The Gas Chamber of Sherlock Holmes

13. Civil Defense in the Concentration Camps

THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS also featured extensive civil defense paraphernalia. There are three reasons why this would be so. In the first place the Guidelines for air raid shelter construction from the fall of 1940 mandated that all new constructions, particularly in the armaments industry, should be equipped with (gas tight) air raid shelters.427 Secondly, it is well known that the concentration camp system was regarded as crucial as a source of labor for the armaments industry.428 Third, a directive from Heinrich Himmler dated February 8, 1943, makes it clear that the SS was very concerned about the possibility of air attacks on the concentration camp system.429

The main shelters found in the concentration camps were covered trenches dug out of the ground.430 But given the concerns among the civilian population, we should expect similar adaptations in the camps, especially for gas warfare. A cursory inspection of contemporary photographs and documents further support the inference of widespread air raid and gas protection in the concentration camps. The dwelling of the Auschwitz Commandant, for example, clearly shows a gas-tight shutter or Blende attached to the right front of the building, along with a ventilation pipe,431 while the blueprints for the Central Sauna at Birkenau indicate that its basement was equipped with an emergency exit.432

The hypothesis concerning air raid shelters at Auschwitz is confirmed by the recent discovery of three documents from the Moscow archives that prove that the Germans were concerned with developing an extensive network of air raid shelters at Auschwitz Birkenau starting from the summer of the 1943, that is, at the same time that the building office of that camp was flooded with work orders for gastight fixtures.433

The Bath and Disinfection Complex II at Majdanek has a number of features that support an air raid shelter, and thus gastight, interpretation. Clearly, the gastight doors with peepholes are air raid shelter doors, constructed by the Auer firm in Berlin, which was a major supplier of air raid shelter equipment in Germany throughout the war.434 Other doors in the complex appear to be rudimentary air raid shelter doors constructed of wood. The CO gas mask filter found on site were also produced by Auer, and was specifically constructed according to air raid shelter specifications.435 The overhead openings in Room "A", discussed earlier, were constructed simultaneous to the delivery orders for the gastight doors,436 and furthermore meet German industry standards (DIN) for the construction of emergency exits from air raid shelters.437

Of course, as we have seen, other features point to a disinfection use. These include the overall construction and context, the external boilers, the piping, the tanks of carbon dioxide, and the positioning of a thermometer in one of the peepholes. However, these features can be squared with air raid shelter usage in the context of decontamination, inasmuch as hot air was a recommended form of decontamination, required gas tight doors, as well as openings for thermometer consultation.438 Furthermore, a wartime pamphlet of the German Gas Protection Service of the Wehrmacht specifies that existing structures can be adapted for decontamination use.

The simplest explanation is that the Bath and Disinfection Complex II at Majdanek was modified in the fall of 1942, such that it could continue its use as a delousing station while in addition being available for air raid and gas protection as well as decontamination.439 Support in the surrounding context lies in the fact that these modifactions to the Majdanek camp in occupied Poland occurred at the same time as the Germans were providing the Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto with materials for air raid shelters, materials that were used instead to construct a network of defensive bunkers that were used against the Germans in May, 1943.440 Surely a more thorough analysis of concentration camp buildings would extend the evidence of air raid shelters and gas protection.441

Notes

  1. This section corresponds to the article, Crowell, Samuel, "Defending Against the Allied Bombing Campaign: Air Raid Shelters and Gas Protection in Germany, 1939-1945, Part 2", at http://www.vho.org/GB/c/SC/inconabr_2.html and consult these sources.
  2. Crowell, loc. cit.
  3. Crowell, loc. cit.
  4. Crowell, loc. cit.
  5. Crowell, loc. cit.
  6. Crowell, op. cit.
  7. The documents, copies of which were transmitted to this author by Germar Rudolf, have been reproduced with translations on the Internet.
  8. Mchael Foedrowitz, Bunkerwelten, n.p., 1998, p. xxxxx
  9. Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p. xxxxx
  10. Ibid., p.
  11. DIN standards xxxxx
  12. Described in Entgiften von Bekleidung und Ausrustung in ortsfesten Anlagen, issued by the Gasabwehrdienst aller Waffen, dtd 1 Jan 43. The author would like to thank David Irving for providing this rare pamphlet.
  13. Crowell, loc. cit.
  14. Stroop Report, IMT xxxxx
  15. Crowell, loc. cit.

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