From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Subject: Re: More answers on Holocaust and Leuchter Report
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 14:50:41 GMT


Here we go again. I will answer two of "Martin's" allegations about the
Auschwitz extermination camp. 

1) The cremation capability of the furnaces.

A standard claim of the  "revisionists" is that the cremation facilities in 
the camp could not possibly dispose of so many corpses. Is that so?

There were five "Krematorien" in Auschwitz. Each one was a unit with a
gas chamber for killing people and with furnaces to cremate the
bodies. It was the cremation that took a lot of time - the gassing
was very quick, because the concentration used (about 10 grams of
hydrocyanic acid per meter cube) kills people in less than five minutes.

In a letter sent to SS General Kammler in Berlin on June 20 1943, the
number of corpses that can be disposed of in 24 hours is given as *4,756*,
No less. The letter is reproduced in the book "Technique and operation
of the gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau" by Pressac (p. 247).  

How does one arrive at such numbers?

Take a look at the furnaces of "Krematorien II" ([Pressac], p. 367). 
There are 15 huge ovens, each capable of disposing of 3 corpses in
45 minutes. Remember, many of the murdered were children (who were
of no use in forced labor). That's 45 for 45 minutes, or 1440 per
24 hours (this is actually the number stated in the letter for 
"Krematorien II").

Similar calculations were made for the other "Krematorien" and resulted
in  the total of 4,756 per day (some of them had less furnaces,
so the total is lower than 5 x 1,440 = 7,200).

Now, this is for 24 working hours, which is non realistic; however,
12 working hours a day is perfectly realistic, and results in
2,378 cremated corpses per day.

Conclusion of simple arithmatic - no problem to cremate more than
2,000 corpses a day. This is perfecly consistent with the number
of people murdered in Auschwitz - about a million. 

2) On the traces of Cyanic compounds found in the gas chambers.

I thought this was clear already, but some people just don't seem to
understand, or to be capable of doing simple arithmatic. The gas chambers
used for killing people and the gas chambers used for delousing
were exposed for approximately the same concentration of hydrocyanic
acid, but that concentration kills humans in less than five minutes,
while it takes it many hours to kill all kinds of lice and bugs.
Therefore, the delousing chambers were exposed for a much longer
time to the hydrocyanic acid, resulting in more traces of cyanic
compounds.

Furthermore, as explained here and quoted from the report of the
Polish experts, the fact that the gas chamber was dynamited and
its walls exposed to the weather and acid rain, which dissolve
the compounds (while the delousing chambers are intact) further
expalins why less traces remained. For the sake of even the most
stupid members of b-cpu, I have included the relevant portions
of the Polish expert's report below (Appendix 1).

Now, "Martin" comes with a new one: it would take the gas a lot
of time to kill, about half an hour, therefore causing more
exposure to the gas and generating more compounds. But this
is nonsense; the gas chambers were not very big (the one in
"Krematorien II" was about 210 squared meters in area). The Zyklon-B was
dropped in from four openings. The gas easily spread all around the 
chamber rather quickly.

The concentration used was so much above the lethal one that it 
did not have to spread evenly to cause immediate death.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix 1: opinion of Polish experts on finding cyanic traces in
            the gas chambers. Refutes the "Leucther report"
            completely.


[......]

  Stronger acids, such as sulfuric acids, easily dissolve the cyanides.
The compounds of cyanide ions with heavy metals are longer lasting.
This includes the already mentioned Prussian blue, although this will
also slowly dissolve in an acidic environment.

  Therefore, one can hardly assume that traces of cyanic compounds
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
could still be detected in construction materials (plaster, brick)
after 45 years, after being subjected to the weather and the elements
(rain, acid oxides, especially sulfuric and nitrogen oxides).  More
reliable would be the analysis of wall plaster [samples] from closed
rooms which were not subject to weather and the elements (including
acid rain).

[.......]

Specialist for Technical Testing
Engineer Jerzy Labedz

Director of Toxicology
Dr. Wojciech Gubala

Senior Assistant
Beata Trzcinska, M.S.

[.......]

     In a letter dated June 7, 1991, Dr. Markiewicz responded:


[.......]

hydrogen cyanide."  In connection with the question posed in that
letter I qualified the chances of detecting hydrogen cyanide in such
samples as nearly none.  As a chemist engaged in forensic chemical
           ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
toxicology for 45 years, I am familiar with the properties of this
volatile substance.  Hence my reply. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------



-Danny Keren.



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