The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth Within a Myth
by Friedrich Paul Berg
(Paper presented to the 1983 International Revisionist Conference)
IN ANY TRIAL of even the most ordinary murder, one can expect an abundance
of information about the murder weapon, including a detailed description
of the weapon and how it was used. Surely, with regard to murder as
novel and as bestially spectacular as the alleged mass-murder of millions
of Jews in gas chambers, one would be given far more information. Surely,
the postwar trials involving those monstrously amazing gas chambers
would provide the most extensive and precise documentation possible
regarding such unconventional murder weapons. But no, that is not what
one finds at all. Although there is a vast literature, based in part
on those trials, including many "eyewitness accounts" and "documentaries"
covering the most diverse aspects of the holocaust story, nonetheless,
as far as the actual mechanics of the extermination process are concerned,
about all one ever finds is an occasional short and vague description.
The information gaps regarding the mechanics of the alleged extermination
process should arouse the gravest suspicions. We are after all no longer
in the immediate postwar era, when there would have been many valid
excuses for confusion as to events which may or may not have taken place
in a terrible war which had ended just recently. Almost forty years
have now elapsed. The holocaust specialists have had more than enough
time and opportunity to examine documents and alleged mass-murder sites
as well as the testimony from the most massive trials in the entire
history of the world. Throughout this period they have certainly been
active, and yet they have found little. Aside from a few bits and pieces
of so-called "confessions" and "eyewitness testimony," they have, in
fact, found next to nothing.
The information gaps are bad enough; what is far worse is that the
bits and pieces of information which one does find are simply incredible.
To kill people with gas is not inherently incredible since it certainly
does happen, even accidentally. But if one carefully examines the available
information about the German gas chambers from a scientific, medical
or technical perspective, he soon realizes that he is dealing with an
absurd muddle. To characterize the alleged mass-murder methodology as
"harebrained," "crackpot," or simply "weird" is to understate the situation.
The more one examines what little information there is, the more obvious
it becomes that the people who repeat the holocaust story in one form
or other really have no idea as to what they are talking or writing
about. The testimony of the so-called eyewitnesses is especially weird.
The Gerstein statement, which has been widely accepted by the holocaust
specialists, is probably the best example of such testimony. But the
other statements" or "confessions" are almost as bad or worse.
The absurdity of the various alleged extermination methods does not
in itself prove that the holocaust did not happen, but it should at
least persuade reasonable people to ask for some other evidence before
they let themselves believe such a monstrous tale. The fact that other
evidence such as documents ordering the killing of Jews with gas, or
hard, physical evidence such as workable gas chambers -- not just ordinary
rooms that have been mislabelled -- is also absent should make it quite
obvious that something is seriously wrong. (fn. 1)
To concoct horrible, but conveniently vague, eyewitness accounts of
mass-murder is easy. To have such tales accepted about a defeated enemy
nation after a brutal war during which the vast media resources of the
victors had succeeded in portraying the enemy as thoroughly depraved
and wicked is also easy. On the other hand, it is not at all easy to
explain how one could possibly commit mass-murder with Diesel exhaust.
The Exterminationist Position
The table below is from The Destruction of the European Jews
by Raul Hilberg, published in 1961. The table summarizes the views of
practically all the generally accepted, "consensus," writers on the
holocaust story of the last 20 years. The camps listed are the only
ones which Hilberg regarded as having been "extermination" camps. Camps
such as Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, and Buchenwald are not included. (fn.
3)
Table 1: Characteristics of the death camps
according to Raul Hilberg
| Camp |
Location |
Jurisdiction |
Type of Killing operation |
Number of Jews killed |
| Kulmhof |
Wartheland |
Higher SS and Police Leader (Koppe) |
gas vans (CO) |
over a hundred thousand |
| Belzec |
Lublin district |
SS and Police Leader (Globocnik) |
gas chambers (CO) |
hundreds of thousands |
| Sobibor |
Lublin district |
SS and Police Leader (Globocnik) |
gas chambers (CO) |
hundreds of thousands |
| Lublin |
Lublin district |
WVHA |
gas chamber (CO), shooting |
tens of thousands |
| Treblinka |
Warsaw district |
SS and Police Leader |
gas chambers (CO) |
hundreds of thousands |
| Auschwitz |
Upper Silesia |
WVHA |
gas chambers (HCN) |
one million |
The fourth column from the left shows that in all of the camps except
for Auschwitz, the killing operation supposedly used carbon monoxide
or CO. In Auschwitz the killing operation supposedly used hydrogen cyanide
or HCN. Of the five camps where carbon monoxide was supposedly used,
the vast majority of victims were supposedly killed in just three camps,
namely: Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor. It is in those three camps that
the carbon monoxide was supposedly generated by Diesel engines. The
numbers of Jews who were supposedly killed in Kulmhof (Chelmno) or Lublin
(Majdanek) are relatively small compared to the numbers for Treblinka,
Belzec and Sobibor.
On the basis of the generally accepted numbers of victims, one can
say that approximately half of all the Jewish victims of German gas
chambers were supposedly gassed with Diesel exhaust. In other words,
the Diesel gas chambers are as important, at least in terms of the numbers
of alleged victims, as the gas chambers that supposedly used Zyklon
B and hydrogen cyanide.
For at least several months in 1939 and 1940, Diesel engines had supposedly
been used as part of the euthanasia program to kill Germans who were
feebleminded or incurably ill in Germany, The experience gained from
the use of Diesels for euthanasia was supposedly applied later by some
of the same people involved with the euthanasia program, such as Reichsamtsleiter
Viktor Brack and Kriminalkommisar Christian Wirth, to the killing of
Jews in Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor in Eastern Poland. According to
Hilberg, it was Wirth who supposedly constructed the "carbon monoxide
gas chambers" for the euthanasia program on the orders of Brack, who
was "actually in charge of the [euthanasia] operation." Then in the
spring of 1942 Brack ordered Wirth to Lublin where "Wirth and his crew
immediately and under primitive conditions began to construct chambers
into which they piped carbon monoxide from diesel motors." (fn. 4)
In the National Broadcasting Corporation's "Holocaust" miniseries for
television, which was essentially a dramatization of the generally accepted
holocaust story, there were several references to the use of Diesel
engines for mass-murder. In one scene, Dr. Bruno Tesch, who in real
life had been a highly qualified chemist and was hanged after the war
by the Allies, (fn. 5) explains to Eric Dorf, a fictional SS officer
administering the extermination program, that one of the advantages
of Zyklon B over carbon monoxide is that Zyklon B "won't clog machinery-and
there's no apparatus to break down, as in carbon monoxide." In another
scene Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, is about to start a
Diesel when Eric Dorf explains to him that he will not need the Diesel
anymore because he has ordered another substance, namely Zyklon B.
The Gerstein Statement
The statement of Kurt Gerstein is still a major cornerstone of the
holocaust legend in general. Gerstein was an Obersturmführer (First
Lieutenant) in the SS and a mine surveyor by profession with a graduate
degree in engineering. When he surrendered to the Americans, he supposedly
gave them a prepared statement dated April 26, 1945 (in French, oddly
enough) written partially on the backs of several receipts for the delivery
of Zyklon B to Auschwitz. Since then he has been elevated to the status
of "righteous gentile" by the Israelis and by various Jewish writers
for having at least tried to alert the world regarding the Nazi extermination
program.
The text which follows is a portion of the Gerstein statement as given
in the English translation of Harvest of Hate by Leon Poliakov. Aside
from a rather brazen "error" on the part of Poliakov, namely the claim
that 700 to 800 bodies were crowded into 93 square meters instead of
only 25 square meters (which is the way the original documents actually
read) it is probably no worse a translation than any of the other versions
which can be found. (fn. 6)
SS men pushed the men into the chambers. "Fill it up," Wirth
ordered, 700-800 people in 93 [sic] square meters. The doors closed.
