Note:
Still another usage of the word "Vergasung" in
a fumigation context in an Auschwitz document. And
note the absence of any security classification.
The above text indicates that Zyklon B was taken
directly from Dessau to Auschwitz in order to combat
vermin, and it is well known from other sources that this
was done specifically by the delousing, disinfestation,
and disinfection of clothing and barracks.
Records show that Auschwitz received 12,174 kg (over
twelve tonnes) of Zyklon B from Tesch & Stabenow in
1942, about 1/10th of the amount distributed throughout
the Reich in that year.
[Source: Kalthoff, J., Werner, M. Die
Händler des Zyklon B, VSA-Verlag, Hamburg:1998,
p. 151.]
Pharmacist Jean Claude Pressac, who has
familiarized himself with Zyklon, confirms that
throughout the operation of Auschwitz camp at
least 95% of Zyklon B was used for ordinary
fumigations; note that while the number of Jews sent to
Auschwitz in 1942 was still relatively small compared
with the figures for 1943 and above all 1944, records
show that the greatest tonnage of Zyklon that Auschwitz
ever received was in 1942.
Therefore it is fair to suspect that whatever the
purposes stated in these messages for Zyklon's use -- all
of them dated in 1942 -- 95% of the actual purpose, and
therefore 95% of the declared purpose, must have
reflected this non-homicidal use. It would make no sense
engage in "code words" or euphemisms if less than five
percent of the shipment was to be used to kill
people.
History now shows, and there is no argument on this,
that typhus raged through Auschwitz and its newly
established Birkenau annexe throughout the summer of
1942, and into the fall. This horrific epidemic matches
the time frame of these messages. It is acknowledged by
both sides that barracks disinfestations with Zyklon did
occur, and that clothing was deloused and disinfected
with this product. These facts arguably account for the
otherwise ominous references to "Sonderbehandlung" and
"Umsiedlung" since it is also conceded by both sides that
Jewish groups would be held in quarantine in Birkenau for
months at a time. [Note:
The British police
decodes refer explicitly to
this quarantine at Auschwitz -- Website].
Prof. Fleming's belief that these messages have
sinister import could only be sustained by denying both
the content of the above message and the surrounding
terrain of corroborative detail.
Note that the third
message produced by Fleming refers to the heating of
the underground morgues with hot air from the crematoria,
the installation of the ventilation system, and refers
the undressing room
(Auskleideraum) also located
downstairs. These adaptations are consistent with the
dual use of these underground (and reinforced concrete
roof) morgues as air raid/gas-attack shelters.--
Samuel Crowell, January 1999
write
to David Irving