Carlo Mattogno - Auschwitz: A case of plagiarism

Auschwitz: A case of plagiarism

Carlo Mattogno

The myth of "the gas chambers" is based almost exclusively on false and contradictory "eyewitness testimonies" which are accepted as authentic, in dogmatic and uncritical fashion, by the official historiography. [note 1]
Some "eyewitnesses," such as Kurt Gerstein, Charles Sigismund Bendel, Ada Bimko, Rudolf Höss, and Miklos Nyiszli, furnished their delirious "testimonies" at the end of the Second World War and in the immediate postwar periods. [2]
The "eyewitness" Filip Müller, on the other hand, "waited thirty years before resolving to write," [3] and finally, in 1979, published a detailed "testimony": Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers. [4]
This "eyewitness testimony," however, since it is largely the result of a shameless plagiarism, as we shall demonstrate in this study, is completely devoid of probative value, just as is that of Filip Müller's predecessors mentioned above.
Filip Müller was allegedly "a direct witness during almost three years to the annihilation of the Jews of Europe" [5] who "miraculously escaped five liquidations of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando." [6]
In compiling his tardy "eyewitness testimony," he drew his inspiration largely from the classics of the literature devoted to the "extermination" of the Jews, including the Kalendarium der Ereignisse im Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau (Calendar of Events in the Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau) and the documents in possession of the Auschwitz Museum, in order to avoid the foolish mistakes committed by a large number of his predecessors.
Concerning the "gas chambers" at Auschwitz, his source is Miklos Nyiszli's book Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, published in installments by the magazine Quick in Munich in 1961, [7] a wildly false testimony [8] which Filip Müller plagiarized unrestrainedly, as we shall show in this study.
We begin by examining the most important plagiarism, the speech of the dayan. [9]
Below we compare, side by side, Nyiszli's text (on the left) and Müller's text (on the right). [10]

Nyiszli

Müller

Brothers! An unfathomable will has sent our people to its death. Fate has imposed the cruelest duty upon us, to collaborate in the annihilation of our people, before we ourselves become ashes. Heaven has not opened, no rain strong enough to extinguish the funeral pyres built by the hands of men has fallen. We must submit to the irrevocable with Jewish resignation. This is a trial which the Lord has sent us. To seek the reasons is not the business of us humans, who are nothing compared to the Almighty God. Do not fear death! What value would life have for us, if by chance we were spared? Likely we would return to our towns and villages. But what would await us there -- empty, looted dwellings. Our eyes, blinded by tears, would seek in vain for our annihilated relatives. We would be alone. Without family, without kindred. We would wander the world lost and alone. Nowhere would we find peace and quiet Shadows of our former self and our past And so one day we would die alone ...

Brothers! he cried, according to God's unfathomable decision we now travel our final road. A cruel and awful fate has forced us to collaborate in the extermination of our people, before we ourselves become ashes. No miracle has taken place. Heaven has sent no avenging lightning, nor has it let fall any rain strong enough to stifle the funeral pyres built by the hands of men. With Jewish resignation we must now accept the irrevocable. This is the last trial which Heaven [11] to has sent us. To ask the reasons is not for us, since we are nothing compared to Almighty God. Do not fear death! For what value would life still have for us, if by chance we could be saved? We would seek our annihilated relatives in vain. We would be alone, without family, without relatives, without friends, without a homeland, and would have to wander aimlessly about the world. Nowhere would we have peace and quiet, until one day we would die somewhere alone and abandoned. Therefore, brothers, let us enter, strong and brave, into the death which God has now ordained.

We now proceed to the examination of other instances of plagiarism, and specify that the citations are drawn from the following works:
Filip Müller, Sonderbehandlung. Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskammem von Auschwitz (Special Treatment: Three Years in the Crematoria and Gas Chambers of Auschwitz), German edition with Helmut Freitag, Verlag Steinhausen, Munich 1979.
Miklos Nyiszli, Auschwitz. Tagebuch eines Lagerartztes (Auschwitz: Diary of a Camp Doctor), in Quick, Munich 1961, nos. 3-11.

Crematory Ovens

Nyiszli	Müller
When the last gold took has been pulled out, the corpses end up with the incineration commando. They are laid in threes on a pushcart made of sheet metal. The heavy iron doors open automatically. In twenty minutes the corpses are consumed. [14]	The higher-ups had estimated twenty minutes for the cremation of three corpses and it was Stark's duty to see to it that this duration was not exceeded. [12] [Consequently:] 15 massive ovens, functioning without interruption, were able to incinerate more than 3,000 corpses a day. [13]

From these data (3 corpses x 15 muffles x 20 minutes) results a cremation capacity of 3,240 corpses in 24 hours.
According to a letter from the chief of the "Central Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police Auschwitz" of 28 June 1943, [15] however, the incineration capacity for 24 hours of the crematoria of Birkenau was as follows (the figures on the far right are from Nyiszli and Müller):