Then I understood the reason for the "Heckenholt" sign. Heckenholt
was the driver of the Diesel, whose exhaust was to kill these poor
unfortunates. SS Unterscharführer Heckenholt tried to start the
motor. It wouldn't start! Captain Wirth came up. You could see he
was afraid because I was there to see the disaster. Yes, I saw everything
and waited. My stopwatch clocked it all: 50 minutes, 70 minutes,
and the Diesel still would not start! The men were waiting in the
gas chambers. You could hear them weeping "as though in a synagogue,"
said Professor Pfannenstiel, his eyes glued to the window in the
wooden door. Captain Wirth, furious, struck with his whip the Ukrainian
who helped Heckenholt- The Diesel started up after 2 hours and 49
minutes, by my stopwatch. Twenty-five minutes passed. You could
see through the window that many were already dead, for an electric
light illuminated the interior of the room. All were dead after
thirty-two minutes! Jewish workers on the other side opened the
wooden doors. They had been promised their lives in return for doing
this horrible work, plus a small percentage of the money and valuables
collected. The men were still standing, like columns of stone, with
no room to fall or lean. Even in death you could tell the families,
all holding hands. It was difficult to separate them while emptying
the room for the next batch. The bodies were tossed out, blue, wet
with sweat and urine, the legs smeared with excrement and menstrual
blood. (fn. 7)
It was not a peephole through which Prof. Pfannenstiel supposedly looked
into the gas chamber-it was a window. And it was a window in a wooden
door-not a steel, gas-tight door as one might expect. Apparently, there
were wooden doors on two sides of at least one of the gas chambers.
We are told that the intended victims were still alive after almost
three hours in the gas chambers before the Diesel even started. Surely,
there must have been many air leaks into the chambers or else the Jews
would have been asphyxiated without the aid of any Diesel.
The men were "standing, like columns of stone with no room to fall
or lean. Even in death you could tell the families, all holding hands."
There is no mention anywhere of the intended victims trying to break
out. Surely Prof. Pfannenstiel, with "his eyes glued to the window,"
would have noticed if some of the people on the other side had been
trying to smash through. (fn. 8) But no, there is no mention of anything
of the sort. We are, however, told that the victims had enough presence
of mind to form groups of family members and hold hands.
According to the last sentence of the text quoted, "the bodies were
tossed out blue, wet with sweat and urine." Here we have a flaw as far
as the death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned because victims
of carbon monoxide poisoning are not blue at all. On the contrary, victims
of carbon monoxide poisoning are a distinctive "cherry red," or "pink."
(fn. 9) This is clearly stated in most toxicology handbooks and is probably
well known to every doctor and to most, if not all, emergency medical
personnel. Carbon monoxide poisoning is actually very common because
of the automobile and accounts for more incidents of poison gas injury
than all other gases combined.
The Gerstein statement, to its credit, makes no claim that carbon monoxide
was the lethal ingredient in the Diesel exhaust. It is the exterminationists,
i.e., the people who try to uphold the holocaust story, who have repeatedly
stated that death was due to the carbon monoxide in the Diesel exhaust.
The recurrence of references to "bluish" corpses in several examples
of so-called, eyewitness testimony" from West German trials merely demonstrates
the "copy-cat" nature of much of that testimony. That such testimony
has been accepted by West German courts specializing in holocaust-related
cases and by the holocaust scholars, apparently without any serious
challenge, merely demonstrates the pathetic shoddiness of those trials
and of the 'scholarship' pertaining to the subject in general.
If the corpses had, indeed, appeared "bluish," death certainly would
not have been due to carbon monoxide. A "bluish" appearance could have
been an indication of death from asphyxiation, i.e., lack of oxygen.
In this article we will investigate that possibility and we will see
that in any Diesel gas chamber, although death from lack of oxygen is
very unlikely, it is nonetheless far more likely than death from carbon
monoxide.
According to Leon Poliakov, who is a French-Jewish historian and one
of the few historians anywhere who has actually written at any length
in support of the holocaust story, "there is little to add to this description
[the Gerstein statement] which holds good for Treblinka, Sobibor as
well as for the Belzec camp. The latter installations were constructed
in almost the same way and also used the exhaust carbon monoxide gases
from Diesel motors as death agents." According to Poliakov, more than
a million and a half people were killed with Diesel exhaust. (fn. 10)
Toxic Effects of Carbon Monoxide
To investigate the Diesel gas chamber claim, two questions one should
ask are: How much carbon monoxide is actually needed to kill a human
being in half an hour? Does Diesel exhaust ever contain that much carbon
monoxide?
Table 2: Toxic effects of carbon monoxide (fn.
11)
| Parts of carbon monoxide per million parts of air |
Carbon monoxide in per cent |
Physiological effects |
| 100 |
0.01% |
Concentration allowable for an exposure of several hours. |
| 400 to 500 |
0.04%-0.05% |
Concentration which can be inhaled for 1 hour without appreciate
effect. |
| 600 to 700 |
0.06%-0.07% |
Concentration causing a just appreciable effect after exposure
of 1 hour. |
| 1,000 to 1,200 |
0.10%-0.12% |
Concentration causing unpleasant but not dangerous effects
after exposure of 1 hour. |
| 1,500 to 2.000 |
.1 5%-.2% |
Dangerous concentrations for exposure of 1 hour. |
| 4,000 and above |
.4% and above |
Concentrations which are fatal in exposure of less than
1 hour. |
Carbon monoxide poisoning has been thoroughly studied since about 1920,
when it was carefully examined in order to determine the ventilation
requirements of tunnels for motor vehicles, particularly for the New
York City metropolitan area in such tunnels as the Holland Tunnel. Since
the early 1940s, it has been widely accepted on the basis of the research
of Yandell Henderson and J.S. Haldane that an average carbon monoxide
concentration of "0.4% and above," as shown on the last fine of Table
2, is the amount needed to kill people in "less" than one hour of continuous
exposure. (fn. 12) Concentrations of 0.15% to 0.20% are considered "dangerous,"
which means they might kill some people in one hour, especially if those
people have, for example, weak hearts. But in order to commit mass-murder
in a gas chamber, one would require a concentration of poison gas sufficient
to kill not merely a "portion" of any given group of people, but rather,
sufficient to kill "all."
The vagueness introduced by Henderson's use of the term "less" is unfortunate.
It arises from the fact that although Henderson and others were able
to test for non-lethal effects in a laboratory with a high degree of
accuracy -- the lethal effects could not be tested in the same way.
The lethal effects and the corresponding CO levels were determined on
the basis of careful extrapolation of carboxyhemoglobin levels over
time from nonlethal tests on humans and from some lethal tests on animals.
Although the test results for lethal effects are not as precise as one
might wish, they are nonetheless sufficiently accurate to support some
important conclusions about Diesel gas chambers.
According to the exterminationists, the nasty deed was always done
in less than half an hour. In order to determine how much carbon monoxide
would be needed to kill in only half an hour, instead of a full hour,
one can use the widely accepted rule of thumb known as "Henderson's
Rule," which is:
% CO x (exposure time) = Constant for any given toxic
effect
In other words, for any given toxic effect, the poisonous
concentration must be inversely proportional to the time of exposure.
This means that to kill in half an hour, one would need twice the concentration
that one would need to kill in a full hour. Applying this rule to the
"0.4% and above" needed to kill in "less than one hour," we get 0.8%
and above as the concentration needed to kill in less than half an hour.
(fn. 13)
Applying the same rule to the 0.15% to 0.20% which is "dangerous" for
one hour of exposure, we get 0.3% to 0.4% as the amount of CO which
is dangerous for half an hour of exposure.
