TREBLINKA: - Holocaust Handbooks

Chapter IV: The Alleged Extermination Facilities in Treblinka 133
7. Gas Chambers or Asphyxiation Chambers?
According to the verdict of the Düsseldorf Court of Assizes of September
3, 1965, already cited, the gas chambers of the first killing installation measured
4 m × 4 m × 2.60 m each, thus 16 m 2 and 41.6 m 3 , and could each hold
200 to 350 people. Those of the second killing installation were 8 m × 4 m × 2
m, thus 32 m 2 and 64 m 3 in size, and could accommodate 400 to 700 persons.
377
The time period, during which one can be enclosed in a gas-tight air-raid
shelter (equipped with neither ventilation nor an air-exchange system) without
danger to health and life, can be calculated on the basis of the following formula:
t = v/20n (10–0.4) = 0.48 (v/n)
in which t stands for the time spent in the shelter, v for the volume of the
room in cubic meters, n is the number of occupants of the room. The constant
20 designates the number of liters of carbon dioxide exhaled by a person
within an hour, and 0.4 refers to the liters of carbon dioxide present per cubic
meter of air. Lastly, 10 is the highest possible permissible concentration of
carbon dioxide (per m 3 ) in the shelter.
By heeding this formula, the suffocation of the occupants of the shelter can
be avoided. It is well known that an adult normally exhales 4% carbon dioxide
(CO2). Though this gas is not toxic, a concentration beyond a certain point
leads to death through asphyxiation. On average, a standing adult breathes
eight liters of air per minute and in doing so uses 0.360 liters of oxygen; during
slow walking, however, his consumption of oxygen climbs to 0.65 liters
per minute, and the air exhaled during the same period is increased to 14 liters.
Since in respiration four parts of carbon dioxide are produced for 5 parts
of oxygen, the person in the first instance produces
(0.36 × 4/5 =) 0.288 liters of carbon dioxide per minute and in the second
case
(0.65 × 4/5 =) 0.520 liters of carbon dioxide per minute. 378
In regard to the effects of carbon dioxide upon people in relation to its concentration,
two specialists, Flury and Zernik, write: 379
“With 8-10%, corresponding to 144-180 mg/liter, loss of consciousness
rapidly ensues and death follows from cessation of breathing with cyanosis.
Convulsions are insignificant or entirely absent. The heart continues to
beat after cessation of breathing. A concentration of 20%, or approxi-
377 This corresponds up to 22 persons per square meter – an absolute impossibility!
378 F. Flury and F. Zernik, Schädliche Gase, Nebel, Rauch- und Staubarten, Publishing House
of Julius Springer, Berlin 1931, pp. 26f., 29.
379 Ibid., p. 219.