II.	new crematorium (Birkenau) 5 ovens-3 muffles each	1,440 corpses	3,240
III.	new crematorium (Birkenau) 5 ovens-3 muffles each	1,440 corpses	3,240
IV.	new crematorium (Birkenau) 8 muffles	768 corpses	1,728
V.	new crematorium (Birkenau) 8 muffles	768 corpses	1,728
	Total	4,416	9,936 [16]

This capacity corresponds to the cremation of one corpse in one muffle in 15 minutes or of three corpses in 45 minutes. This however is technically impossible; this document as well has been forged or doctored. According to the calculations of the firm Topf and Sons, crematoria IV and V consumed 1,120 kilograms of coke in 12 hours of use. [l7] It follows that if one had been able to incinerate 384 corpses in 12 hours, the cremation of one corpse would have required less than 3 kg of coal, and that 3 corpses could have been incinerated in a single muffle in 45 minutes, which is absurd. [18]
A crematory capacity of 3,240 corpses in 24 hours in 15 muffles is a fortiori even more absurd; therefore Filip Müller must have plagiarized Nyiszli.

Nyiszli	Müller
In all up to 10,000 men could be brought from the gas chambers into the crematory ovens every day. [20]	The increase in the number of ovens by nearly eight times in comparison to those of the Auschwitz crematorium and the employment of forty times as many prisoners in the Sonderkommando enabled the incineration of up to 10,000 corpses in 24 hours, after initial difficulties in the extermination procedure had been surmounted. [l9]

The original Hungarian text of Nyiszli's book does not in fact correspond to this translation. Here is the actual sense:
The bodies of the dead are consumed in twenty minutes. One crematorium operates with fifteen ovens. Its daily crematory capacity is five thousand persons. Four crematoria function in all, with an equivalent operational capacity. Twenty thousand go to their end in the gas chambers and, from there, into the incineration ovens.[21]
In reality the maximum cremation capacity of 15 muffles, according to Nyiszli's figures, would have been 3,240 corpses in 24 hours, not 5,000. Furthermore, the four crematoria could not possibly have operated at the same rate, since crematoria II and III each had 15 muffles, while crematoria IV and V had only 8 apiece. Nyiszli's German translator, then, has "corrected" Nyiszli's mistaken arithmetic, and gone on to round off the result to 10,000 (9,936 according to the actual number of muffles at Birkenau).
This cremation capacity is technically impossible, and demonstrates that, here as well, Filip Müller has plagiarized from the German text of Nyiszli published in the magazine Quick.

Nyiszli	Müller
Fifteen such ventilators operated simultaneously; there is one beside each oven. [23]	[In contrast to the burning pits] intense heat could be maintained, with help of ventilators, in the crematory ovens. [22]

Topf's ovens were not furnished with ventilators, but with a compressor connected to the cremation room by special tubing (Rohrleitung or Luftrohrleiting), [24] and thus, here again, Filip Müller has plagiarized Nyiszli.

'Gassings'

Nyiszli

Müller

A horrible picture: the corpses aren't scattered in the room, but piled high on top of one another. That's easily explained: the Cyclon, which is thrown in from outside, releases its deadly gases at floor level first. It reaches the upper layers of air only gradually. That's why the victims trample one another, one climbing on the other. The higher they are, the later the gas reaches them. [26]

When the Zyklon-B crystals which had been thrown in came into contact with air, the deadly gas formed, first expanding at floor level and then rising ever higher. Because of that the biggest and strongest lay on top of the heaps of corpses, while chiefly children, the old and the weak were on the bottom. In between were mostly men and women of middle age. Doubtless those on top had in their terror of death climbed up on the ones who already lay on the floor, because they still had the strength to and perhaps had also realized that the deadly gas was expanding upwards from below. [25]

The scene described can not be authentic because it presupposes that the gas in question [27] is heavier than air and thus saturates the "gas chambers" from bottom to top, as a fluid fills a receptacle. Nyiszli has evidently based it on the mistaken notion that Zyklon B consisted of "chlorine." [28] In fact "hydrocyanic acid fumes are lighter than air [specific gravity in relation to air: 0.97] and consequently rise in the atmosphere." [29] This means that hydrocyanic acid emanates from Zyklon B by rising slowly (in the absence of air currents) without first saturating the lower layers of air at ground level. It is therefore impossible that, in order to escape the gas as long as possible, the victims climbed on one another toward precisely those layers of air in the "gas chamber" in which the concentration of hydrocyanic acid was greatest (the presence of which in any case could easily be detected because it was, according to Müller, "neither odorless or tasteless. It smelled like methylated spirits and was sweet to the taste." ) [30]
The plagiarism is further confirmed by the description of the tubes through which Zyklon B was introduced into the "gas chamber," a description which Müller likewise has drawn from Nyiszli.