What all this means is that to have any kind of practical gas chamber
using carbon monoxide as the lethal agent, one would need an average
concentration of at least 0.4% carbon monoxide, but probably closer
to 0.8%. We should keep "0.4% to 0.8%" in mind as benchmark numbers
to which we can refer shortly.
The important consideration is always the "average" concentration over
the entire exposure period and not some quantity of poison measured
in pounds or cubic feet. To try to analyze the problem by determining
actual quantities of CO produced, rather than "concentrations," would
be futile since the little that one is told, in the case of Gerstein's
description, about the actual size of the chamber or chambers is so
incredible to begin with.
Figure 1 gives the symptoms of various low level carbon monoxide
exposures as a function of time of exposure. The highest CO concentration
which is discussed is 600 ppm (parts per million). 600 ppm is another
way of saying 0.06%. The chart shows that after one hour of exposure
to an average concentration of 600 ppm of CO, one would experience
a headache but not a throbbing headache. Even after 100 hours of
exposure, the worst that one would experience would be a coma but
not death. However, after only half an hour of exposure to 600 ppm,
no symptoms are indicated at all-not even a mild headache. We should
keep "0.06%" in mind as another benchmark number to which we will
refer.
The Diesel Engine
It would have been helpful if the holocaust proponents had provided
such data as the engine manufacturer's name or the model number, size
and HP rating of the engines. Although similar information would be
considered essential in the investigation of any ordinary murder, alas,
when one is dealing with holocaust such details are too much to expect.
The most frequent claim seems to have been that the engines were Diesels
from Soviet tanks (most Soviet tanks during the war were Diesel-driven,
including the famous T-34), but it has recently been claimed that at
least one of the engines was from a Soviet submarine. Any submarine
engine would certainly have been a Diesel also. In lieu of better information,
one has to investigate the broader and more difficult question of whether
or not any Diesel ever built could possibly have done the abominable
deed.
If Gerstein had claimed that the carbon monoxide was generated by gasoline
engines, his story might be more credible. Gasoline engines can, indeed,
kill rather easily and with little or no warning because their exhaust
is almost odorless. Although Diesel engines look very much like gasoline
engines, at least to most people, they are actually quite different.
Any mining engineer or mine surveyor should certainly have been able
to easily distinguish between the two types of engines. For one thing,
the sound of Diesels is so distinct that almost anyone can with a little
experience recognize them with his eyes closed.
Another peculiarity of Diesels is that when in operation they usually
give warning of their presence-their exhaust generally smells terrible.
The intensity of the smell or stench has, no doubt, given rise to the
thoroughly false impression that Diesel exhaust must therefore be very
harmful.
Although Diesel exhaust is not totally harmless it is, in fact, one
of the least harmful pollutants anywhere except for some possible long
term, carcinogenic effects which are totally irrelevant for the operation
of a gas chamber to commit mass-murder. Diesel emission levels have
always been within the current air emission standards of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency without requiring any modifications or accessories.
Diesels have always produced less than 1% carbon monoxide which is the
current standard for internal combustion engines. Gasoline engines have
only met the same standard after many years of research and after the
addition of many complex accessories and engine modifications. The Diesels
of the 1930s and 1940s were as clean-burning as, if not more clean than,
Diesels of today.
Figure 2 compares the carbon monoxide emissions from Diesel
and gasoline engines. Gasoline engines are sometimes called spark
ignition engines as in this figure. Clearly, the logical choice
between the two types of engines as a source of carbon monoxide
would always have been the gasoline engine. From spark ignition
or gasoline engines, one can easily get 7% carbon monoxide, but
from Diesel engines one can never get even as much as 1% with liquid
fuels.
Carbon monoxide emissions from internal combustion engines are commonly
plotted as functions of air/fuel ratio or fuel/air ratio.
Fuel/air ratio is merely the reciprocal of air/fuel ratio. It has generally
been accepted by the auto industry and by environmentalists that Diesel
exhaust-gas composition is related chiefly to these ratios and not to
other factors such as rpm. (fn. 17)
An air/fuel ratio of 100, for example, means that for every pound of
fuel burned, 100 pounds of air are drawn into the engine. However, only
about 15 pounds of air can ever react in any way chemically with each
pound of fuel regardless of the air/fuel ratio or even the type of engine.
This means that at an air/fuel ratio of 100, there are always about
85 pounds of air which do not react. These 85 pounds of excess air are
blown out of the engine without undergoing any chemical change at all.
As far as the excess air is concerned, the Diesel engine is nothing
more than an unusual kind of blower or compressor.
Gasoline engines always operate with a deficiency of air. As a result
of this deficiency, the reaction process in a gasoline engine can never
go to completion, a relatively large proportion of carbon monoxide to
carbon dioxide is always formed.
Diesels always operate with an excess of air. At idle, Diesels operate
with air/fuel ratios as high as 200:1. At full load, the air/fuel ratio
is only down to 18:1. Because of the abundance of air, there is always
far greater opportunity for the fuel to burn to completion, thereby
causing very little carbon monoxide to be produced as compared with
gasoline engines. Also, what little carbon monoxide is produced in the
cylinders of a Diesel is subsequently diluted by the excess air.
As soon as one acquires an understanding of the differences between
Diesel and gasoline engines, it becomes obvious that the logical choice
as a source of carbon monoxide would always have been the gasoline engine.
The Diesel engine is, and always was, an inherently ludicrous choice
as a source of carbon monoxide.
There are basically two types of Diesel engines: divided combustion
chamber engines and undivided combustion chamber engines.
The divided chamber category of Diesel engines is generally subdivided
into precombustion chamber designs and turbulent cell designs.
Figure 3 shows a pair of emission curves for Diesels with
divided combustion chambers that were the result of exceptionally
careful and extensive tests made in the early 1940s in the United
States by the U.S. Bureau of Mines to determine whether or not Diesel
engines could operate in underground mines without endangering miners.
l) The conclusion of the- U.S. Bureau of Mines as stated in many
reports throughout the intervening years has always been that Diesels
may operate underground in non-coal mines subject to USBM approval
of the engines and the mechanical arrangements in which the engines
are employed.
The lower curve in Figure 3 is for a precombustion chamber Diesel.
The upper curve is for a turbulent cell Diesel. The lowest fuel/air
ratio always corresponds approximately to idle and also to a no-load
condition. For the pre-combustion chamber Diesel at idle, the carbon
monoxide level is less than 0.0211%. For the turbulent cell Diesel at
idle, its carbon monoxide level is barely 0.06%. What this means is
that at idle both of these types of Diesels could not produce enough
carbon monoxide to even give a headache after half an hour of continuous
exposure.
As one starts to impose loads on these engines, thereby, in effect,
increasing the fuel/air ratio's, the carbon monoxide levels actually
decrease at first. Only as one approaches full load, represented by
the solid heavy line in the figure, do the carbon monoxide levels rise
significantly to a maximum of 0.1% at a fuel/air ratio of .055. A CO
concentration of 0.1% is still well below the benchmark range of numbers,
"0.4% to 0.8%." In other words, neither of these engines could possibly
have produced enough carbon monoxide to kill anyone in half an hour
regardless of the loads on the engines.
Diesel Smoke
One characteristic of Diesels is that they tend to smoke. This is
not due to any inherent inefficiency of Diesels. On the contrary, Diesels
are as a rule extremely efficient. The smoke is primarily the result
of the nature of Diesel combustion and the heavier fuels which are used
as compared with gasoline engines.
