotten here that hydrogen cyanide is a contactpoison. Transporting corpses, on whose skin huge, possible lethalamounts of hydrogen cyanide are absorbed, had required that the specialcommands dealing with these corpses had to wear protectiveclothes. Finally, when considering the applied concentrations attestedto, the guards, like the special commands, would have risked theirhealth. This is true for all ‘gas chambers’.7.3.3. Evaluation of EyewitnessesIt is possible to provide a satisfactory answer to the problem of theZyklon B introduction holes in the roofs of morgue 1 (the ‘gas chambers’)of crematoria II and III through the interpretation of air photosand structural considerations. One must therefore conclude that theholes and cracks visible today were only put in during or after the destructionof the building during the winter of 1944-45. This means thatthe poison gas could not have been introduced into the alleged ‘gaschambers’ in the manner described by the eyewitnesses.The rapidity of the executions as described by the eyewitnesses, intheir extreme values (“a few moments”, “a few minutes”, “two minutes”,etc.) cannot, once again, be attained with Zyklon B under thegiven technical conditions, and can only be attained through the use ofvery high quantities of Zyklon B.Entering the ‘gas chambers’ without protective measures, the performanceof heavy physical work in the chambers, sometimes with anaked torso, while eating and smoking, along with testimony relating tolarge quantities of toxic gas, reveals the perjury of these eyewitnesses. 490Equally false are the statements relating to the duration of ventilationof morgue 1 (the ‘gas chamber’) of crematoria II and III, since the490 There are, of course, witnesses who allege that gas masks were worn. Protective garment,however, is never mentioned.233