Nyiszli	Müller
In the middle of the room were pillars at thirty-meter intervals. They rose from the floor to the ceiling. Not supporting pillars, but sheet-iron pipes, the sides of which contained many perforations. [32]	The Zyklon B gas crystals were thrown through holes in the concrete ceiling which opened into hollow sheet-metal pillars. These were perforated at regular intervals; inside them a spiral ran from the ceiling to the floor to allow for as equal as possible a distribution of the granulated crystals. [31]

The presence of such pipes for introducing Zyklon B into the interior of a homicidal gas chamber is technically absurd, since the pipes would have considerably slowed the diffusion of the gas in the room [33] -- and consequently the death of the victims -- as well as the evacuation of the gas from the room, [34] and therefore the evacuation of the corpses.
Moreover, most of the holes at the base of the tubes would have been obstructed by the bodies of the victims pressed against them, slowing, again, the diffusion of the gas, by channeling it upwards into the air beneath the ceiling, from whence it would descend gradually towards the floor. Thus these tubes render the scene invented by Nyiszli and plagiarized by Müller even more absurd.
Finally, the cleansing of the corpses with water hoses after each "gassing" would have allowed water to accumulate on the pillars' inner walls, and on the floor surface within their perimeters where the Zyklon B granules would land, once again retarding the emission of the gas. [35]
Filip Müller has therefore taken this scene from Nyiszli.
Müller has plagiarized the entire process of the "extermination" in the "gas chambers:"

• The Zyklon B had been brought to the crematoriums in a vehicle bearing the insignia of the Red Cross (Müller, p. 183; Nyiszli, 4, p. 29);
• The "gas chamber" of Crematorium II was able to hold 3,000 persons (14 per square meter) (Müller, p. 95; Nyiszli, 4, p. 29) [36]
• It was equipped with pillars of perforated sheet metal into which the Zyklon B was introduced from above (Müller, p.96; Nyiszli, 4., p. 29);
• After the "gassing," the corpses were cleansed with a fire hose: Müller, p. 185, "with water hoses" (mit Wasserschlauchen); Nyiszli, 4, p. 29, "with a powerful stream of water" (mit starkem Wasserstrahl);
• Then they were dragged to the elevator [37] with a strap attached to the wrists (Müller, p. 185; Nyiszli, 4, p. 29).

Müller reports further that many Gypsies in camp BIIe died of noma. Danuta Czech alludes to this disease, widespread in the Gypsy camp at Birkenau in 1944, in her monograph "The role of the camp hospital at KL Auschwitz II," [38] referring specifically to Nyiszli's work, [39] and it is thus evident that here too Müller has had recourse to plagiarism.
At Mauthausen -- recounts Müller -- "on the third day" (am dritten Tag), during a roll-call, the members of the Birkenau Sonderkommando were ordered to fall out (p. 273, a scene already described by Nyiszli, who gives the chronology: "the third day" (am dritten Tag, note II, p. 51)!
Although Müller declared in a letter to John Bennett that he had known Nyiszli quite well, [40] he was careful not to mention this in his booker evidently from fear lest his plagiarism be discovered.
In composing his "eyewitness testimony," Filip Müller used other sources as well.
The tragi-comic episode of his suicide attempt in the "gas chamber" (p. 176-180) 42 was entirely inspired by the May 4, 1945 Gerstein report 43 for its description of the "gasses":

Gerstein	Müller
They still hold hands, clenched in death [45]	... During the agony, many still clasped hands (p. 186). [44]
The dead are standing straight like pillars of basalt, ranged tightly one against the other in the chambers. [47]	... groups leaned against the walls, pressed against each other, like pillars of basalt. [46]
The bodies are thrown outside, damp with sweat and urine, dirtied with excrement and with menstrual blood on the legs. [49]	For almost all were wet with sweat and urine, soiled with excrement, and the legs of many women were streaked with menstrual blood. [48]

But the coup de grace to this "eyewitness" is supplied by Müller himself. After describing the escape from Birkenau, on April 7, 1944, of Alfred Wetzler and Walter Rosenberg (Rudolf Vrba), he states:

I had handed Alfred a plan of the crematoria with the gas chambers and a list of the names of the SS personnel who worked in the crematoria. [50]

The two fugitives wrote two reports on their purported experience at Auschwitz, which were published in the United States in November 1944. [51]
In fact, a plan of Crematoria I and II (II and III according to the official German numbering) of Birkenau with the alleged "gas chambers" [52] appears on page 15 of the report written by Alfred Wetzler, [53] but this plan is a complete fabrication, as is demonstrated by a simple comparison with the original, [54] whence it is clear that the originator of the drawing never set foot in the place he describes.
If Filip Müller actually drew the plan in question, then he never was in Crematoria II and III and his "eyewitness testimony" is a fortiori completely false. [55]
But most surprising of all is that he has published a fairly accurate sketch of Crematorium III, [56] obviously based on the original plan of Crematorium II.
Is it possible that he would have us believe that it was this sketch which he handed Wetzler?