The solid heavy line in Figure 3 represents the smoke limit that manufacturers
have found necessary to protect their engines from excessive wear due
to smoke and solids accumulations within the cylinders. As a practical
matter, a Diesel cannot be operated to the right of the solid heavy
line with liquid fuels. In Figure 3 as well as in Figure 5, the solid
heavy line is at a fuel/air ratio of 0.055. Many manufacturers are more
conservative and limit their engines to fuel/air ratios below 0.050.
Diesel engines can operate safely at fuel/air ratios greater than 0.055
only if they are burning a clean gaseous fuel; this is the only way
to avoid the buildup of solid material within the cylinders. The data
shown for fuel/air ratios above 0.055 were only gathered because the
researchers at the U.S. Bureau of Mines chose to test the engines for
theoretical reasons with gaseous fuel far beyond the normal, full load
settings of the respective engines.
The data for clean gaseous fuel is irrelevant to our analysis because
if the Germans had had a gaseous fuel for the Diesel, they could have
sent that gas directly to the gas chamber. To have used a Diesel engine
as some kind of intermediate step would have made no sense at all. Such
an arrangement could only have made the gas far less toxic. Since carbon
monoxide is highly combustible, any carbon monoxide going into the Diesel
would have been largely consumed within the engine.
Diesel smoke contains a liquid phase and a solid phase. The liquid
phase generally gets blown out of the engine with the exhaust and, therefore,
does no harm to the engine. But if enough solid material is also produced,
and rapidly enough, some of that material will accumulate in the cylinders
where in just a few minutes it can severely damage the piston rings
and valves and cause the engine to simply self-destruct and stop. As
the graph shows, the amount of solids produced by the engines increases
dramatically just beyond a fuel/air ratio of 0.055. For this reason,
manufacturers as a rule equip the fuel injection pumps with stops so
that the engines can only operate below 0.055 or 0.050.
Operating any Diesel under any substantial load, regardless of the
particular design or engine type, would have led to the production of
significant amounts of smoke. Smoke is generally also noticeable immediately
after start-up, even at idle or under light load, when the engine has
not yet had time to reach its normal operating temperature. It should
be no great surprise that there is no mention of any smoke from the
Diesel-black, white, dense or otherwise-anywhere in the Gerstein statement
or in any of the postwar trial testimony.
Undivided Chamber Diesels
Figure 5 shows that an undivided chamber Diesel still produces only
about 0.03% carbon monoxide at idle, which is not enough to cause a
headache after half an hour of exposure. However, as increasing loads
are imposed on such an engine, the carbon monoxide levels do eventually
rise rather sharply, and at full load, represented by the heavy vertical
line, the carbon monoxide level is indeed about 0.4%. In other words,
here we have a Diesel which looks as if it could have been used to commit
mass-murder in half an hour.
The problem for this engine, and for all Diesels, is that to operate
at full load continuously for long periods, such as half an hour at
a time, would involve severe risks of fouling and damage from accumulated
solids inside the cylinders. If operating at lower and safer fuel/air
ratios than 0.055, which would also be lower loads, the carbon monoxide
emission levels drop very dramatically. For example, at 80% of full
-load, which is generally regarded as a safe maximum for continuous
operation and which occurs at a fuel/air ratio of about 0.045, the carbon
monoxide level is only 0.13%. According to Henderson's rule and index
figures and some simple calculation, 0.13% carbon monoxide would not
even be "dangerous" for half an hour of exposure.
That Figure 3 and Figure 5 are indeed typical of all Diesel engines
over the last fifty years is attested to by the fact that these particular
curves have been referred to and are still being referred to in countless
journals and books on Diesel emissions to this very day. In other words,
there are no better examples of Diesel emissions. To be sure, there
are many other test results which one can find in reputable automotive
journals such as the Society of Automotive Engineers Transactions. But
if one takes the trouble to look through the SAE Transactions of the
last forty years, as well as through other journals, he will not find
any examples of worse carbon monoxide emissions than Figure 5. Our analysis
of Figure 5 represents the worst case that can be found anywhere for
any Diesel engine.
Engine Loading
Aside from the smoke problem, merely to impose a full load on any
engine is far from easy. For example, if one has a truck, a full load
can be imposed on the engine by first filling the truck with a heavy
cargo and then racing the vehicle up a steep hill at maximum speed with
the accelerator to the floor. Under that condition one would probably
be putting out about 0.40/o from the exhaust pipe if the truck's engine
were an undivided chamber Diesel. However, if the truck is parked in
a driveway, it is far more difficult to impose a full load on the engine.
Simply "racing" the engine with the transmission in neutral" will put
no more than a few per cent of load on the engine. Letting the clutch
slip and stepping on the accelerator may impose a somewhat greater load
on the engine but the clutch will rapidly burn out, jacking up the rear
end of the vehicle and applying the brakes while racing the engine will
impose a somewhat greater load but the brake linings will rapidly burn
out.
The only way to realistically impose a significant load on any engine
is by attaching to the engine some kind of brake dynamometer or other
loading device, such as a generator with an electrical load.
Brake dynamometers could have been available and the Germans must have
had many, but they are hardly the kind of equipment that one finds in
the typical auto repair shop. They are generally only available in well-equipped
engineering testing laboratories. They cost much more than the engines
to which they are attached, since they are not mass-produced.
A generator arrangement seems more plausible since places such as Treblinka
and Belzec would have needed electricity, even if only to keep the barbed
wire charged and the lights burning. However, such an arrangement suggests
a continuous operation of both the generator and the Diesel which is
contrary to the Gerstein statement. According to that statement, the
engine was unable even to start for almost three hours prior to the
actual gassing. There is nothing in the statement to even remotely suggest
that the engine served any other purpose than to kill Jews. If it had
had a dual purpose, for example, to also drive a generator, one could
have expected some comment about the lights going on as the Diesel started-but
there is nothing of the sort.
Aldehydes, Nitrous Oxides and Hydrocarbons
There are other pollutants in Diesel exhaust besides carbon monoxide.
These are aldehydes, nitrous oxides, and hydrocarbons, which are indeed
harmful. The smell or stench for which Diesels are notorious is not
caused by carbon monoxide-carbon monoxide is completely odorless. The
smell is caused by trace amounts of certain hydrocarbons and aldehydes
which the most modern analytical instruments can just barely identify,
let alone measure. The sensitivity of the human nose to these compounds
is, however, extremely high and out of all proportion to the actual
quantities present.
Nitrous oxides can form nitric acid by reacting with the moisture in
the lungs which can, in turn, cause cancer after many months of exposure.
One of the nitrous oxides formed by Diesels is tear gas, which is extremely
irritating. The possible carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of nitrous
oxides and certain other ingredients in Diesel exhaust may become the
basis for special emission standards for Diesels in the not too distant
future. All these effects are, however, long-term and totally irrelevant
for mass-murder in a gas chamber.
Although Diesel exhaust is relatively harmless, inhaling it is not
a pleasant experience. If Diesel exhaust were introduced into a large
meeting room, it would not take very long before everyone present would
feel driven by an overwhelming desire to get out, regardless of how
safe he or she were convinced the exhaust really was. And yet, the Gerstein-statement
makes no mention of any attempt to break out of the gas chamber or even
to break the "window." We are told rather that the victims formed family
groups and held hands.
Oxygen in Diesel Exhaust
If the Jews were not murdered with carbon monoxide from Diesel exhaust,
could they have died instead from the effects of reduced oxygen in Diesel
exhaust? Such a theory would at least be consistent with the claim that
the corpses were "blue." A bluish coloring to certain parts of a corpse
is indeed a symptom of death from lack of oxygen. This theory, however,
does not hold up very well because of the fact that Diesels always operate
with excess air.
