Majdanek this and that

[Fred Ziffel]

Points to Ponder about a Lipstadt May 16,1981 newspaper article

Let's see if I can make heads or tails out of this….

In a newspaper article dated May 16, 1981, Debbie Lipstadt mis-quoted reporter Bill Williams’ August 27, 1944 article about Majdanek deaths, writing that 1.7 million remains were found. Williams’ article stated 1.5 million were killed. And, she reaffirmed Williams’ credibility as a trusted reporter.
However, on the very day of Debbie’s May 16,1981 article, the official death toll at Majdanek stood at 1.38 million.
This demonstrates just how sloppy this so-called PhD professor is.

[Wetzelrad]

I've long been puzzled over that paragraph by Lipstadt. Notice that everything she cites throughout the article is only cited imprecisely. The NYT article is only dated as being "in the fall of 1944", and the bit about what "Lawrence later wrote" gives no indication that it comes from his autobiography. All the sources are found in her book, however.

Bearing that in mind, I think her purpose in that article was to summarize a great deal of information in a short space by leaving out the citations. And since it's unlikely that she would have mistaken Lawrence's report, what she probably meant was that 1.7 million was the real death tally. She must have gotten that from the Polish (Soviet) government's show trials.

So while it was very sloppy, it wasn't a misquote.

[Booze]

I thought that the prisoners who worked in the crematories were sonderkommando.
But that's wrong they are "carriers of the secret". lol
Does anyone have the proper spelling for that in German?

I think you mean "Geheimnisträger"? https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geheimnistr%C3%A4ger

That definitely sounds like the word he used in the video.

[Booze]

Well, the most likely reason is that it was changed some time after their report in 1944. Possibly the Soviets altered it to make it more plausible as a gas chamber, the same as they carved holes in other roofs. Also possible is that someone took out the flue pipes during roof work or for some other innocent reason.

That might explain why Mattogno's dimensions are so different from the Soviet report but it falls short of explaining why the dimensions from the contractor differ so much from the Soviet report.
I will say that I do suspect that those wooden shafts (or chimneys) were built by the Soviets post war.

[Booze]

Hopefully someone can clear up this question I have on the use of Zyklon in the concrete structure containing chambers A,B1&B2.

After an application of Zyklon in any of those chambers how does that effect the use of the B41 facility and surrounding area?
(Even without the post-war construction connecting these two buildings)

When they open the doors to aerate the cyanide gas do they have to evacuate everyone from the area for a period of time?
Why did they build it so close to the shower facility?

[Fred Ziffel]

You asked: After an application of Zyklon in any of those chambers how does that effect the use of the B41 facility and surrounding area?

I reply with a song: "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer my friend is blowing in the wind"..... Bob Dylan 1962



You asked: When they open the doors to aerate the cyanide gas do they have to evacuate everyone from the area for a period of time?
Me: Not sure. Maybe, or maybe they did nothing because they are outside?

Why did they build it so close to the shower facility?
Me: Not sure exactly, perhaps to keep the building under the canopy for convenience? Did not seem to be that much effect on the showers

BTW: I covered this in my presentation and see the attachment for more

[Wetzelrad]

After an application of Zyklon in any of those chambers how does that effect the use of the B41 facility and surrounding area?
(Even without the post-war construction connecting these two buildings)

When they open the doors to aerate the cyanide gas do they have to evacuate everyone from the area for a period of time?
Why did they build it so close to the shower facility?

We can say confidently that you would not want to be standing nearby when the doors were first opened. There was one incident at Auschwitz that led Rudolf Hoess to send out this notice:

A case of indisposition with slight symptoms of poisoning by hydrocyanic gas which occured today makes it necessary to warn all those participating in the gassings and all other SS members that in particular on opening rooms used for gassing SS not wearing masks must wait at least five hours and keep at a distance of at least 15 meters from the chamber. In addition, particular attention should be paid to the wind direction.

So your concern is not unfounded.

Obviously the staff at Majdanek must have had a standard operating procedure for conducting fumigation, but since we have no documents to show for it we can only speculate as to what it entailed. What would make sense to me is for the facility to be used strictly for delousing. Dirty inmates would leave their clothes on one side of the barracks, go through the process of shaving and showering, and pick up an already-clean set of clothes on the other side. Fumigation would occur at a separate time. Possibly inmates would be forbidden from the facility except when they were required to go through delousing. This would eliminate nearly all risk of poisoning.

In support of this speculation, we see that this facility was built on the edge of the camp, which was a sensible choice to limit cyanide exposure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be held in common across the camps. Only at Birkenau were there two mirror disinfestation facilities located near the center of the camp, but those still had ample open yard space and a fence to restrict access.

Still, we're talking about gas diffusion. I believe they used HCN for fumigation at a concentration of ~1,000 ppm, and it's generally accepted that humans can tolerate ~50 ppm for short periods. How close to a window or door would you have to be standing to get poisoned? I imagine under 10 meters, decreasing as time passed.

For those curious, more information about airing out after fumigation can be found in this contemporary instruction manual published in Pressac's book.

[Booze]

I definitely understand the idea of relying on cross ventilation to aerate the chamber. My thought was that they're going to have racks of clothes in those chambers. They're going to want to allow enough time to make certain that it's safe. And on some days you'll have less air movement than others.
As Wetzelrad said they have to keep ppl out of there for some length of time.
It just seems odd to me that they located it so close to the showers. They had their reasons I'm sure. It's a big camp, lots ppl and a lot of clothes, so It makes me wonder how many showers and de-infestation chambers they had.

[Booze]

Concentration used in homicidal gassing in Birkenau: 12g/m³ (1%), or 40 times the lethal (or mortal) dose.

The way that Pressac declares this as established fact is typical of the technique used by the holocaust industry.
Completely out of thin air but stated with authority.

[Fred Ziffel]

I definitely understand the idea of relying on cross ventilation to aerate the chamber. My thought was that they're going to have racks of clothes in those chambers. They're going to want to allow enough time to make certain that it's safe. And on some days you'll have less air movement than others.
As Wetzelrad said they have to keep ppl out of there for some length of time.
It just seems odd to me that they located it so close to the showers. They had their reasons I'm sure. It's a big camp, lots ppl and a lot of clothes, so It makes me wonder how many showers and de-infestation chambers they had.

I'll buy that, so long as those 3 rooms are mot thought as a homicidal gas chamber

[Booze]

I definitely understand the idea of relying on cross ventilation to aerate the chamber. My thought was that they're going to have racks of clothes in those chambers. They're going to want to allow enough time to make certain that it's safe. And on some days you'll have less air movement than others.
As Wetzelrad said they have to keep ppl out of there for some length of time.
It just seems odd to me that they located it so close to the showers. They had their reasons I'm sure. It's a big camp, lots ppl and a lot of clothes, so It makes me wonder how many showers and de-infestation chambers they had.

I'll buy that, so long as those 3 rooms are mot thought as a homicidal gas chamber

Not by me, I don't believe there was a single homicidal gas chamber at any camp, I also doubt the T4 claims.