Lines: 115 Archive/File: holocaust/poland/reinhard/belzec pfannen.001 Last-Modified: 1994/07/15 From the deposition of Wilhelm Pfannenstiel before the Darmstadt Court, June 6, 1950: I was trained in hygiene and assigned to work in the this field during the war. I was occasionally called upon in connection with disinfection work, for which, as I already knew at the time, liquid prussic acid was used. I myself, however, never worked with this during the war. This liquid form of prussic acid was also called Zyklon B. During the summer of 1942, as a specialist in hygiene, I was ordered to proceed to Lublin to assist in an advisory capacity in urban sanitation work (supply of drinking water, sewage disposal). I accordingly went to Berlin to obtain a car because by that time the train journey was taking too long. I was unable to get the use of a car, but I was told that Dr. Gerstein was traveling to Lublin and I was instructed to get in touche with him, which I did. Dr. Gerstein told me that he would have to travel by way of Prague and I agreed to go along. An empty truck made the journey behind our car. As we drove, Dr. Gerstein explained to me that he had to go to pick up some prussic acid from a plat at Kolin near Prague. He didn't tell me what it was to be used for and I did not ask him. Knowing that Dr. Gerstein was in charge of disinfection work, I thought it quite natural that the acid should be intended for that purpose. But I soon learned at the factory - it was a small plant - that the chemical in question was gaseous prussic acid. Until then, I had been unaware of the existence of prussic acid in that form. But its disadvantages were pointed out to me at the same time, namely that, under considerable pressure, it decomposed. Dr. Gerstein and I then went on to Lublin. During the journey, one of the cylinders started to let in air and had to be buried. At Lublin, I carried out my assigned tasks. In this connection, I learned that there was a camp at Belzec where Jews were killed. I wanted to see it. The camp was under the direction of a man named Wirth and it had been equipped by S.S. Police Chief Globocnik, who was also a Brigade Commander (S.S.) and a Police General. I made the acquaintance of the latter through Dr. Gerstein, who had often been to Lublin and Belzec. I, too, had business with him because he was my superior...I asked if I might view the camp. Globocnik, who was very proud of his institution, granted permission and took Gerstein and myself into the camp. Next morning, a shipment of Jews - men, women, and some children - arrived...They were ordered to strip completely and to hand over their possessions. They were informed that they were to be incorporated into a working process and must be deloused to prevent epidemics. They would also have to inhale something. After the women's hair had been cut off, the whole shipment of people was taken to a building containing six rooms. On that occasion, to my knowledge, only four [of these] were used. After these people had been shut up in the rooms, the exhaust gas from an engine was piped in. Gerstein stated that it took about eighteen minutes before quiet was restored inside. While the Jews were being taken in, the rooms were lit up with electric light and everything passed off peacefully. But when the lights were turned off, loud cries burst out inside, which then gradually died away. As soon as everything was quiet again, the doors in the outside walls were opened, the corpses were brought out, and, after being searched for gold teeth, they were stacked in a trench. Here, too, the work was done by Jews. No doctor was present. 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. If my memory serves me correctly, I returned to Lublin that same day with Dr. Gerstein. When Globocnik authorized me to visit the camp, he made it clear to me that I must not talk about it to anyone, on pain of death. When I got back to Berlin, I informed Professor Grawitz, the senior physician of the S.S., of what I had seen and expressed to him the horror that I felt. He assured me that he would see to it that this business was stopped. I have no idea what happened then. The fact of my having asked to visit the camp may no doubt be attributed to a certain curiosity on my part. I wanted to know in particular if this process of exterminating human beings was accompanied by any acts of cruelty. I found it especially cruel that death did not set in until eighteen minutes had passed. I told Globocnik so. He replied that this would go better with prussic acid, but, so far as I know, this acid was never used because Gerstein pointed out to him the dangers inherent in the use of gaseous prussic acid. If my information is correct, the cylinders of prussic acid were buried. I know that Dr. Gerstein gives an entirely different description of this gassing scene. That version is false. It is full of exaggerations. What is characteristic in this respect is Gerstein's assertion that, in his view, about 25,000,000 people had been subjected to this treatment. As he tole me himself on that occasion, he had been to Belzec a number of times. It is possible taht he may have witnessed scenes similar to those he describes and that, in his report of April 26, 1945, he was no longer differentiating between the visits, but giving a summary picture of them. Thus, he mentions a certain S.S. officer Gu"nther who is supposed to have traveled with us, but we traveled alone. In other respects, too, the Report is full of inaccuracies. I maintain especially that I did not say: "as they do in a synagogue." Even if I should have made such a remark, it was not in the sense imputed to me by Gerstein, as if to suggest that I was poking fun at the torments of the prisoners. The situation was much too dreadful for that. I have never been to Treblinka. Dr. Gerstein's report is inaccurate on this point as well. I have a feeling that Dr. Gerstein made charges against me because he knew that I was the only living witness who can testify about him and his activity in connection with the use of prussic acid. I presume that he wanted to eliminate me [as a witness]. (Friedla"nder, 116-120) Work Cited Friedla"nder, Saul. Counterfeit Nazi. New York: Knopf, 1969
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