Normal air contains 21% oxygen. In Figure 6 we see that
the oxygen concentration corresponding to idle in the exhaust of any
Diesel (divided or undivided chamber), shown near the top of the chart
at a fuel/air ratio of 0.01, is 18%, which is just a few per cent less
than one finds in normal air. At full load, which corresponds to a fuel/air
ratio of 0.055, the oxygen concentration in the exhaust of any Diesel
is 4%.
Probably the best discussion of the effects of reduced oxygen levels
or asphyxia is provided by Henderson and Haggard:
Second Stage. When the oxygen is diminished to values between
14 and 10 per cent the higher values of the brain are affected.
Consciousness continues, but judgement becomes faulty. Severe injuries,
such as burns, bruises and even broken bones, may cause no pain.
Emotions, particularly ill temper and pugnacity, and less often
hilarity, or an alteration of moods, are aroused with abnormal readiness
...
Third Stage. When the oxygen is diminished to values between 10
and 6 per cent, nausea and vomiting may appear. The subject loses
the ability to perform any vigorous muscular movements, or even
to move at all. Bewilderment and loss of consciousness follow, either
with fainting or a rigid, glassy-eyed coma. If revived, the subject
may have no recollection of this state, or an entirely erroneous
belief as to what has happened. Up to this stage, or even in it,
he may be wholly unaware that anything is wrong ...
Fourth Stage. When the oxygen is diminished below 6 per cent, respiration
consists of gasps separated by apneas of increasing duration. Convulsive
movements may occur. Then the breathing stops, but the heart may
continue to beat for a few minutes and then develop ventricular
fibrillation, or stand still in extreme dilation. (fn. 23)
According to Haidane and Priestley, "air containing less than 9.5 per
cent of oxygen would ordinarily cause disablement within half an hour."
(fn. 24) Disablement is still not death.
It is clear that there is no magic number below which death would occur,
or above which life would continue. However, for any gas chamber relying
upon reduced oxygen as the killing method, one would have to reduce
the oxygen to below 9.5% perhaps even below 6%.
From Figure 6 we see that to reduce the oxygen concentration in the
exhaust to just 9%, any Diesel would have to operate at a fuel/air ratio
of about 0.040, which corresponds to about 3/4 of full load. To reduce
the oxygen concentration to as low as 6%, which would be the fourth
stage according to Henderson and Haggard and would almost certainly
be the condition needed to kill "all" members of any intended group
of victims, any Diesel would have to operate at a fuel/air ratio of
about 0.048, which is close to full load. In other words, any Diesel
gas chamber relying on the reduction of oxygen as a killing method would
have to operate at more than 3/4 of full load, but probably closer to
full load.
From the above it should be obvious that over most of their operating
ranges, Diesels discharge sufficient oxygen so that one can literally
inhale pure Diesel exhaust and survive on the oxygen in the exhaust.
From idle to at least 3/4 of full load, Diesel exhaust contains sufficient
oxygen to sustain human life for at least half an hour.
Carbon Dioxide
If the Jews were not killed with carbon monoxide or from a lack of
oxygen, could they have died instead from the effects of carbon dioxide?
Carbon dioxide is not really any more poisonous than ordinary water.
Most toxicology handbooks do not even mention it. When mentioned at
all, it is generally classified as a "non-toxic, simple asphyxiant."
There are occasional accidental fatalities where carbon dioxide is directly
involved. Death in almost all such cases is caused by a lack of oxygen.
The lack of oxygen is caused by the fact that the carbon dioxide is
much heavier than oxygen and will, especially in an enclosed space,
displace oxygen in the same way that water will displace air in the
lungs of a drowning man. The cause of death, chemically, in both situations
is not carbon dioxide but rather the lack of oxygen in the blood. One
symptom of this kind of death is a bluish appearance of the skin.
Carbon dioxide can be beneficial and therapeutic. 2-5 It is commonly
used in clinical medicine as a harmless stimulant for respiration, for
which purpose it is supplied under pressure in cylinders (Carbogen)
containing oxygen and 7% carbon dioxide. (fn. 26) Normally, when a person
exhales, the air leaving the lungs contains about 5.5% carbon dioxide.
Levels of 3% carbon dioxide are quite tolerable for exposures lasting
several days. For example, in the 1950s the U.S. Navy experimented with
gas mixtures containing 3% carbon dioxide and 15% oxygen, i.e., 25%
less oxygen than in normal air, for use in American submarines with
exposures lasting up to several weeks. (fn. 27)
For Diesel engines, the carbon dioxide level at or near idle is only
about 2% and gradually increases to about 12% at full load as shown
in Figure 6. A carbon dioxide level of 12% may cause cardiac irregularity
and may, therefore, be dangerous for people with weak hearts. Gasoline
engines, in contrast to Diesels, produce 12% already at idle. In general,
if enough oxygen is available, a carbon dioxide level even as high as
12% is not likely to cause death. However, when the carbon dioxide level
is this high in Diesel exhaust, the corresponding oxygen level is dangerously
low.
The principal danger to life from Diesel exhaust arises not from the
abundance of carbon dioxide, nor even from carbon monoxide, but rather
from the lack of oxygen.
Diesel Gas Chamber Operation
If the exhaust pipe from a Diesel engine is connected to a gas chamber,
the carbon monoxide concentration will initially be extremely low and
the oxygen level will initially be high. (Since the doors of a gas chamber
must be opened to allow the intended victims to enter, fresh air must
enter the chamber also.) As soon as the Diesel starts and as more and
more Diesel exhaust is introduced into the chamber, the carbon monoxide
concentration will gradually rise to the level directly inside the exhaust
pipe of the Diesel engine without ever being able to exceed that level.
Exactly how long it would take before the oxygen and carbon monoxide
levels in the gas chamber equal the levels in the engine exhaust pipe
is impossible to determine in the case of the Gerstein account because
the information about the engine and gas chamber is so limited.
To got a better idea as to how effective-or ineffective-a Diesel gas
chamber such as that described by Gerstein might have been in practice,
we can analyze the problem by dividing the half-hour into two periods:
a period of "rising CO concentration" followed by a period of "constant
CO concentration." Since we do not know the size or rpm of the engine,
or the size of the chamber, or the amount of leakage into or out of
the chamber, we cannot possibly determine the actual duration of each
of these two periods. Nonetheless, we do know that when they are added
together, the sum must equal half an hour.
For the "constant period," the deadliest arrangement would use an undivided
chamber Diesel which could give a carbon monoxide concentration as high
as 0.4%.
For the "rising" period, the carbon monoxide concentration would be
near zero initially and no more than 0.4% at the end. When we average
these two numbers together, we get a maximum, average concentration
for the "rising" period of 0.2% assuming a steady rise in carbon monoxide.
The combined average over the entire half-hour cannot be determined
precisely because we simply do not know the duration of the "rising"
and "constant" periods respectively. But we can be sure that it would
always be some number less than 0.4%. If the "rising" period had only
been of short duration, the combined average for half an hour would
be only slightly less than 0.4%.
If the "rising" period had been longer, the combined average would
be lower.
If the "rising" and "constant" periods had each lasted for fifteen
minutes, the combined average concentration for the entire half hour
would be less than 0.3%. According to our previous analysis of toxic
effects, 0.3% of CO (for half an hour) is only "dangerous" which means
that it could have killed no more than a portion of any group of intended
victims.
Without knowing the type and size of the engine, and the amount of
leakage into the gas chamber, we cannot possibly determine the exact
carbon monoxide concentration in the gas chamber. We do know, however,
that the average would always be less than 0.4%. It would always be
less than the benchmark number which was established previously as the
minimum amount required in the Gerstein-Diesel gas chamber. In other
words, the carbon monoxide from any Diesel ever built would by itself
never have been able to kill more than a portion of any group of intended
victims even if the Diesel were of the undivided chamber design and
even if it were operated at full load.