Appendix

Figure 1: The speech of the "dayan." From Miklos Nyiszli, "Auschwitz Tagebuch eines Lagerarztes," Quick, Munich, 1961, no. 10, p 47

Der Dajen Spricht jetzt:
"Brüder! Ein unerforschlicher Wille hat unser Volk in de tod geschickt. Das schicksal hat uns als grausamste Pflicht auferlegt, bei der Vernichtung unseres Volkes mitzuwirken, ehe wir selbst üzu asche werden. Der Himmel hat sich nicht geöffnet, kein regen ist gefallen, der stak genug gewesen wäre, die von Menschenhänden errichteten Scheiterhauten zu löschen. Mit jüdischer Ergebung müssen wir uns in das Unab änderliche fügen. Es ist eine Prüfung, die dre Herr uns geschickt hat. Nach den Gründen zu suchen, ist nidcht aufgabe von uns Menschen, die wir ein Nichts sind gegen den allmächtigen Gott.
Fürchtel euch nicht wor dem Tod! Welch einen wert hätte für uns noch das leben, wenn es uns durch Aufall erhalten bliebe? Wir kämen wohl in unsere Städte und Dörfer zurück. Aber was würde uns dort erwarten -- leere, augeplünderte wohnungen. Unsere tränenblinden augen würden vergebllich nach unseren vernichteten Angehörigen suchen. Wir wären allein. Ohne familie. Ohne Verwandte. Allein und verloren würden wir in der welt umherirren. Nirgens fänden wir ruhe und Frieden. Schatten unseres einstigen Ichs und unserer Vergangenheit. Und so würden sir dana eines Tage einsam sterben ..."
Tiefes Schweigen. Hin und wieder ein Seufzer, ein Atemholen.

Figure 2 The speech of the "dayan." From Filip Müller, Sonderbehandlung. Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskammern von Auschwitz, with the collaboration of Helmut Freitag, Verlag Steinhausen, Munich 1979, p. 262-263.

Brüder! «rief er,» nach Gottes unerforschlichem Ratschluß treten wir jetzt unseren letzten Gang an. Ein grausames und schreckliches Schicksal hat uns gezwungen, bei der Ausrottung gunseres Volkes mitzuwirken, bevor wir jetzt selbst zu Asche werden. Es ist kein Wunder geschehen. Der Himmel hat keine strafenden Blitze gesandt, er hat auch keinen Regen failen lassen, der stark genug gewesen wäre, die Brände der von Menschenhänden errichteten Scheiterhaufen zu ersticken. Mit jüdischer Ergebenheit müssen wir jetzt das Unabänderliche hinnehmen. Es ist die letzte Prufung, die uns der Himmel geschickt hat. Nach den Gründen zu fragen, steht uns nicht an, denn wir sind nichts gegen den allmächtigen Gott. Fürchtet euch nicht vor dem Tod! Was für einen Wert hätte denn das Leben noch für uns, wenn wir es durch einen Zufall retten könnten? Vergeblich würden wir nach unseren vernichteten Angehorigen suchen. Wir wären allein, ohne Familie, ohne Angehörige, ohne Freunde, ohne Heimat, und müßten ohne Ziel in der Welt herumirren. Nirgends gäbe es noch Ruhe und Frieden für uns, bis wir dann eines Tages einsam und verlassen irgendwo sterben würden. Deshalb, Brüder, laßt uns stark und tapfer in den Tod gehen, den Gott jetzt beschlossen hat!" «

Figure 3

Original Plan of crematorium II
Basement:
1. Mortuary room 1 (Leichenkeller 1)
2. Mortuary room 2 (Leichenkeller 2).
3. Mortuary room 3 (Leichenkeller 3)
4. Elevator
5. Anteroom
6. Hall
Ground Floor:
7. Cremation room
8. Crematory ovens (five 3-muffled ovens)
9. Chimney

Figure 4

Plan of Birkenau Crematoriums I and II (II and III). From Executive Office of the President, War Refugee Board, Washington, D.C., German Extermination Camps -- Auschwitz and Birkenau, November 1944, p. 15 (the description below is based on that of pp. 14, 16 in this report).
Description:
a. Furnace room: Nine 4-muffled ovens are arranged around a high chimney. False
b. "Large hall" or "reception hall": "changing room" of the "victims," located on the ground floor. False
c. "Gas chamber": Located on the ground floor and equipped with roof traps for introducing Zyklon B. False
d. Rails run from the "gas chamber" into the furnace room. False

