THE RUDOLF REPORT

5. AUSCHWITZThere are also guidelines on the fumigation of property and rooms,describing the procedures in detail, both before and afterwards. 127,128These do not considerably differ from the regulations in applicationtoday. 129 Based upon this, the following is a brief discussion of thetechnology and method of procedure employed.Initially, for the disinfestation of personal effects, ordinary rooms(10 to 30 m 2 surface area) were temporarily modified, by making thewindows and doors as gas-tight as possible by means of felt sealantmaterial and paper strips, while providing for proper heating and ventilationof the rooms. Workers wearing gas masks spread Zyklon Bevenly on the floor of the room containing the property to be disinfested.This procedure was similar to what was then the regular fumigationof ordinary rooms for the destruction of vermin. Such convertedrooms may be seen even today in the main camp of Auschwitz I. Theuse of temporarily sealed rooms for fumigation purposes is not withoutrisk since the sealing is never perfect.Later, special gas-tight installations without windows were built,equipped with efficient heating and ventilation systems, and later alsowith circulating air systems for a more rapid circulation of the gas insidethe room (so-called “DEGESCH-Kreislaufverfahren,” DEGESCHcirculation procedure, see Fig. 14). Cans of Zyklon B were opened bymeans of an exterior mechanism, so that the workers were no longerexposed to danger. The bottom of the can was automatically puncturedand the preparation fell into a basket, into which a fan blew hot-air,thus quickly evaporating the hydrogen cyanide and carrying the fumes123 G. Peters, “Gefahrlose Anwendung der hochgiftigen Blausäure in Entlausungskammern”,Arbeitsschutz, 5(III) (1942), pp. 167f.124 F. Puntigam, “Raumlösungen von Entlausungsanlagen”, Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 67(6) (1944),pp. 139-180.125 E. Wüstinger, “Vermehrter Einsatz von Blausäure-Entlausungskammern”, Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 67(7) (1944), p. 179.126 A more recent summary of this topic was prepared by Friedrich P. Berg, “The German DelousingChambers”, JHR, 7(1) (1986), pp. 73-94 (online: codoh.com/gcgv/gcdelouse.html);cf. also Berg, op. cit. (note 131).127 Entseuchungs- und Entwesungsvorschrift für die Wehrmacht, H. Dv. 194, M. Dv. Nr. 277, L.Dv. 416, Reichsdruckerei, Berlin 1939.128 Richtlinien für die Anwendung von Blausäure (Zyklon) zur Ungeziefervertilgung (Entwesung),Gesundheitsanstalt des Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren, Prag o.J.; Dokument NI-9912(1) atthe International Military Tribunal, reproduced by Herbert Verbeke (ed.), op. cit. (note 43),pp. 94-99.129 Technische Regeln für Gefahrstoffe, TRGS 512, Begasungen, BArbBl. no. 10/1989, p. 72, in:Robert Kühn, Karl Birett, Merkblätter Gefährlicher Arbeitsstoffe, ecomed, Landsberg 1990.63