A similar analysis of the effects of reduced oxygen would show that
one would have had to operate any Diesel ever built at some indeterminate
level above 3/4 of full load before the arrangement could have been
even marginally lethal due to lack of oxygen.
An analysis of the combined effects of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide
and reduced oxygen might be possible on the basis of the research of
Haldane and Henderson, but it would not give any significantly different
results than what has already been concluded on the basis of reduced
oxygen acting alone. The reason is that the carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide levels are just too low to make much difference.
In any event, any Diesel ever built would have had to operate at a
minimum of 1/4 of full load in order for the Diesel gas chamber to have
been even marginally effective from any possible combination of toxic
effects.
Noise and Vibration
In addition to their smoke and smell, Diesel engines are also notorious
for their intense noise and vibration. Because of their higher compression
ratios, lower rpm's, and the type of combustion, the amount of vibration
that Diesels produce is substantially greater than that of any comparably
sized gasoline engines. The noise and vibration are among the major
reasons why Diesels have not generally been used in automobiles.
If the 12 cylinder, V-type Diesel engine from a typical Soviet T-34
tank with a rated capacity of 500 HP had been mounted on the floor of
a small building and had been operated for half an hour at more than
3/4 of full load, i.e., at more than 375 HP, the noise and vibration
would have been at least as noteworthy and as wildly spectacular as
the wailing of any Jews-and yet, there is no mention of any such noise
or vibration in the Gerstein statement or in any of the postwar trial
testimony.
Diesels for Mass-Murder?
Without some understanding of the basic characteristics of Diesel
engines, the method that would have come to mind most readily for any
would-be mass-murder would have been to simply mount a Diesel on the
floor of a building and direct the exhaust into some adjoining rooms
without any provision for artificial load on the engine. Such an arrangement
would have annoyed the hell out of any group of intended victims, but
would have given them nothing worse than a headache. The headache would
have been due to the stench and smoke and noise but certainly not to
carbon monoxide or lack of oxygen. As a method for committing mass-murder,
it would have been a fiasco.
For any Diesel arrangement to have been even marginally effective for
mass-murder would have required an exceptionally well-informed collection
of individuals to know and do all that was necessary. They would have
had to be familiar with the carbon monoxide and oxygen emission curves
for their particular engine. Such information is probably not known
even today by most engineers, despite all the popular concern over air
pollution. The gas chamber designers would also have had to know how
to impose and maintain an engine load of more than 3/4 of full load
on their engine since anything less would just not have been enough.
If they had overloaded the engine or operated it for too long at or
near full load (more than 80% of full load is generally considered unsafe
for continuous operation), they might after each gassing have had to
overhaul and, perhaps, replace the engine because of fouling and damage
from engine smoke. Merely to gather and properly assemble the appropriate
equipment, including the equipment for imposing and controlling an artificial
load, would have been a major undertaking which would have required
the expertise of experienced engineers, not just ordinary auto mechanics.
The mounting of the engine on the floor of the building would have required
a proper foundation with some provision to isolate vibrations so as
to avoid tearing the building apart.
The all-important question is: if any persons had been smart enough
and resourceful enough to know and do all that was necessary to make
a workable Diesel gas chamber, why would they have bothered to try to
use a Diesel engine in the first place? For all their efforts they would
have had a gas chamber which at the very worst would still have been
only marginally effective at its morbid task. For all their efforts
they would have had an average concentration of less than 0.4% carbon
monoxide and more than 4% oxygen. Any common, ordinary gasoline engine
without any special attachments would easily have given them ten times
as much carbon monoxide at idle as any comparably sized Diesel at full
load. Any common, ordinary gasoline engine would easily have given them
7% carbon monoxide and less than 1% oxygen. If one had tampered with
the carburetor, one could probably have had as much as 12% carbon monoxide
by merely turning one small screw, namely the idle-mixture adjustment
screw.
Comparing the two types of engines, with both operating at idle or
under light load, the difference is even more dramatic. At idle or under
light load any common, ordinary gasoline engine without any special
attachments would easily have given more than one hundred times as much
carbon monoxide as any comparably sized Diesel.
The Diesel gas chamber story is incredible on these grounds alone.
However, the story becomes even more incredible when one discovers that
far better sources of carbon monoxide, better even than gasoline engines,
were readily available to the Germans. Those other sources did not require
either Diesel fuel or gasoline.
The Gaswagons
During World War II all European countries relied for most of their
non-military vehicular transport needs upon vehicles which burned neither
gasoline nor oil, but burned solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, or
coal instead. The solid fuel, which was generally wood, was first converted
into a mixture of combustible gases by burning in a generator, usually
mounted at the rear of the vehicle. The gases were then withdrawn from
the generator and burned in a modified gasoline or Diesel engine located
at the front of the vehicle. The combustible gas produced in this way
always contained between 18% and 35% carbon monoxide.
In English-speaking countries, these vehicles were generally called
"producer gas vehicles." However, they could just as appropriately have
been called "poison gas vehicles" because that is precisely what they
were-the gas which they produced was extremely poisonous. The operation
of these vehicles required special safety procedures as well as special
government approved training and licensing of the hundreds of thousands
of drivers who drove these vehicles daily throughout most of the war
in German-occupied Europe. (fn. 29)
  
Two of the more than 500,000 vehicles in German-occupied Europe
that were all fitted with producer gas generators so as to conserve
gasoline and diesel fuel for the military. Producer gas is also
poison gas containing as much as 35% CO. It had even been used before
the war to control rats as part of the Nocht-Giemsa fumigation process.
In German-speaking parts of Europe, the producer gas vehicles
were called "Gaswagen." If they burned wood, which most of them
did, they were generally called "Holzgaswagen," which literally
translated means "wood gas wagons." This is a small wood-burning
gas generator, or "Holzgaskleingenerator."
The abundance of the gaswagons throughout German-occupied Europe and
the intensity with which the Germans were developing ever newer vehicles
and applications of the producer gas technology is a fact which undermines
the holocaust story in general. Had the Germans ever intended to commit
moss-murder with carbon monoxide, they certainly would have employed
the producer gas technology long before they would have ever used anything
as idiotic as Diesel exhaust. Surely, Eichmann and the other "transportation
experts" involved with the "final solution of the Jewish problem," which
was to a great extent a transportation problem, would have been well
aware of these vehicles and of their unique features. Surely, they would
have used the "gaswagons" to kill the Jews had there ever been any intent
to kill the Jews with poison gas.
The gaswagons are not the "gas vans" which were allegedly used for
mass-murder in Chelmno, and by the Einsatzgruppen in Russia, despite
the fact that the terminology is identical in German.
The murderous "gas vans" were, as can be seen in all of the "evidence"
pertaining to the gas van story, conventional trucks which supposedly
used "only" the exhaust of the engines as the killing agent. The basis
of the "gas van" story is a strange document known as "PS-501" which
is, in my opinion, a forgery based on an innocuous letter from SS Untersturmführer
(First Lieutenant) Becker to SS Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel)
Walter Rauff, discussing some of the many problems that must have occurred
with gaswagons. (fn. 30) The letter was apparently rewritten and the
text partially changed so as to give it a sinister meaning. A thorough
analysis of the gaswagons and PS-501 is, however, beyond the scope of
this article. (fn. 31)
The gaswagons, which would have been far superior for mass murder to
any conventionally powered vehicles, including the "gas vans," traveled
on all the roads of Europe and into and from the concentration camps
daily. And yet, these potentially perfect mass-murder devices have never
been implicated by the promoters of the holocaust story in even a single
murder!
