‘Instantaneous’ Two-Day-Long Gassings

Found in: Carlo Mattogno, “The First Gassing at Auschwitz: Genesis of a Myth,” The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 9 number 2.

“3. The Duration of the Gassing

“Rudolf Höss declared that, on the occasion of the first gassing accomplished by his deputy Fritzsch, the Zyklon B provoked ‘the immediate death’ (den sofortigen Tod) of the victims. (fn 20) The article in the Polish Fortnightly Review reports instead that ‘all the prisoners died during the night. All night the rest of the camp was kept awake by the moans and screams originating from the shelter.’ Finally, the Polish Investigation Commission asserts that ‘next afternoon’ some prisoners were still alive, ‘therefore further cyclon was poured out and the doors again tightly closed, to be reopened the next evening, when all the prisoners were dead.’ Therefore, all the victims died immediately, or during the night, or two days later.”