Figure 5

Plan of Crematorium III -- and by symmetrical inversion -- of Crematorium II of Birkenau. From Filip Müller, Sonderbehandlung. Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskammern von Auschwitz, with the collaboration of Helmut Freitag, Verlag Steinhausen, Munich 1979, p. 287.
N.B.: The reference to the numeration of the crematoria which appears on the plan (V and IV) is erroneous.
Kellergeschoss: Basement
Erdgeschoss: Ground floor
1. Stairs to "changing room"
2. "Changing room" (in reality Leichenkeller 2)
3. "Gas chamber" (in reality Leichenkeller). Concrete pillars. "Gas inlets."
4. Elevator for the corpses
5. Chute for remains of corpses
6. Incineration room
7. Ovens, each with three muffles
8. Chimney
9. Coke store
10. Washroom
11. Kommandofuhrer's office
12. Execution room
13. Room where gold fillings were melted (in Crematorium II, dissection room)
14. In Crematorium III, quarters of those who melted down the gold fillings
The identification of rooms 12 and 13 stems from the "eyewitness testimony" of Miklos Nyiszli.

Notes

1. For a general approach to the "gas chambers myth see our historical and bibliographic essay "The Myth of the Extermination of the Jews," The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 8, nos.2 and 3 (Summer and Pall 1988), translated from Annales d'histoire révisionniste, no. 1, Spring 1987). The English and French are revised, corrected, and augmented versions of the Italian original, II mito dello sterminio ebraico. Introduzione storico-bibliografica alla storiografica revisionista, Sentinella d'Italia, Monfalcone, 1985.
2. On this see our studies Il rapporto Gerstein: Anatomia di un falso, Sentinella Italia, Monfalcone, 1985; Auschwitz; due false testimonianze, Edizioni La Sfinge, Parma, 1986; Auschwitz: The "Confessions" of Höss, Edizioni La Sfinge, Parma, 1987; Medico ad Auschwitz': Anatomia di un falso. La balsa testimonianza di Mikclos Nyiszli, to appear soon.
3. Claude Lanzmann, in his preface to the French translation of Filip Müller's book (see note 4 below), Trois ans dans une chambre d gaz d'Auschwitz, Pygmalion/Gérard Watelet, Paris 1980, p. 10.
4. Filip Müller, Sonderbehandlung. Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskammern von Auschwitz, with the collaboration of Helmut Freitag, Verlag Steinhausen, Munich, 1979. [Excerpts from Müller and from Nyiszli in this article have been translated directly from the German texts cited, thus differing from the following published versions of their memoirs in English Filip Müller, Eyewitness Auschwitz. Three Years in the Gas Chambers, Stein & Day, New York, 1979, and Miklos Nyiszli, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Fawcett Crest, New York, 1960.]
5. Claude Lanzmann in his preface to the French translation of Müller, Trois ans dans une chambre à gaz d'Auschwitz, p. 9.
6. Ibidem.
7. Miklos Nyiszli, "Auschwitz. Tagebuch eines Lagerarztes," in Quick, Munich, nos. 3-11.
8. For an in-depth analysis of the false testimony of Miklos Nyiszli, see our study "Medico ad Auschwitz": Anatomia di un falso.
9. The Hebrew term dajjân means "judge" (in particular on a rabbinical tribunal) (M.E. Artom, Vocabolario ebraico-italiano, Rome, 196S, s.v. Nyiszli reports that the speech in question was held in the boiler room of Crematorium II (III according to the official German numbering) in front of 460 men of the Sonderkommando (a); Müller places it in the courtyard of Crematorium II (Nyiszli's Crematorium I) in front of around 200 men of the Sonderkommando (b). Nyiszli relates that on this occasion 460 members of the Sonderkommando were killed by flame throwers and that the only survivors of this massacre were his three assistants and himself (c); thus, for Nyiszli, Filip Müller was killed at this time, since the latter claims to have been present and heard the speech of the "dayan""! a. Dr. Nyiszli, Miklos, Orvos voltam Auschwitzban, Bucharest, 1964, pp. 167-168. The German translation mentions Crematorium III (IV) and omits the word kazanterem (Boiler room) (Quick, no. 10, p. 47). b. Müller, Sonderbehandlung. Drei Jahre in den Krematorien und Gaskammern von Auschwitz, p. 262. [The speech of the dayan, and all other quotations from Müller and Nyiszli (see note 10) have been translated directly from the German of the works cited.-Ed.] c. Orvos voltam Auschwitzban, p. 170; Quick, no. 10, p. 47.
10. Nyiszli, "Auschwitz. Tagebuch eines Lagerarztes." Quick, no. 10, p. 47. Müller, Sonderbehandlung.. , pp. 262-263.