A typical producer gas generator, showing the blower (Gebläse)
at the lower left. Normally used only during start-up, the blower
could just as easily have been used at any time to force highly
toxic producer gas (18% to 35% carbon monoxide) into a barracks
or jail cell. More than 500,000 motor vehicles used producer gas
generators in German-occupied Europe. The fact that this readily
available technology has never been implicated in tales of homicidal
gassings underscores even more strongly the absurdity of claims
that the highly ill-suited diesel was used to kill people with its
oxygen-rich exhaust, and indeed calls into serious question whether
anyone at all was killed by this method, let alone several millions.
(Photo Source: ATZ Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift, 4 of 18, September
1940, p.458.
The gas van story is merely an adaptation by the holocaust propagandists
of some documentary materials related to the perfectly innocent use
of producer gas vehicles, supported of course by appropriate "eyewitness"
testimony generated after the war. It is within the gas van story that
one clearly sees in miniature the evolutionary process of the larger,
general holocaust story.
Coal Gasification
In addition to the producer gas technology, the Germans had the world's
most advanced coal gasification technology. (fn. 32) One of the first
steps in most of the coal gasification processes was to produce carbon
monoxide from coal. The carbon monoxide could then be used either as
a fuel or as an intermediate step in the synthesis of other products.
Because of Germany's isolation from adequate sources of petroleum and
natural rubber, she had converted much of her industry already during
World War I to use coal as a substitute source of hydrocarbons for making
synthetic liquid fuels as well as a vast assortment of chemical substances,
including synthetic rubber. The quantities of carbon monoxide that were
produced as part of this technology measured in the millions of tons
and would have been more than enough to kill the entire population of
Europe many times over.
Coal gasification plants were located in all of Germany's industrial
areas. One region containing several such plants was Silesia, where
the abundance of coal had for more than a century been the basis of
that region's industry. One Silesian facility was the I.G. Farben plant
at Auschwitz, a small portion of whose carbon monoxide could easily
have been diverted through a small pipeline to Auschwitz-Birkenau only
a few miles away. Of course, no one alleges that carbon monoxide was
ever used for mass-murder at Auschwitz although that would have been
an ideal place for it. For mass-murder at Auschwitz, the Germans supposedly
used a completely different substance, Zyklon B.
Conclusion
Although it would be most convenient for the revisionist camp in
the holocaust controversy to be able to say that mass-murder could not
possibly have been committed with Diesel exhaust in half an hour, that
simply cannot be said with total accuracy. It must be conceded that
it would have been remotely possible to commit the deeds in question
with Diesels. However, it would certainly have required an inordinate
amount of expertise and determination and, for all their efforts, the
would-be murderers would have had an arrangement which at best (worst?)
would still have been only marginally effective at its morbid task.
From a practical perspective the whole idea of perfecting a Diesel arrangement
for such a purpose would have been contrary to all common sense.
One is sometimes told in the Holocaust literature that the reason the
Germans used gas chambers to murder the Jews was to avoid the emotional
strain on soldiers who would have otherwise had to kill the Jews by
shooting them by the thousands. It is suggested that the gas chamber
method was more efficient somehow. No doubt, an efficient killing method
could have been developed - but not with Diesel exhaust. From all the
evidence we have seen regarding Diesel exhaust and its effects, a more
hideously clumsy, and inefficient, method of committing mass-murder
would be hard to imagine. Although it is conceivable that some deranged
minds may have tried for a time to commit murder with Diesel exhaust,
after a few tries it would have become apparent to even the most demented
fiend that something better was needed. And yet, Christian Wirth supposedly
asked Gerstein not to propose in Berlin any other kind of gas chamber.
(fn.33) Supposedly, it was not just a few people who were killed with
Diesel exhaust, but millions. To have used such a clumsy method to kill
Jews, especially when far better methods were readily available, is
incredible enough, but that the same clumsy method would have also been
used by the Germans on their own people as part of a euthanasia program
is even more incredible.
Postscript: More Surprise to Come!
A marvelous metamorphosis is already taking place in the holocaust
story. Several leading holocaust proponents are now taking great pains
to drop the Diesel claim and replace it with the view that the engines
were not Diesels but conventional gasoline engines which simply burned
Diesel fuel, presumably to make the engines more deadly than if they
had only burned regular gasoline. This amazing transformation has appeared
in a recent book in Germany entitled Nationalsozialistiche Massentoetungen
durch Giftgas. (fn.34) The book was a joint project of 24 of the most
eminent scholars on the subject, including such notables as Eugen Kogon,
Hermann Langbeing, Adalbert Rueckerl, Gideon Hausner, Germaine Tillion
and Georges Wellers. The book represents the current state of the art
of holocaust mythomania and has already been recommended by the World
Jewish Congress in London. (fn.35) The new, "revised" version of the
holocaust says, in effect, that Gerstein and the others were mistaken
when they had claimed that Diesels were used to kill Jews at Treblinka,
Belzec and Sobibor. The claim now is that gasoline engines were
used.
The clumsy juggling of evidence which characterizes this book is exemplified
by the fact that although the Gerstein statement refers to diesel engines
four times, the portion of the Gerstein statement which is quoted in
this supposedly definitive rebuttal of the revisionists does not mention
Diesels at all, nor does it even describe the alleged killing process.
(fn. 36) For a description of the killing process that Gerstein supposedly
witnessed, the book gives a piece of postwar testimony by Dr. Pfannenstiel
in which there is also no mention of the use of Diesels, but only of
the use of Diesel fuel in the engine. How one could possibly have operated
a gasoline engine with Diesel fuel is, of course, left to the imagination.
The fact is that any gasoline engine simply would not operate with Diesel
fuel (and vice-versa).
A fatal flaw in the new, non-Diesel, version is the retention of the
recurrent claim that the corpses were "blue." Although any possible
death from Diesel exhaust would have been due to lack of oxygen, which
would in turn have caused a bluish appearance of the corpse, death from
gasoline engine exhaust would "only" have been due to carbon monoxide
and could "only" have caused a distinctive "cherry red" or "pink" appearance.
Although Pfannenstiel's postwar testimony is generally less wild than
the Gerstein statement, nonetheless he and other "eyewitnesses" also
repeated the claim that the corpses were "blue" (fn.37)
That the Gerstein statement, although in a severely abbreviated form,
is included at all in such a scholarly work, despite the problems for
the "revised" version of the holocaust story which should be obvious
to anyone looking at the complete text of that statement, only shows
how desparate the holocaust scholars are to scrape together everything
they have in support of their monstrous fantasy. They have precious
little, and the Gerstein statement is still the best evidence they can
present.
The new "revised" version of the holocaust story is actually more absurd
than the old version. Although it might be remotely possible for an
engineer to have mistaken a gasoline engine for a Diesel engine, how
could anyone possibly have mistaken "red" for "blue"? Perhaps they were
all color blind - we will just have to wait and see. No doubt, we will
see many more attempts by desparate men to hold together a crumbling
patchwork of lies.
The Diesel gas chamber claim is rubbish - apparently some of the exterminationists
themselves recognize that now. However, the alternate claim that gasoline
engine exhaust was used instead is rubbish also.
Notes
- The "gaschambers" that one is shown today in Dachau, Auschwitz
and elsewhere are practically nothing more than ordinary rooms which
could not have been used to kill in the manner alleged. The Diesel
gas chambers in Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor were all supposedly
destroyed long before the end of the war.
- Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews (Chicago:
Quadrangle Books, 1961), p. 572.
- It was at these camps that many photos were taken of dead bodies,
many already in advanced states of dcay. These photos are still
being presented as proof of Jewish extermination. No comparable
photos were taken in Auschwitz, for example. Already in 1960 Dr.
