Homicidal Gas Chamber

U.S. Execution Gas Chambers

Between 1924 and 1999, the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico and North Carolina have employed hydrogen-cyanide gas in homicidal gas chambers in order to kill persons sentenced to death (capital punishment). For safety reasons of everyone involved – prison warden, technicians and witnesses – these chambers had to be absolutely gastight, the gas had to be safely evacuated afterwards by powerful fans through a high stack, and the door(s) had to be made of massive steel not only to seal in the gas, but also to prevent an inmate from breaking out who might succeed in breaking or untying the straps holding him to the execution seat.

In 1999, American executions in gas chambers were terminated because they were found to be a form of cruel punishment. Executions in them lasted on average some ten minutes, but could last as long as 20 minutes, while the victim was visibly and audibly suffering extreme pain. The toxin employed was hydrogen cyanide, which was produced right beneath the execution chair by pouring semi-concentrated sulfuric acid into a bowl containing potassium cyanide. From this, hydrogen-cyanide gas developed rapidly and rose in a mist to engulf the victim within seconds. The concentrations used were around 0.3% (3000 ppm). In order to prevent accidental poisoning of the individuals removing the corpse afterwards, the corpse (and the chamber equipment) had to be treated chemically to neutralize any hydrogen cyanide adhering to surfaces.

(See Rudolf 2020, pp. 15-19; Christianson 2010; Leuchter et al. 2017, pp. 193-224.)

Euthanasia in Germany

During the euthanasia program initiated in Germany at the beginning of World War II, gas chambers using bottled carbon monoxide as the toxin are said to have been used. There is little if any extant documentation about this, however. See the entry on Euthanasia.

Claimed German Wartime Gas Chambers

Gas chambers for the mass murder of inmates in German wartime camps are said to have existed in many camps. The way these gas chambers are said to have been contrived and designed, as well as their claimed methods of execution, are inconsistent and highly illogical. This suggests that these claims originated not in reality but rather in wartime atrocity propaganda and rumors. Strikingly, there exists absolutely no documentation whatsoever for any of these gas chamber claims. In many cases, there doesn’t even exist any physical trace; and where such traces do exist, their interpretation by the orthodoxy is highly questionable. Here are the orthodoxy’s claims for each camp (for details, see the entry for each camp):

Auschwitz

Prior to the beginning of the German-Soviet war in June 1941, Himmler allegedly ordered Auschwitz Camp Commandant Rudolf Höss to establish in this camp the main center for the extermination of the Jews. Höss furthermore claimed that Adolf Eichmann was tasked with finding a suitable poison gas but was unsuccessful for several months. In early September 1941, Höss’s deputy Karl Fritzsch supposedly discovered the method of extermination by chance, while Höss was away on a business trip: He performed the “first gassing” haphazardly in some basement rooms using Zyklon B. After that, several rooms in other buildings at the Auschwitz Main Camp and at Birkenau are said to have been haphazardly retrofitted over time, so they could serve as homicidal gas chambers.

Chełmno

Here, mobile gas chambers, so-called gas vans, are said to have been deployed since late 1941, after the method had been discovered unintentionally by Arthur Nebe when he almost gassed himself in his car by accident. The vans’ engine exhaust was ducted into the cargo hold, which was filled with up to a hundred or more victims.

Belzec, Sobibór, Treblinka

When the “Final Solution” of the Jewish question was implemented with the creation of these three “pure extermination camps” – allegedly starting in October of 1941 – predominantly SS men who previously served at various euthanasia institutions were deployed to these three camps. Yet, instead of applying the methods used at those institutions (bottled carbon monoxide), they are said to have used completely different murder methods. For Belzec were claimed: unslaked lime, high-voltage electricity, vacuum and diesel-engine exhaust gas. For Sobibór were claimed: chlorine gas, engine-exhaust gas, high-voltage electricity or a black liquid. For Treblinka were claimed: unslaked lime, hot steam, high-voltage electricity and diesel-engine exhaust gas. Today, only engine exhaust is claimed for all three camps.

Mauthausen

A gas chamber using Zyklon B heated with “a hot brick” is said to have started operating in May 1942 with the murder of Soviet PoWs.

