THE RUDOLF REPORT

5. AUSCHWITZThese accounts, according to Pressac, are characterized by manycontradictions, technical impossibilities, and general incredibility. Heobserves a “general tendency to exaggerate”, and explains the grosserrors and technical impossibilities in the eyewitness accounts andwritings of camp commandant Höß by stating:“He was present, without seeing.”That is, Pressac alleges that Höß had no idea of the methods, risksand dangers involved in the handling of Zyklon B. But this is in contradictionto an order issued by commandant Höß calling for cautionduring the fumigation of barracks with Zyklon B 158 —caution whichhad become necessary in view of several cases of poisoning. This specialorder of the commandant warning of accidents involving Zyklon Bgas, an order which was distributed throughout the camp, indicates aduty of care with regards to those inmates who were, allegedly andnevertheless, doomed to die from the effects of that same gas sooner orlater. We will have occasion to speak of Höß’s testimony at a latertime.Pressac, moreover, explains the form and basic tone of the testimonyof SS man Pery Broad as incorrect because this testimony issoaked in Polish patriotism, to say nothing of the transparent Polishhatred against SS men, although Broad was an SS man himself and hadno links to Poland, and because Pressac found out that this ‘testimony’has been slightly reworked by the Poles, the original of which is missing.In other words, this ‘document’, obviously patched together by thePoles, is quite worthless insofar as a critical examination of its sourceis concerned. Nevertheless, Pressac considers the basic testimonieswith regards to homicidal gassings to be correct. 160The ‘gas chamber’ in the main camp is a room in a ground levelbuilding, which replaced a former kitchen building of the formerAustro-Hungarian barracks located at the same spot. 161 The floor andceiling of crematorium I are of reinforced concrete while the exteriorwalls are of brick masonry, insulated on the exterior by a coating oftar. Except for the access ways, the building is practically undergrounddue to the fact that dirt has been piled up against the walls. The interiorwalls are plastered and whitewashed.160 Ibid., pp. 126-128.161 Ibid., p. 129.79