Martin Broszat of the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich
wrote in a letter to Die Zeit (19 August 1960), p.16, stating that
there had been "no gas chambers in the Altreich," meaning Germany
within its pre-1937 borders, but rather "gassing took place only
in German-occupied Poland." The exclusion of Dachau, Bergen-Belsen
and Buchenwald from the current litany of extermination camps in
the serious literature is a tacit admission that at least a "mini-hoax"
had been perpetrated earlier.
- Hilberg, pp. 561-62.
- William B. Lindsey, "Zyklon B, Auschwitz, and the Trial of Dr.
Bruno Tesch," Journal of Historical Review Vol. 4, No. 3 (Fall 1983).
- In a trial in France in 1982 in which Dr. Robert Faurisson had
been sued for slander by Poliakov for having described him as a
"falsifier of history," Poliakov had explained that he had simply
misread a poor quality copy of a copy, several times removed, of
the original Gerstein document.
- Leon Poliakov, Harvest of Hate, Holocaust Library (New York:
Schocken Books, 1979), p. 195.
8. Dr. Wilhelm Pfannenstiel was a professor at the Institute for
Hygiene at the University of Marburg an der Lahn. An article by
him on the effectiveness of vitamin K was published in Deutsche
Zeitschrift fuer Chirurgie, 257 Gand (1943) pp. 639-42. Also, an
answer by him to a reader's question was published by the Muenchener
Medizinische Wochenschrift (4 July 1941), p. 766, with him home
address: Pilgrimstein 2, Marburg an der Lahn. He was apparantly
sent to Belzec as well as other camps as a medical consultant to
improve camp sanitation. After the war he was interogated every
few years with regard to his visit to Belzec with Gerstein and on
two occasions was prosecuted, the last trial being in April 1970
in Marburg. Essentially, his testimony was always to support the
Gerstein statement while at the same time avoiding or denying anything
which would incriminate himself.
- S. Kaye, Handbook of Emergency Toxicology, 4th ed. (Springfield:
C.C. Thomas, 1980) pp. 187-88. For a more detailed discussion of
toxic effects of CO see: C.J. Polson & R.N. Tattersall, Clinical
Toxicology (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1969), pp. 604-21.
- Poliakov, p. 196.
- Y. Henderson and H.W. Haggard, Noxious Gases (New York: Reinhold
Publishing, 1943), p.168.
12. W. Baker and A.L. Mossman, Effects of Exposure to Toxic Gases
(East Rutherford, New Jersey: Mattheson Gas Products, 1970), p.12.
- F.E. Camps, Medical and Scientific Investigations in the Christie
Case (London: Medical Publications Ltd., 1953), p. 170.
- P.S. Myers, "Automobile Emissions- A Study in Environmental
Benefits versus Technological Costs," Society of Automotive Engineers
Transactions Vol. 79 (1970), Section 1, paper 700182, p. 662.
- A Russian submarine engine is mentioned, without any details,
in Jochen Von Lang, Eichmann Interrogated (New York: farrar Straus
& Giroux, 1983) p. 76. Since World War I, gasoline engines have
as a rule been excluded from submarines because of the toxicity
of their exhaust and the flammability of their fuel. Thus any submarine
engine, even from a Soviet submarine, would have been a Diesel and
would certainly have been as powerful as the engine from any tank.
- David F. Merrion, "Effect of Design Revisions on Two Stroke
Cycle Diesel Engine Exhaust," Society of Automotive Engineers Transactions
Vol. 77 (1968), paper 680422, p. 1535.
- J.C. Holtz, "Safety with mobile diesel-powered equipment underground,"
Report of Investigations No. 5616, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau
of Mines, Washington, 1960, p.67.
- Figure 3 and Figure 5 have been used repeatedly over the last
forty years in the technical literature by numerous engineers thereby
demonstrating the reliability of the data on which these figures
are based and the extent to which they represent the worst possible
carbon monoxide emission levels from all Diesels. Two of the early
examples of articles using Figure 3 are : J.H. Schrenk and L.B.
Berger, "Compostion of Diesel Engine Exhaust Gas," American Journal
of Public Health Vol. 31, No. 7 (July, 1941), p. 674, and Martin
A. Elliot, "Combustion of Diesel Fuel," Socitey of Automotive Engineers
Quarterly Transactions Vol.3, No. 3 (July 1949), p. 509.
- Although the related tests and their purpose have been discussed
in many articles, probably the best in Holtz.
- Elliot and Davis, "Compostion of Diesel Exhaust Gas," SAE Quarterly
Transactions Vol. 4, No.3 (July 1950), pp. 345-46 - discussion by
E.W. Landen.
- Ibid, p. 333.
- Edward F. Obert, Internal Combustion Engines and Air Pollution
(New York and London: Intext Educational Publishers, 1973), p.361.
- Henderson & Haggard, pp.144-45.
- J.S. Haldane & J.G. Priestly, Respiration (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1935) pp.223-24.
- L.J. Meduna, Carbon Dioxide Therapy (Springfield: C.C. Thomas),
pp. 3-19.
- J.D.P. Graham, The Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Poisoning
(London: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 215-17.
- L.T. Fairhall, Industrial Toxicology, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: Williams
& Wilkins, 1957), p. 180.
- Wolfgang Oerley, "Entwicklung und Stand der Holzgaserzueger
in Oesterreich, Maerz 1938 (Development and Status of Woodgas Generators
in Austria, March 1938)," in ATZ Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift,
Heft 11 (April 1939), p.314. Before the war, the leading company
not only in Europe buy probably in the entire world in the manufacture
and development of "woodgaswagons" was the Vienna-based Saurer Company.
This is the same company which is identified, oddly enough, as the
manufacturer of the murderous "gas vans" in PS-501.
- The German automotive technical literature of that period abounds
with material on this forgotten subject. For an introductory survey
of the subject, two especially useful issue of ATZ are Heft 18 from
September 1940 and from 1941.
- Rauff is now residing in Chile where he is pursued by the likes
of Simon Wiesenthal and Beate Klarsfeld. A recent attempt by the
ADL in the U.S.A. and by others to have him extradited to Israel
was denied by the Chilean government because of Chile's statute
of limitations and because of Rauff's faultless behavior in Chile.
- A more thorough analysis of the gas wagons, and of Zyklon B,
may be found in the author's taped presentation given in Los Angeles
on 6 September 1983 before the International Revisionist Conference
of the Institute for Historical Review, from which this article
is essentially an abridgement. The audio cassette is available from
the Institute.
- An excellent discussion of the subject including extensive lists
of references, especially German references, is: W. Gumz and J.F.
Foster of the Battelle Memorial Inst., "A Critical Survey of Methods
of Making a High BTU Gas from Coal," Research Bull, No. 6 (New York:
American Gas Association, July 1953).
- See the complete text of the Gerstein statement in Arthur R.
Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century (Torrance, CA: Institute
for Historical Review, 1982), p.254. The extermination technology
employed at Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor was supposedly no longer
an experimental technology in 1942 but rather a highly developed
technology based upon almost three years of practical experience
beginning in 1939 with the euthanasia program.
- Nationalsozialistische Massentoetungen durch Giftgas, (National
Socialist Mass-Murders with Poison Gas) (Frankfurt: S. Fischer Verlag,
1983).
- Chicago Jewish Sentinel (22 December 1983). 36. Nationalsozialistische
Massentoetungen durch Giftgas, p. 172-74.
- See, for example, his testimony before the Darmstadt court from
6 June 1950 which appears in Saul Friedlaender, Counterfeit Nazi:
The Ambiguity of Good (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967). p.
118. For a thorough discussion of the kind of mad dilemma confronting
any German who was even remotely connected with the concentration
camps - Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor were actually transit camps
rather than concentration camps - see the article by W.B. Lindsey.
Reprinted by permission of The Journal of Historical Review, P.O. Box
2739, Newport Beach, California 92659, United States of America.
Subscription rate: $40 per year.
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