"A hydrocyanic gas concentration of 0.3 g/m3 (lethal dose) is immediately fatal for man, while in order to destroy lice a concentration of 5 g/m3 applied for at least two hours is necessary. If this concentration is maintained for 6 hours, all insects are destroyed [source: Degesch]. In Birkenau, the quantity poured into the homicidal gas chambers was forty times the lethal dose (12 g/m3) which killed without fail one thousand people in less than five minutes. [..] The contact time for the hydrocyanic acid with the walls of the homicidal gas chambers never exceeded about ten minutes per day at a temperature below 30 degrees Celsius. In the clothing delousing gas chambers a minimum concentration of 5 g/m3 was used during several cycles per day, the duration of the cycle varying according to the contact time chosen. This hydrocyanic saturation for 12 to 18 hours a day was reinforced by the heat given off by stoves (situated in the chamber) providing a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. The walls were impregnated with warm hydrocyanic acid for at least 12 hours a day, which was to bring about in situ the formation of a dye, "Prussian blue" or potassium iron (III) hexacyanoferrate (II), whose composition varied according to the conditions of formation." 19) Pressac, Jean-Claude. _Auschwitz: Techniques and Operation of the Gas Chambers_ (English edition) (New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation) c. 1989, p 53.
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