THE RUDOLF REPORT

7. ZYKLON B FOR THE KILLING OF HUMAN BEINGSbuilding 5b as a (fake) homicidal ‘gas chamber’. The water pipes visiblethere hang freely in space inside the room, without any connection;only a few of them are equipped with shower heads, while they terminatein the ventilation openings in the exterior wall, i.e., they were installedafter the removal of the disinfestation devices (ovens, ventilators,and so on), very probably after the German withdrawal (see Fig.20). Remarkably, all pipes and fittings have been removed from thereal shower room in the same wing (see Fig. 17). In case this is not anattempted falsification, it is still possible that this wing was clumsilyconverted into a shower room after the end of the war, when Birkenauwas used as prisoner camp for Germans. But this is not likely, sincethis building had proper showers already, so why dismantle them first,and then construct a makeshift shower in a room unsuitable for it?Brief mention should be made at this point of the widespread notionthat the toxic gas streamed into the alleged homicidal ‘gas chamber’through shower heads, especially as there are even a few sucheyewitness statements. Zyklon B consists of the active ingredient, hydrogencyanide, adsorbed on a solid carrier material (gypsum) and onlyreleased gradually. Since it was neither a liquid nor a gas under pressure,the hydrogen cyanide from this product could never have traveledthrough narrow water pipes and shower heads. Possible showers, orfake shower heads, could therefore only have been used to deceive thevictims; they could never have been used for the introduction of thispoison gas. There is general unanimity as to this point, no matter whatelse might be in dispute.235