63 : Fumes from a diesel engine are not toxic enough to kill people. (Holocaust: Leuchter)
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This article is from the Holocaust FAQ, by Ken McVay kmcvay@nizkor.org with numerous contributions by others.
63 : Fumes from a diesel engine are not toxic enough to kill people. (Holocaust: Leuchter)
(This claim is made with regard to the death camp of
Treblinka - see file with ruling of German courts on this. In
other death camps, gasoline engines were used. The method of
killing was simple - people were crammed into the gas chambers,
and the exhaust of powerful engines was pumped into them).
Nonsense. In a closed chamber, of course diesel fumes will kill.
There was actually a study on this, and its results are reported in
"The Toxicity of Fumes from a diesel Engine Under Four Different
Running Conditions", by Pattle et al., British Journal of Industrial
Medicine, 1957, Vol 14, p. 47-55. These researchers ran a few
experiments in which various animals were exposed to diesel fumes,
and studied the results.
In the experiments, the exhaust of a small diesel engine (568 cc, 6
BHP) was connected to a chamber 10 cubic meters (340 cubic feet) in
volume, and the animals were put inside it. In all cases, the
animals died. Death was swifter when the intake of air to the engine
was restricted, as this causes a large increase in the amount of
carbon monoxide (CO) that is emitted. (See, for instance, "diesel
Engine Reference Book", by Lilly, 1985, p. 18/8, where it is stated
that at a high air/fuel ratio the concentration of CO is only a few
parts per million but for lower ratios (25:1) the concentration of CO
can rise up to 3,000 ppm. It is very easy to restrict the air intake
- the British researchers did so by partially covering the air intake
opening with a piece of metal.)
Even in cases where the CO output was low, the animals still died
from other toxic components - mainly irritants and nitrogen dioxide.
Now, the diesel engines used in Treblinka were much larger - they
belonged to captured Soviet T-34 tanks. These tanks weighed 26-31
tons (depending on the model) and had a 500 BHP engine (compared to a
mere 6 BHP in the British experiments). The volume of the
extermination chambers in Treblinka is, of course, a factor. But the
chambers' volume was about 60 cubic meters (2040 cubic feet); this is
6 times more than those in the British experiments, but the
difference in the size of the engines is much larger than a factor of
6.
It should be remembered that what matters in CO poisoning is not the
concentration of CO, but the ratio of CO to oxygen. In a small,
gas-tight room, crammed full of people, oxygen levels drop quickly,
thus making death by CO poisoning faster. As noted, other toxic
components in the fumes further accelerate mortality.
The SS was aware of the fact that cramming as many people as possible
into the gas chamber, thus leaving no empty spaces, would accelerate
mortality. This is evident, for instance, from a letter regarding
"gassing vans" (used in the Chelmno extermination camp and other
locations) sent to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Walter Rauff, 5 June 1942.
The letter is quite long (more of it is reproduced in the file of
original Nazi documents), but here is the relevant part (Nazism,
document 913).
"2) The vans are normally loaded with 9-10 people per square meter.
With the large Saurer special vans this is not possible because
although they do not become overloaded their maneuverability is much
impaired. A reduction in the load area appears desirable. It can be
achieved by reducing the size of the van by c. 1 meter. The
difficulty referred to cannot be overcome by reducing the size of the
load. For a reduction in the numbers will necessitate longer period
of operation because the free spaces will have to be filled with CO.
By contrast, a smaller load area which is completely full requires a
much shorter period of operation since there are no free spaces."
Another gruesome testimony to the "science of gassing" developed by
the SS is the letter from Dr August Becker to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer
Rauff, 16 May 1942 (Nazi Conspiracy, 418)
The application of the gas is not undertaken correctly. In
order to come to an end as fast as possible, the driver presses
the accelerator to the fullest extent. By doing that the
persons to be executed suffer death from suffocation and not
death by dozing off as was planned. My directions have now
proved that by correct adjustment of the levers death comes
faster and the prisoners fall asleep peacefully. Distorted
faces and excretions, such as could be seen before, are no
longer noticed.
Additional information was published to several UseNet newsgroups in
November of 1993, in which smullins@ecn.purdue.edu quotes Holtz (see
Recommended Reading section) and Elliot. A quick scan of the data
clearly shows the difference in oxygen and carbon monoxide levels
found in diesel exhaust under different fuel-air mixture conditions:
Exhaust gas composition of a diesel engine, running at the correct
fuel-air ratios (% by volume):
O2: 1.5%
CO2: 13.5%
CO: 0.5%
Exhaust gas composition of a diesel engine running at a fuel-air
ratio of 0.094 (% by volume):
O2: 0.3%
CO2: 10.2%
CO: 6.0%
The data clearly demonstrates that simply restricting the air intake
of the engine, any diesel engine will produce sufficient CO to be
clearly and rapidly fatal (6% CO represents roughly 60,000 ppm). This
data (Holtz & Elliot) appeared in "Transactions of the ASME" in early
1941, and was probably known to the Nazis.
Mr. Mullins has also published an article to UseNet which deals with
Berg's "The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth Within a Myth," (Get pub/
orgs/american/ihr/jhr/jhr.v5n1), and which demonstrates not only how
diesel engines can quickly produce highly toxic levels of gasses,
but which uses Berg's own references to do so. (Get
pub/orgs/american/ihr/diesel.001 for the full article.)
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