SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Bischoff Krematorium II has been completed but
for minor details, thanks to employing all available forces, despite enormous
difficulties and freezing weather, using day and night shifts. The
furnaces have been lit in the presence of Herr Chief Engineer Prufer of
the firm responsible for their construction, Topf & Sons of Erfurt,
and they function perfectly. Because of the frost, it has not yet
been possible to remove the formwork from the ceiling of the corpse cellar.
This is of no consequence, however, as the gassing cellar can be used to
this end.
Because the wagons are blocked, Messrs
Topf & Sons have not been able to deliver on time the ventilation and
air extraction installations as requested by the Bauleitung. These
will be fitted as soon as they arrive, so that it is probable that the
installation will be entirely ready for service on 20th February 1943.
Please find enclosed a report by the
inspecting engineer of Topf & Sons, Erfurt.
Head of the Auschwitz Waffen SS and Police
[signed] Bischoff
Distribution:
For Archives
[ Index ]
January 29th, 1943
Central Construction Management
SS Captain
1 SS Second Lieutenants Janisch and Kirschneck
[signed] Pollok
SS Second Lieutenant (S)
(Pressac, Jean Claude; "Auschwitz: Technique
and Operation of the Gas Chambers; The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, NY,
1989; pg.211)