Hole on outside wall of gas chamber at Dachau concentration camp
The photo above shows a boarded-up hole in the outside wall of the Baracke X building at the former Dachau concentration camp. There is no corresponding hole on the inside of the building; the room behind this wall was allegedly a homicidal gas chamber. I always assumed that this was a botched construction of a peep hole. Until now…
When I read in the news today about the death of Harry W. Mazal, I decided to take another look at his famous holocaust-history.org website. The purpose of Mazal’s website, according to his daughter, is to combat Holocaust denial. I had read the section on the Dachau gas chamber years ago when I first became interested in the Holocaust. In reading this section again, I was particularly interested in his description of how a homicidal gassing was carried out at Dachau.
Two bins on outside wall of Dachau gas chamber
Quote from the gas chamber section on the holocaust-history.org website here:
The person in charge of a homicidal gassing need only don a gas mask, open the two bins, and dump part of a small tin of Zyklon-B into each one. Having done this, the operator would close the bins, which are protected from interference from the victims by a protective grating, <photo 40> <photo 41> and wait a few minutes until all the victims were dead. At this point, the powerful mechanical extractor could be energized sending the poisonous fumes into the atmosphere, drawing fresh air through a small hatchway located above the bins. The bodies could then be moved into the mortuary chamber to await incineration in the adjoining crematory furnaces.
I have put the most important part in bold face type to draw attention to it. Now it all makes sense. The hole in the wall was put there for the purpose of bringing fresh air into the room to air it out after the use of Zyklon-B to gas the prisoners. (more…)
