The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: camps/aktion.reinhard/treblinka/treblinka.gas4


Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Holocaust Almanac: Treblinka's "new and improved" killing machine
Followup-To: alt.revisionism
Organization: The Nizkor Project, Vancouver Island, CANADA
Keywords: Eberl,Stangl,Treblinka,Wirth

Archive/File: camps/aktion.reinhard/treblinka treblinka.gas4
Last-Modified: 1994/02/11

Unlike Sobibor, where the killing stopped while new gas chambers were
being constructed, the slaughter at Treblinka continued unabated
except between August 28 and September 3, 1942, when Wirth and his
henchmen cleaned up the special horror left behind by the incompetent
Dr. Eberl.

"Construction of the new gas chambers began in early September. The
new building comprised ten gas chambers, each 4 x 8 square meters,
although according to some sources the new building included only six
gas chambers." <1> "In place of the three old chambers ... the ten new
chambers had a combined area of 320 square meters (or 192 square
meters if there were only six). The height of the new rooms was 2
meters -- about 60cm lower that the old ones. There had been instances
in the old chambers in which little children had not been asphyxiated
because the gas rose to the ceiling, and this was taken into account
in planning the height of the ceilings in the new chambers. Lowering
the ceiling also reduced the chambers' total cubic volume, reduced the
total gas requirement for killing the victims, and shortened
asphyxiation time....The doors contained a small glass window, through
which the SS men and Ukrainians checked to see what was happening and
ascertained whether the victims were already dead. The entrance to the
corridor was covered by a dark Jewish ceremonial curtain taken from an
unidentified synagogue. On it was inscribed in Hebrew: 'This is the
Gateway to God. Righteous men will pass through.' A gable over the
entrance door bore a large Star of David. ...

The new gas chambers could absorb a maximum of 2,300 people (six
chambers) or 3,800 people (ten chambers) simultaneously, whereas the
old one could hold only 600. With the inauguration of the new gas
chambers, in the middle of October 1942, the old ones ceased to
function. ..."

The camp commander, Stangl, replied with the following when he was
asked, during his trial, how many people could be murdered in one day:

	"Regarding the question of what was the optimum amount of
	people gassed in one day, I can state: according to my
	estimation a transport of thirty freight cars with 3,000
	people was liquidated in three hours. When the work lasted
	for about fourteen hours, 12,000 to 15,000 people were
	annihilated. There were many days that the work lasted 
	from the early morning until the evening." 

<1> Adalbert Ruckerl, "NS-Vernichtungslager in Spiegel deutscher
    Strafprozesse, DTV Dokumente" Munchen, 1977, p. 204;
    Yad Vashem Archives, Treblinka-Franz, Band 10, pp. 2053-2055

Excerpted from....----------------------------------------------
BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps
Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987. ISBN 0-253-3429-7


Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor

© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012

This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and to combat hatred. Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.

As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.