Did Six Million Really Die?
Testimony of
Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. was the twenty-first witness in the great Zundel trial.AUSCHWITZ I
Krema 1
Over a three day period (32-9078), Leuchter inspected, measured and photographed what was known as Krema I in the main Auschwitz I camp and which consisted of a crematory and an alleged gas chamber. He inspected the lighting, the electrical systems, the adjacency of the alleged gas chamber to the crematorium, and the physical layout of the crematorium. He also looked at the buildings in the immediate area of Krema I. These included the SS hospital about 40 feet away across the street and two SS headquarter buildings a stone's throw from the alleged gas chamber. (32-9065, 9066, 9123; Photograph of external view of Krema I showing proximity to SS hospital entered as part of Exhibit 145) He also removed forensic samples of the brick and mortar from various locations within the structure, making sure that all areas of the walls and the floor were covered in the sample-taking. (32 9078)
Leuchter's draftsman, who accompanied him in the investigation, drew up a plan of Krema I under Leuchter's supervision. The drawing was based on original blueprints of the building, and measurements taken at the site. (32-9066, 9067; Drawing of Krema #1, entered as Exhibit 135)
The building had two areas, a crematorium and the area alleged to be the gas chamber. There had been three furnaces with two retorts each in the crematory section of the building. The third furnace was not there on Leuchter's inspection. It had been removed some years earlier, apparently while the building was being converted into a bomb shelter. (32-9067; Photograph of one of the two ovens located in Krema I entered as part of Exhibit 145) When the area alleged to have been the gas chamber was converted into the bomb shelter, additional walls had been added to prevent any bomb blast from going throughout the entire area. These walls had subsequently been removed. The two walls at the end of the alleged gas chamber were permanent, however, and had been there at the time the building was utilized by the Germans until the Allies arrived and liberated the camp. (32-9067; Photograph of interior of alleged gas chamber at Krema I entered as part of Exhibit 145) Leuchter observed no signs of any blue markings on the walls of Krema I, nor was there any indication that the walls had been treated or painted in any way. (32- 9194)
The door leading from the alleged gas chamber into the crematorium had been moved two and a half feet. Leuchter was able to determine the original location by measurements, marks on the wall and its placement in conjunction with two railroad tracks where a cart with the corpses had been rolled from the morgue (alleged gas chamber) into the crematorium and up to each retort for burning. (32 9071; Photograph showing proximity of alleged gas chamber to crematory ovens entered as part of Exhibit 145)
The roof of the alleged gas chamber contained square vents with collars. These were not gasketed and they were made of wood. They had been recently rebuilt before Leuchter arrived. The purpose of these vents was to air the area since the facility was in fact a morgue where they stored the bodies prior to cremation. (32-9068, 9069) There was an old chimney on the roof which no longer had any function. It was originally for some type of stove that had been located in the mortuary (gas chamber) area. The roof also had small chimneys which were probably for the crematory furnaces. The third furnace had a large stack in the back of the building. (32-9072; Photograph of roof of Krema I entered as part of Exhibit 145)
In Holocaust literature, the vents were allegedly used as the openings to drop in the Zyklon B, which produced the hydrogen cyanide gas after it reached the floor of the facility. Zyklon B was a special preparation of hydrogen cyanide gas where the gas was forced by compression into particles of chalk or wood pulp. These particles carried the gas and would, upon heating or being exposed to air, release the gas into the area where the gas was to be utilized. One of the main requirements for driving or evaporating the hydrogen cyanide gas out of the Zyklon B was excessive temperature. It had to be heated to above 78 or 79 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature was not near the 78 degree point, it would be released much slower and over a much longer period of time. Leuchter pointed out that of the four vents, one was in the area of a washroom and not in the presumed gas chamber at all. The alleged gas chamber room was extremely cold and damp. (32-9069, 9070)
The alleged gas chamber area had no exhaust system for removing the gas. It simply had three vents in the roof. Assuming the area was used as a gas chamber, it would take the better part of a week to air it out before any humans could go in to remove anything that was inside the chamber area. (32-9071)
There were two drains in the area that was alleged to be the gas chamber. These drains were tied into the main drainage system of the camp. Leuchter testified that if the area were utilized as a gas chamber, liquid condensed hydrogen cyanide gas would get into the drains, mix with the water and eventually wind up coming out every storm drain and possibly every sink drain and toilet in the camp. The drains made the room a very dangerous place to utilize as a gas chamber. (32-9068; Photograph of drain on the floor of the alleged gas chamber at Krema I entered as part of Exhibit 145)
Leuchter testified that if the mortuary had been used as a gas chamber, there would have been a very high concentration of gas when the pellets were first dropped into the room, as much as 99 to 100 percent concentration. The doorway that led from the mortuary directly into the crematory was not gasketed. The furnaces in the crematory would have been operating at something around 1,500 or 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Leuchter stated that anything over 1,100 degrees would cause an explosion if the gas escaped from the gas chamber area into the crematory area. Thus, the juxtaposition of the two facilities in the same building was dangerous. (32 9073)
In Leuchter's opinion, if the building had in fact been used as a gas chamber, it should have been designed and prepared in a manner different than it was. The entire area that contained the gas should have been coated, both inside and out, with tar or pitch to prevent any gas leakage. It should have had some type of exhaust system to bring fresh air in and exhaust the gas present in the chamber. It did not have such an exhaust system. The exhausted gas would normally be sent through a 40-foot high chimney or stack and blown into the air where it was high enough above the surrounding buildings so the gas and air mixture could be harmlessly scattered. As it was, the vents were less than one foot high. It would probably have taken a week to air the room and the gas would have leaked out very close to the top of the roof. Undoubtedly, the gas would have blown towards buildings in the immediate vicinity of the alleged gas chamber, including the SS hospital and SS buildings, causing the death of people in those buildings. (32-9073, 9074)
Leuchter concluded that the alleged gas chamber at Krema I could not have been used, then or now, as a gassing facility for executing human beings. (32-9076) The facility would have been much too dangerous to operate because of gas leakage to the surrounding area and into the crematorium, where such leakage would have caused an explosion. Personnel operating the facility probably would have been killed. None of the walls, either inside or out, were coated in the normal manner. The normal manner prescribed for delousing chambers by the German military and health officials was tar or pitch painted both inside and outside. There was no 40- foot stack, so the gas would have come out of the building very low, and probably would have hovered immediately around the building. Since the nearest building was the SS hospital, which was higher, this would have stopped the wind from dissipating the gas. The storm drain connection to the drains in the floor of the alleged gas chamber would have allowed the gas out into the main area of the camp. In short, in Leuchter's opinion, the building would have been very dangerous to use not just for the inmates but for all camp staff and personnel. (32 9077)