11. The Hebrew term sâmajm (heaven) metaphorically designates God, the Lord (Hebrew: 'adônâj). M.E. Artom, Vocabolario ebraico-italiano, op. cit., s.v.
12. P. 29: "Für die Verbrennung von drei Leichen hatte man höheren Ortes 20 Minuten veranschlagt, und Starks Aufgabe war es, dafür zu sorgen, dass diese Zeit eingehalten wurde."
13. P. 94: "15 massive Öfen konnten bei durchgehendem Betrieb täglich mehr als 3.000 Leichen verbrennen."
14. No. 4, p. 29: "Nachdem der allerletzte Goldzahn herausgebrochen worden ist, landen die Leichen beim Einäscherungskommando. Jeweils drei werden auf ein Schiebwerk aus Stahl-Lamellen gelegt. Die schweren Eisenturen offnen sich automatisch. Innerhalb von zwanzig Minuten sind die Leichen verbrannt."
15. Hefte von Auschwitz. Wydawnictwo Panstwowego Muzeum w Oswiecimiu, 4, 1961, p. 110.
16. The cremation capacity of the four crematoriums of Birkenau, according to Nyiszli's data, is 12,960 corpses in 24 hours, which ignores that Crematoriums IV and V had only 8 muffles each See p.10 of his book.
17. J.-C. Pressac, "Les 'Krematorien' IV et V de Elirkenau et leurs chambres à gaz. Construction et fonctionnement," in Le Monde Juif, no. l07, July- September 1982, p. 114.
18. The cremation of a corpse lasts from 60 to 75 minutes, consuming about 300 kilograms of wood, in gas-fired ovens; an hour and a half to two hours, consuming 100 to 150 kg of wood, in direct-combustion ovens (Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 1949, vol. XI, article "Cremazione," p. 825). In the modern Hamburg crematorium Ohlsdorf und Ojendorf, the cremation of a corpse in the course of one continuous cremation cycle takes from 50 to 70 minutes. The combustion chamber is pre-heated by a gas burner (around 8 cubic meters of natural gas) which raises the temperature to 700-750 degrees centigrade. Then the corpse, with the coffin, which is the specific combustible inserted, bringing the temperature to 800- 900 degrees (letter from the Umweltbehörde-Garten und Friedhofisamt-Hamburg [Environmental Board- Park and Cemetery Offlce-Hamburg] to the author, 5 May 1987).
19. P. 97: "Die Vermehrung der Zahl der Öfen im Vergleich zum Auschwitzer Crematorium auf beinahe das Achtfache und der Einsatz Auschwitz: A Case of Plagiarism 21 von vierzigmal mehr Hfäftlingen im Sonderkommando machten es, nachdem anfängliche Schwierigkeiten im Ablauf der Vernichtungsprozedur beseitigt worden waren, möglich, in 24 Stunden bis zu 10.000 Leichen einzüaschern."
20. No. 4, p. 29: "Insgesamt können wohl an die 10.000 Menschen täglich von den Gaskammern in die Verbrennungsöfen transportiert werden ..."
21. Dr. Nyiszli, Orvos voltam Auschwitzban, op. cit., p. 50: "A holttestek husz perc alatt hamvadnak el. A krematorium tizenöt kemencevel dolgozik. Ötezer ember elégetése a napi kapacitasa Összesen négy krematorium dolgozik ugyanezzel a teljesitoképességgel. Huszezer ember megy at naponta a gazkamrakon, onnan a hamvasztokemencékbe."
22. P. 217: " in den Öfen der Krematorien mit Hilfe der Ventilatoren eine Dauerhafte Glühhitze erhalten werden konnte"
23. No. 4, p. 29: "Fünfzehn solcher Ventilatoren arbeiten auf einmal, neben jedem Ofen ist einer angebracht."
24. NO-94448; operating instructions for the coke- heated Topf three-muffle incineration oven (an appendix to the French translation of Nyiszli, Médecin à Auschwitz. Souvenirs d'un médecin déporté, translated and adapted from the Hungarian by Tibère Kremer, Julliard, 1961). See also Georges Wellers, Les Chambres à gaz ont existé. Des documents, des témoignages, des chiffres, Gallimard, 1981, p. 203-204.
25. P. 185-186: "Wenn die eingeworfenen Zyklon-B- Kristalle mit Luft in Berührung kamen, entwickelte sich das tödliche Gas, das sich zuerst in Bodenhöhe ausbreitete und dann immer höher stieg. Daher lagen auch oben auf dem Leichenhaufen die Grössten und Kräftigsten, während sich unten vor allem Kinder, Alte, und Schwache befanden. Dazwischen fand man meist Manner und Frauen mittleren Alters. Die obenliegenden waren wohl in ihrer panischen Todesangst auf die schon am Boden Liegenden hinaufgestiegen, weil sie noch Kraft dazu und vielleicht auch erkannt hatten, dass sich tödliche Gas von unten nach oben ausbreitete."
26. No. 4, p. 29: "Ein grauenhaftes Bild bietet sich: Die Leichen liegen nicht im Raum verstreut, sondern türmen sich hoch übereinander. Das ist leicht zu erklaren: Das von draussen eingeworfene Cyclon entwickelt seine tüdlichen Gase zunächst in Bodenhöhe. Die oberen Luftschichten erfasst es nach und nach Deshalb trampeln die Unglücklichen sich gegenseitig nieder, einer klettert über den anderen. Je hoher sie sind, desto spater erreicht sie das Gas."
