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From: dgannon@teleport.com (Dan Gannon)
Newsgroups: soc.history,alt.censorship,alt.activism,alt.revisionism,alt.discrimination,alt.conspiracy,alt.politics.correct,alt.journalism.criticism,talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: A Big Lie Within an Even Bigger Lie: The "Diesel Gas Chambers"
Date: 3 Nov 1993 07:26:45 -0800
Organization: TelePort - Public Access
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>From _The Journal of Historical Review_, Vol. 5, Number 1 (Spring 1984):
The Diesel Gas Chambers:
Myth Within A Myth
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
"hare-brained," "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 mislabled--is also absent should make it quite obvious that something
is seriously wrong.^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
Table 1 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.^3
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEATH CAMPS
Type of Killing Number of
Camp Location Jurisdiction Operation Jews Killed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kulmhof Warthe- Higher SS and gas vans over a
land Police Leader (CO) hundred
(Koppe) thousand
Belzec Lublin SS and Police gas chambers hundreds of
district Leader (CO) thousands
(Globocnik)
Sobibor Lublin SS and Police gas chambers hundreds of
district Leader (CO) thousands
(Globocnik)
Lublin Lublin WVHA gas chamber tens of
district (CO), shooting thousands
Treblinka Warsaw SS and Police gas chambers hundreds of
district Leader (CO) thousands
Auschwitz Upper WVHA gas chambers one million
Silesia (HCN)
[Table 1: Characteristics of the death camps according to Raul Hilberg.^2]
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." (Emphasis added.)^4
In the National Broadcasting Corporation's "Holocaust" mini-series 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,^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 Hoess, 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 Obersturmfuehrer (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.^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 Unterscharfuehrer 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.^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.^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."^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.^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?
Parts of carbon
monoxide per Carbon
million parts monoxide
of air in per cent Physiological effects
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
100 (0.01%) Concentration allowable for an exposure
of several hours.
400 to 500 (.04%-.05%) Concentration which can be inhaled for 1
hour without appreciable effect.
600 to 700 (.06%-.07%) Concentration causing a just appreciable
effect after exposure of 1 hour.
1,000 to 1,200 (.10%-.12%) Concentration causing unpleasant but not
dangerous effects after exposure of 1
hour.
1,500 to 2,000 (.15%-.2%) Dangerous concentrations for exposure of
1 hour.
4,000 and above (.4% & above) Concentrations which are fatal in
exposure of less than 1 hour.
[Table 2: Toxic effects of carbon monoxide.^11]
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 line of Table 2, is
the amount needed to kill people in "less" than one hour of continuous
exposure.^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
non-lethal 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.^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 "0.40% 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 the 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.^15 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.
[Graph captioned, "Figure 1: Toxic effects of low levels of carbon
monoxide.^14" The graph shows the effects (in percent carboxy hemoglobin
and the corresponding effects upon a person) of five different levels of
carbon monoxide over a period of time. The levels are 15 PPM (Parts Per
Million), 30 PPM, 100 PPM, 300 PPM, and 600 PPM. The time scale is from 0.1
hours to 100 hours of exposure. At the highest concentration (600 PPM),
"headache, reduced mental acuity" starts (10 percent carboxy hemoglobin) at
about 45 minutes, "throbbing headache" starts (about 23 percent carboxy
hemoglobin) at about 1 hour and 45 minutes, "vomit, collapse" starts (about
40 percent carboxy hemoglobin) at about 3 hours, "coma" starts (about 45
percent carboxy hemoglobin) at about 5 hours, and the effects level off
horizontally at or below the point where "death" would start occurring
(about 70 percent carboxy hemoglobin) at about 10 hours, so even at 100
hours (of breathing 600 PPM carbon monoxide), death would not occur.
Similarly, "headache, reduced mental acuity" would never even come close to
occurring even at 30 PPM, "throbbing headache" would never occur at 100 PPM,
and "coma" would never occur at 300 PPM. (For the complete graph, see
image file FIGURE1.GIF, or see the source cited in footnote 14 at the end of
this article.)]
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.
[Graph captioned, "Figure 2: Comparison of carbon monoxide emissions
from Diesel and gasoline engines.^16" (For the graph, see image file
FIGURE2.GIF, or see the source cited in footnote 16 at the end of this
article.)]
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.^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.
Divided Chamber Diesels
The divided chamber category of Diesel engines is generally subdivided
into precombustion chamber designs and turbulent cell designs.
[Graph captioned, "Figure 3: Carbon monoxide emissions for pre-combustion
chamber and turbulent cell Diesel engines.^18 The heavy vertical line at a
fuel:air ratio of 0.055 has been added by the author." (For the graph, see
image file FIGURE3.GIF, or see one of the sources cited in footnote 18 at
the end of this article.)]
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.^19 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 pre-combustion 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 0.02%. 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 ratios, 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.
[Two graphs captioned, "Figure 4: Liquid and solid components of Diesel
smoke.^20" (For the graphs, see image file FIGURE4.GIF, or see the source
cited in footnote 20 at the end of this article.)]
