Need Proof of the Gas Chambers? Hear it from Nazis Themselves
A popular claim in Holocaust revisionist circles relates to the idea that chemicals were not used to murder the victims of the Holocaust. This article exists to refute that claim. The concentration/death camps where gas chambers were used in Nazi occupied Europe include: Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. The number of victims from these camps is estimated to be 2.9 million souls -- both Jews and non-Jews. The Final Solution was aimed at destroying European Jewry.
Revisionist claims regarding the gas chambers fall flat. There is no other way that the Jewish population of Europe could have been murdered in such an efficient manner between 1942 and 1943 in particular. Even the testimony from criminal Josef Oberhauser, who participated in Aktion T4 and Operation Reinhard at Belzec Death Camp, confesses, "As it appeared that it would not be possible for the Einsatzgruppen to clear individual areas of Jews and the people in the large ghettos of Warsaw and Lemberg by shooting them, the decision had been taken to set up two further extermination camps which would be ready by 1 August 1942." The below Nazi sadists testify to the reality of the gas chambers:
Testimony of SS-Scharfuehrer Erich Fuchs, in the Sobibor-Bolender trial, Dusseldorf:
[Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps", Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 31-32].
"We unloaded the motor. It was a heavy Russian benzine engine, at least 200
horsepower. We installed the engine on a concrete foundation and set up the
connection between the exhaust and the tube.
I then tested the motor. It did not work. I was able to repair the ignition and the
valves, and the motor finally started running. The chemist, who I knew from Belzec,
entered the gas chamber with measuring instruments to test the concentration of
the gas. Following this, a gassing experiment was carried out. If my memory
serves me right, about thirty to forty women were gassed in one gas chamber.
The Jewish women were forced to undress in an open place close to the gas
chamber, and were driven into the gas chamber by the SS members and the
Ukrainian auxiliaries. When the women were shut up in the gas chamber I and
Bolender set the motor in motion. The motor functioned first in neutral. Both of
us stood by the motor and switched from "Neutral" (Freiauspuff) to "Cell" (Zelle),
so that the gas was conveyed to the chamber. At the suggestion of the chemist,
I fixed the motor on a definite speed so that it was unnecessary henceforth to
press on the gas. About ten minutes later the thirty to forty women were dead."
Testimony of SS-Unterscharfuehrer Erwin Lambert about Sobibor [Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps", Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 123]
"As I mentioned at the beginning, I was in the extermination camp of the Jews for about two to three weeks. It was sometime in autumn 1942, but I don't remember exactly when. At that time I was assigned by (Christian) Wirth to enlarge the gassing structure according to the model of Treblinka. I went to Sobibor together with Lorenz Hackenholt, who was at that time in Treblinka.
We reported to the camp commander, Reichsleitner. He gave us exact directive for the construction of the gassing installations. The camp was already in operation, and there was a gassing installation. Probably the old installation was not big enough, and reconstruction was necessary."
Testimony of SS-Unterscharfuehrer Karl Schluch, In the Belzec-Oberhauser trial: [Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps", Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 70-71].
"After leaving the undressing barracks, I had to show the Jews the way to the gas chambers. I believe that when I showed the Jews the way they were convinced that they were really going to the baths. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the doors were closed by (Lorenz) Hackenholt himself or by the Ukrainians subordinated to him. Then Hackenholt switched on the engine which supplied the
gas ... I could see that the lips and tips of the noses were a bluish color. Some of them had their closed, other's eyes rolled. The bodies were dragged out of the gas chambers and inspected by a dentist, who removed finger rings and gold teeth ..."
Testimony of SS-Oberscharfuehrer Kurt Bolender, In the Belzec-Oberhauser trial: [Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps", Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 76].
"Before the Jews (at Belzec) undressed, Oberscharfuehrer (Hermann) Michel made a speech to them. On these occasions, he used to wear a white coat to give the impression that he was a physician. Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work, but before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection so as to prevent the spread of diseases. After undressing, the Jews
were taken through the so-called schlauch. They were led to the gas chambers not by the Germans but by the Ukrainians. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the Ukrainians closed the doors. The motor which supplied the gas was switched on by a Ukrainian named Emil and by a German driver called Erich Bauer from Berlin. After the gassing, the door were opened and the corpses removed."
SS-Untersturmfuehrer Josef Oberhauser on the death camp at Belzec [Quoted in 'The Good Old Days' - E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, The Free Press, NY, 1988., p. 228-230]
"The camp of Belzec was situated north-east of the Tomaszow to Lemberg [Lvov] road beyond the village of Belzec. As the camp needed a siding for the arriving transports the camp was built about 400 meters from Belzec station. The camp itself was divided
into two sections: section 1 and section 2. The siding led directly from Belzec station into section 2 of the camp, in which the undressing barracks as well as the gas installations and the burial field were situated.
The gassing of Jews which took place in Belzec camp up til 1 Aug. 1942 can be divided into two phases. During the first series of experiments there were two to three transports consisting of four to six freight cars each holding twenty to forty persons. On the average 150 Jews were delivered and killed per transport. At that stage the gassings were not yet part of a systematic eradication action but were carried out to test and study closely the camp's capacity and the technical problems involved in carrying out a gassing.
At the beginning of May 1942 SS-Oberfuehrer Brack from the Fuehrer's chancellery suddenly came to Lublin. With Globocnik he discussed resuming the extermination of the Jews. Globocnik said he had too few people to carry out this programme. Brack stated
that the euthanasia programme had stopped and that the people from T4 would from now on be detailed to him on a regular basis so that the decisions taken at the Wannsee Conference could be implemented. As it appeared that it would not be possible for the
Einsatzgruppen to clear individual areas of Jews and the people in the large ghettos of Warsaw and Lemberg by shooting them, the decision had been taken to set up two further extermination camps which would be ready by 1 Aug. 1942, namely Treblinka and Sobibor. The large-scale extermination programme [Vernichtungsaktion] was due to start on 1 August 1942.
About a week after Brack had come to Globocnik, Wirth and his staff returned to Belzec. The second series of experiments went on until 1 August 1942. During this period a total of five to six transports (as far as I am aware) consisting of five to seven freight cars
containing thirty to forty people came to Belzec. The Jews from two of these transports were gassed in the small chamber, but then Wirth had the gas huts pulled down and built a massive new building with a much larger capacity. It was here that the Jews from the rest of the transport were gassed.
During the first experiments and the first set of transports in the second series of experiments bottled gas was still used for gassing; however, for the last transports of the second series of experiments the Jews were killed with the exhaust gases from a tank or lorry engine which was operated by (Lorenz) Hackenholt."
Additional testimonies about the gas chambers at Belzec and Sobibor are available from Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, Waffen-SS hygienist, and Kurt Gerstein.
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