27. Zyklon B consists of hydrocyanic acid absorbed by diatomaceous earth. Its boiling point is 25.7 degrees centigrade (about 78 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperature at which it becomes gaseous (Eugen Kogon, Hermann Langbehn, Adalbert Rückerl, Les Chambres à Gaz, secret d'Etat, Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1984, p. 257).
28. "ciklon vagy klor szemcsés formaban," ["Cyclon (sic) or chlorine in granular form ] (Dr Nyiszli, Orvos voltam Auschwitzban, op. cit., p. 47).
29. Nationalsozialistische Massentotungen durch Giftgas, op. cit., p. 282.
30. "Denn das Gas war weder geruch-noch geschmacklos. Es roch nach brennendem Trockenspiritus und erzeugte auf den Lippen einen susslichen Geschmack" (Müller, p. 185).
31. "Die Zyklon-B-Gas-Kristalle wurden nämlich durch Öffnungen in der Betondecke eingeworfen, die in der Gaskammer in hohle Blechsäule einmündeten. Diese waren in gleichmässigen Abstanden durchlöchert und in ihrem Innern verlief von oben nach unten eine Spirale, um für eine möglichst gleichmässige Verteilung der gekörnten Kristalle zu sorgen" (Müller, p. 96).
32. "In der Mitte des Saales stehen im Abstand von jeweils dreissig Metern Säulen. Sie reichen vom Boden bis zur Decke. Keine Stützsäulen, sondern Eisenblechrohre, deren Wände überall durchlöchert sind" (Nyiszli, no. 4, p. 29).
33. The most modern disinfection chambers are based on the fundamental principle of air circulation: 'In a simple chamber the diffusion of the gases depends upon their normal rate of expansion. This slow process can be considerably accelerated by artificial movement of air or better by air circulation. A most efficient circulatory system is to draw off the gas at one side of the chamber by means of a gas-tight fan, leading it around by a duct to the other side, where it is blown again into the chamber. The circulation of the gas effected by this means ensures the most complete distribution in the chamber. When passing through a vaporiser, inserted into the circulation system, the air stream will carry the fumigant. The efficiency of the gases is further increased by the attachment of a gas-tight calorifer, which will gradually raise the temperature of the chamber" (Degesch, Fumigation Chambers for Pest Control, Erasmusdruck, Mainz, VIII.67, p. 8). [Boldface in original.] There was a disinfection installation of this type (Degesch-Kreislauf- Anlage) at Auschwitz from 1942 (NI-11087). If it is thus surprising that the inventors of the homicidal agas chambers" at Birkenau did not introduce the "Kreislauf" system for a more rapid diffusion of the gas, it is absolutely incredible that they should have hampered its diffusion by introducing the sheet metal tubes which we have described above.
34. "The Circulatory System is also advantageous for aeration purposes. By means of fresh air drawn in from outside the chamber, the gas/air mixture is rapidly and efficiently expelled from the chamber and from the commodity being treated" (Degesch, Fumigation Chambers for Pest Control, op. cit., p. 9). On the Degesch Circulatory System, see Fritz Berg, She German Delousing Chambers," in The Journa1 of Historical Review, Vol. 8, no. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 73- 94.
35. Hydrocyanic acid is "very soluble in water." "In the form of nitrile hydrocyanic acid can hydrolyze and be transformed first into formamide, then into formic acid, from which it can also be obtained by dehydration" (Enciclopedia Medica Italiana, Sansoni, 1951, article "Cianidrico, acido," columns 1402 and 1403). "Hydrocyanic acid dissolves very readily in water." "On account of tbe extreme toxicity of hydrocyanic acid, combined with its solubility in water, even traces of the gas can prove fatal." (Degesch, Zyklon for pest control, Erasmusdruck, Mainz, IX 64.10, pp. 5, 7.) Filip Müller himself states: "When a little room had been made behind the door, the corpses were hosed down. In this manner the gas crystals (a) which still lay around (herumlagen)(b) were to be neutralized (soften neutralisiert werden), and the corpses cleaned as well" (p. 185). a We have corrected the word Glaskristalle (glass crystals) in the German text, undoubtedly a typographical error, to Gaskristalle. b. This is in contradiction to the presence in the "gas chambers" of the tubes, described previously by Müller, within which the Zyklon B crystals were to accumulate.