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.
[Graph captioned, "Figure 5: Carbon monoxide emissions from undivided
chamber Diesel engines.^21 The heavy vertical line at a fuel:air ratio of
0.055 has been added by the author." (For the graph, see image file
FIGURE5.GIF, or see the source cited in footnote 21 at the end of this
article.)]
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 .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 0.4% 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 Gerstelein 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.
[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." (For the graph, see image file FIGURE6.GIF,
or see the source cited in footnote 22 at the end of this article.)]
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.^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.
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.^25 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.^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.^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 get 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 3/4 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 MANY THOUSANDS OF DRIVERS
WHO DROVE THESE VEHICLES DAILY throughout most of the war in German-occupied
Europe.^29
[Photograph captioned, "Figure 7: A typical gaswagon which had originally
been a conventional bus but which was subsequently retro-fitted with a
gas-generator and a Saurer engine.^28" (For the photograph, see image file
FIGURE7.GIF, or see the source cited in footnote 28 at the end of this
article.)]
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
"woodgaswagons." 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 MASS-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 Chelmo, 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 Untersturmfuehrer (First Lieutenant) Becker to SS
Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) Walter Rauff, discussing some of
the many problems that must have occurred with gaswagons.^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.^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!
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.^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.^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 Surprises 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_.^34 The book was a joint project of 24 of the most eminent
scholars on the subject, including such notables as Eugen Kogan, Hermann
Langbein, 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.^35 The new, "revised" version of the holocaust says, in effect,
that Gerstein and 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.^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."^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 desperate 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 desperate 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
1. 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.
2. Raul Hilberg, _The Destruction of the European Jews_ (Chicago:
Quadrangle Books, 1961), p. 572.
3. It was at these camps that many photos were taken of dead bodies, many
already in advanced states of decay. 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 "gassings 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.
4. Hilberg, pp. 561-62.
5. William B. Lindsey, "Zyklon B, Auschwitz, and the Trial of Dr. Bruno
Tesch," _Journal of Historical Review_ Vol. 4, No. 3 (Fall 1983).
6. 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.
7. 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 Band (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 his home address:
Pilgrimstein 2, Marburg an der Lahn. He was apparently sent to Belzec
as well as other camps as a medical consultant to improve camp
sanitation. After the war he was interrogated 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.
9. 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.
10. Poliakov, p. 196.
11. 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: Matheson Gas Products, 1970), p. 12.
13. F.E. Camps, _Medical and Scientific Investigations in the Christie
Case_ (London: Medical Publications Ltd., 1953), p. 170.
14. 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.
15. 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 probably have
been as powerful as the engine from any tank.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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: H.H. Schrenk and L.B. Berger,
"Composition of Diesel Engine Exhaust Gas," _American Journal of Public
Health_ Vol. 31, No. 7 (July 1941), p. 674, and Martin A. Elliott,
"Combustion of Diesel Fuel," _Society of Automotive Engineers Quarterly
Transactions_ Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1949), p. 509.
19. Although the related tests and their purpose have been discussed in
many articles, probably the best is in Holtz.
20. Elliot and Davis, "Composition of Diesel Exhaust Gas," _SAE Quarterly
Transactions_ Vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1950), pp. 345-46--discussion by E.W.
Landen.
21. Ibid, p. 333.
22. Edward F. Obert, _Internal Combustion Engines and Air Pollution_ (New
York and London: Intext Educational Publishers, 1973), p. 361.
23. Henderson & Haggard, pp. 144-45.
24. J.S. Haldane & J.G. Priestly, _Respiration_ (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1935), pp. 223-24.
25. L.J. Qeduna, _Carbon Dioxide Therapy_ (Springfield: C.C. Thomas), pp.
3-19.
26. J.D.P. Graham, _The Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Poisoning_
(London: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 215-17.
27. L.T. Fairhall, _Industrial Toxicology_, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: Williams &
Wilkins, 1957), p. 180.
28. Wolfgang Oerley, "Entwicklung und Stand der Holzgaserzeuger 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 but 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.
29. 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 issues of _ATZ_ are Heft 18 from
September 1940 and from 1941.
30. 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.
31. 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.
32. 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).
33. 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.
34. _Nationalsozialistische Massentoetungen durch Giftgas_ (National
Socialist Mass-Murders with Poison Gas] (Frankfurt: S. Fischer Verlag,
1983).
35. _Chicago Jewish Sentinel_ (22 December 1983).
36. _Nationalsoziolistische Massentoetungen durch Giftgas_, p. 172-74.
37. 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.
___________________________________________________________________________
The 90-minute cassette tape recording of Mr. Berg's conference lecture is
available from the IHR at $9.95 + $1.00 shipping. Send order to Institute
for Historical Review, P.O. Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA 92659. Or send
$2.00 for a packet of literature and a full catalog of books, audiotapes and
videotapes.
___________________________________________________________________________
[end of article]
[Reprinted by permission from _The Journal of Historical Review_, P.O. Box
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