Majdanek

Although the Majdanek Camp – like Belzec, Sobibór and Treblinka – was also part of Aktion Reinhardt, the decision to have gas chambers built there was taken only sometime in early 1942, and the methods used were allegedly both Zyklon B and bottled carbon monoxide. There were no exotic methods claimed, such as those at the other Reinhardt camps.

Dachau

Camp physician Dr. Sigmund Rascher supposedly requested permission in the summer of 1942 to use some facility under construction at Dachau as an experimental gas chamber for the testing of war gases using inmates. The only witness to such a gassing claims to have smelled chlorine, but Zyklon B is today claimed as the toxin used.

Neuengamme

In the fall of 1942, nonsensical modifications were allegedly made to a room at that camp, allowing homicidal gassings with Zyklon B. Two gassings with 100 to 200 victims each are said to have occurred there.

Sachsenhausen

Since March 1943, a small Zyklon-B disinfestation cubicle, similar to the DEGESCH fumigation gas chamber, was allegedly used to mass murder inmates, although the use of a non-existing liquid “Zyklon A” is also hypothesized.

Natzweiler

A makeshift gas chamber was allegedly jury-rigged in that camp in the summer of 1943 using a cyanide powder, over which some liquid was poured in order to release toxic hydrogen-cyanide fumes. This method was only used once for the killing of a batch of inmates, allegedly in order to retrieve their skeletons for some museum collection. Additionally, the war gas phosgene was tested in some facility of that camp.

Stutthof

In this camp, an existing Zyklon-B disinfestation chamber is said to have been used for homicidal purposes starting in the summer of 1944, when Soviet troops were closing in on Germany.

Ravensbrück

This gas chamber was allegedly put into operation absurdly late, in early 1945, after Himmler presumably had prohibited all inmate murders in late 1944. (See the entry for Kurt Becher.)

The Chain of Command

If there were in fact an intention by the Germans to implement mass gassing as a central policy of the Third Reich, there certainly would have been a clear and consistent chain of command, from the highest levels. Instead, we see disparate, disconnected and decentralized (alleged) chains – or no organizational structure at all. Looking at just the larger camps where homicidal gas chambers are said to have existed makes this clear. According to current orthodox Holocaust historiography, which is based almost exclusively on anecdotal evidence, there were at least three different chains of command for these camps:

1. Hitler → Führer chancellery → The technical services of the German FBI (Krimi­naltechnisches Institut): carbon monoxide in steel bottles (euthanasia centers, Majdanek) or gas vans (Chełmno, Einsatzgruppen);
2. Hitler → Himmler → Eichmann (or Fritzsch) → Höss: Zyklon B (Auschwitz/Majdanek);
3. Himmler → Globocnik → Höfle → Wirth: exhaust gases of diesel and/or gasoline engines (Bełżec/Sobibór/Treblinka).

Any of the other minor camps could have had some other chain of command, but there is not even enough anecdotal evidence in these cases, let alone any documents, and so it is futile to draw similar lines of command.

Changing Murder Methods

Today, the orthodoxy claims only one murder method for each of the alleged extermination camps. But during the war and in the immediate aftermath, many different methods were claimed, which were later relegated to the dustbins of historiography, swept under the carpet by mainstream historians too embarrassed to ever mention these absurdities. Unfortunately for them, the remaining methods are no less absurd. The following table lists in the center column all the methods quietly dropped, while the right column list what is still claimed by the orthodoxy to this very day. For sources, see the entries for each individual camp.

Camp	Once-Claimed Method, Now Abandoned	Still-Claimed Method
Auschwitz	war gases, high-voltage, gas showers, gas bombs, pneumatic hammer, conveyor belt, burned alive	Zyklon B
Treblinka	machine guns, mobile gas chamber, stunning gas, vacuum, unslaked lime, hot steam, high voltage, chlorine, ether, death bridge, burned alive	Diesel-engine exhaust gas
Bełżec	subterranean murder chamber, unslaked lime, high voltage, vacuum, collapsible gas-chamber floor, suffocation with human excrements	Diesel-engine exhaust gas
Sobibór	chlorine gas, a black liquid, high voltage, collapsible gas-chamber floor, gas showers	engine exhaust gas
Majdanek	Zyklon B	bottled carbon monoxide