Note: Still another usage of the word “Vergasung” in a fumigation context in an Auschwitz document. And note the absence of any security classification.
The above text indicates that Zyklon B was taken directly from Dessau to Auschwitz in order to combat vermin, and it is well known from other sources that this was done specifically by the delousing, disinfestation, and disinfection of clothing and barracks.
Records show that Auschwitz received 12,174 kg (over twelve tonnes) of Zyklon B from Tesch & Stabenow in 1942, about 1/10th of the amount distributed throughout the Reich in that year. [Source: Kalthoff, J., Werner, M. Die Händler des Zyklon B, VSA-Verlag, Hamburg:1998, p. 151.]
Pharmacist Jean Claude Pressac, who has familiarized himself with Zyklon, confirms that throughout the operation of Auschwitz camp at least 95% of Zyklon B was used for ordinary fumigations; note that while the number of Jews sent to Auschwitz in 1942 was still relatively small compared with the figures for 1943 and above all 1944, records show that the greatest tonnage of Zyklon that Auschwitz ever received was in 1942.
Therefore it is fair to suspect that whatever the purposes stated in these messages for Zyklon’s use — all of them dated in 1942 — 95% of the actual purpose, and therefore 95% of the declared purpose, must have reflected this non-homicidal use. It would make no sense engage in “code words” or euphemisms if less than five percent of the shipment was to be used to kill people.
History now shows, and there is no argument on this, that typhus raged through Auschwitz and its newly established Birkenau annexe throughout the summer of 1942, and into the fall. This horrific epidemic matches the time frame of these messages. It is acknowledged by both sides that barracks disinfestations with Zyklon did occur, and that clothing was deloused and disinfected with this product. These facts arguably account for the otherwise ominous references to “Sonderbehandlung” and “Umsiedlung” since it is also conceded by both sides that Jewish groups would be held in quarantine in Birkenau for months at a time. [Note: The British police decodes refer explicitly to this quarantine at Auschwitz — Website].
Prof. Fleming’s belief that these messages have sinister import could only be sustained by denying both the content of the above message and the surrounding terrain of corroborative detail.
Note that the third message produced by Fleming refers to the heating of the underground morgues with hot air from the crematoria, the installation of the ventilation system, and refers the undressing room (Auskleideraum) also located downstairs. These adaptations are consistent with the dual use of these underground (and reinforced concrete roof) morgues as air raid/gas-attack shelters.– Samuel Crowell, January 1999
write to David Irving