36. The alleged "gas chamber" of Crematorium II was in actuality, according to the original plan, simply an underground mortuary room (Leichenkeller 1) 210 square meters in area (a). It had seven cement supporting pillars which made the actual surface area less than the theoretical 210 square meters (30 x 7) (b). The figure for the surface area indicated by Müller (250 sq. meters: p. 96) is thus incorrect a. Central Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Gerrnan Crimes in Poland, Warsaw, 1946, VoL I, p. 84. b. See figure 4 in the appendix to this article.
37. According to Nyiszli, Crematorium II was equipped with "four large elevators" (no. 4, p. 29). This is incorrect there was only one elevator (Aufzug) in each of Crematoriums II and III.
38. In Contribution à l'histoire du KL Auschwitz, Edition du Musée d'Etat à Oswiecim, 1978, p. 64.
39. Ibidem.
40. The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 1, no. 3 (Fall 1980), pp. 271-272. The letter, published in an English translation, is dated 24 January 1980.
41. As Sonderkommando physician (the duty which Nyiszli claims to have occupied, under the direct command of Dr. Mengele, from June 1944 to January 1945), Müller names Jacques Pach (pp. 100 and 238); he also mentions "three pathologists" (p. 262), without giving their names, and claims to have been friends with Fischer, "one of the autopsy assistants" (p. 265), who was however Nyiszli's assistant! (no. 6, p. 41)
42. He was saved by a group of naked young girls, "all in the bloom of youth," who took him by the arms and legs and threw him out of the "gas chamber"! (pp. 177-180)
43. "Augenzeugenbericht zu den Massenvergasungen," in Vierteljahreshefte fur Zeitgeschichte, 1953, pp. 177-194.
44. P. 186: "viele hatten sich, im Tode verkrampft, noch die Hande"
45. "Augenzeugenbericht zu den Massenvergasungen," p. 191: "Sie drunken sich, im Tode verkrampft, noch die Hande"
46. P. 186: "An den Wanden lehnten Gruppen, aneinandergepresst wie Basaltsaulen."
47. "Augenzeugenbericht zu den Massenvergasungen," p. 191: "Nie Basaltsaülen stehen die Toten aufrecht aneinandergepresst in den Kammern."
48. P. 185: "Denn fast alle waren nass von Schweiss und Urin, mit Blut und Kot beschmutzt, und viele Frauen waren an den Beinen mit Menstruationsblut besudelt"
49. "Augenzeugenbericht zu den Massenvergasungen," p. 191: "Man wirft die Leichen-nass von Schweiss und Urin, kotbeschmutzt, Menstruationsblut an den Beinen, heraus."
50. P. 193: " Ich hatte Alfred einen Plan der Krematorien mit den Gaskammern und eine Liste mit den Natnen der SS-Leute ubergeben, die in den Krematorien Dienst taten."
51. Executive Office of the President, War Refugee Board, Washington, D.C. German Extermination Camps-Auschwitz cnd Birkenau, November 1944. This report is subdivided into two parts. The first, titled The Extermination Camps of Auschwitz (Oswiecim) and Birkenau in Upper Silesia, comprises three sections: 1-"Auschwitz and Birkenau" (pp. 1- 26); 2-"Majdanek" (p. 26-33); 3-(untitled) (pp. 3340). The second part consists of a single report titled "Transport." The reports are anonymous. The names of the authors of the three sections of the first part were not known until much later they are Alfred Wetzler, Rudolf Vrba, Czeslaw Mordowicz and Arnost Rosin (Martin Gilbert, Auschwitz and the Allies, London, 1981, p. 329).
52. See figure 3 of the appendix to this article.
53. In the section "Auschwitz and Birkenau." On page 1 of this report, the author asserts that he arrived at Auschwitz on 13 April 1942, the date on which Alfred Wetzler was registered with number 29.162 (Gilbert, Auschwitz and the Allies, op. cit. telegram from SS- Sturmbannfuhrer Hartjenstein on 9 April 1944 reporting the escape of Wetzler and Vrba [photo. 23 between pp. 192 and 193B. See He"te von Auschwitz, Wydawnictwo Panstwowego Muzeum w Oswiecimiu, 7, 1964, p. 87.
54. See figure 4 of the appendix to this article.
55. At this point we anticipate a possible objection from Filip Müller he didn't prepare the plan in question, but merely transmitted it (übergeben). But are we to believe that he would have passed on so important a document without examining it beforehand? And, if he examined it, is it credible that he wouldn't have noticed that it was incorrect? And if he noticed, why did he pass it on?
56. See figure 5 of the appendix to this article.