Deceit & Misrepresentation Appendix 3 Below is the relevant section of
Friedrich Berg's
own paper in the Journal of Historical Review, plus extracts from one of his Usenet articles, interspersed with comments.
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."
[Berg cites SS hygienist Dr.
Wilhelm Pfannenstiel
as one witness. However, he did not include in his paper Pfannenstiel's
explicit
diagnosis of asphyxiation:
I noticed nothing special about the corpses, except that some of them
showed a bluish puffiness about the face. But this is not surprising
since they had died of asphyxiation.
While Berg pretends to explore this possibility, he rushes through it
while ignoring significant factors - most notably Pfannenstiel's
testimony - which point strongly to a conclusion of death by
asphyxiation. Omission of both Pfannenstiel's explicit diagnosis and
these other factors is deceptive.]
[Berg:]
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.
[That is how they are normally operated, if one wishes to
run them to run a truck or a pump. This fact says nothing about how they
could be operated if one wishes to kill people.]
[Graph captioned, "Figure 6: Exhaust gas constituents of internal
combustion engines.22 The heavy vertical line at a fuel:air ratio of
0.055 has been added by the author."
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%.
[The graph only covers two diesels, not "any Diesel." And, as will
be seen below, the graph was generated from diesels "in proper
mechanical condition." Although he argues elsewhere that these are the
worst numbers one finds in the Society of Automotive Engineers
transactions, it should be noted that's the worst one finds for any
American diesel. The Nazis used Soviet diesels. (Technologies
can converge within one nation and diverge between nations, as people
are trained in the same schools.) And he should go to the primary
source - the raw numbers which generate the graph. As will be shown
below, the numbers tell a very different story.]
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.23
According to Haldane and Priestley, "air containing less than 9.5 per
cent of oxygen would ordinarily cause disablement within half an
hour."24 Disablement is still not death.
[This makes it sound as if there's no difference between 9.5% and 0%.
With 0% oxygen, death - not disablement - comes in a few minutes. Berg
is trying to confuse matters here.]
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%.
[There is no magic number, true, but Berg's argument is again
misleading. What is really clear is that the lower the oxygen goes, the
faster death comes. And O2 below 6% is feasible within Berg's
constraints. See below.]
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The Techniques of Holocaust Denial
Friedrich Berg's Paper, with Commentary
Part 1 of 6
Writer: Michael P. Stein