The interesting question is why certain witnesses claimed that steam was used first and diesel exhaust second (not to mention the vacuum chambers). It is possible that they heard different rumors from the other inmates and tried to present their "synthesis". The truth is that only Nazis and "gasmeisters" could be completely sure about the method of killing (and all of them said it was done by the engine exhaust).
Here is a similar case for Sobibor.
Graf in his book wrote:
One of the eyewitnesses, a Soviet Jew named Alexander Pechersky, described the mass murders as follows (9):
"At first glance, as one entered, it like a normal shower: hot and cold taps for running water, wash basins... as soon as everyone was inside, the doors slammed shut with a loud noise. Out of holes in the ceiling, a heavy, blackish substance poured down in spiral shapes..."
To drown out the pitiful cries of the victims, the Germans at Sobibor kept a flock of geese [!] which were made to quack (or whatever noise it is that is made by geese), very loudly, whenever the blackish substance was introduced (10).
...
9) Alexander Pechersky, La rivolta di Sobibor, in Yuri Suhl, Ed essi si ribellarono, Milan, 1969, p. 31.
10) ibid.
http://www.ety.com/HRP/booksonline/graf/chap12.htm
It turns out that Graf took the quote out of context, as is usual for these neo-Nazi liars. Pechersky did not claim to know the method first-hand. He heard about it from someone else; from someone, who also did not witness it first-hand. This info I got from Mr. Harry Mazal:
I have scoured through my books and found many references to Pechersky (Raseke, Novitch Cohen, Arad , Blatt and Temchin - to name but a few). It was not until I looked in:
They Fought Back
Edited by Yuri Suhl
c. 1967, Crown Publishers (New York)
Library Of Congress Catalog Card No. 66-26175
that I came across the essay entitled:
"Revolt in Sobibor" by Alexander Pechersky
Not surprisingly, Graf has quoted the article from an
obscure Italian source not obtainable by anyone. He
has further quoted Pechersky completely out of
context.
Looking at the version in English that I have quoted it
is a simple matter to see that Pechersky did not originate
the statements that are attributed to him by Graf, but are
merely bits of hearsay that he quotes:
"On the evening of the fifth day we arrived at a small
deserted station. A white sign in big gothic letters read SOBIBOR.
[...]
"...Oberscharf?hrer Gomerski, a former Berlin boxer ...
planted himself in fornt of us, scrutinized us and
called out:
'Carpenters and cabinetmakers without families -- forward!'
"About eighty men, most of them prisoners of war, stepped forward. I was among them. We were forced into a yard fenced off by a barbed wire. From there we were led to a
barracks with barren bunks and ordered to take our places.
All the others in the transport remained on the other side of the fence and we never saw them again.
[...]
"A short, stocky Jew sat down near us. He was about forty
years old. He had just returned from work in another yard. 'Where are you from?' he asked me in Yiddish.
[...]
"The air was full of the sharp smell of something smoldering.
'What's burning there?' I asked.
"'Don't look in that direction' the Jew replied, 'your comrades
bodies are burning there...'
[...]
"He was an old-time inmate who worked at sorting out the clothing of those who were killed. He was well informed. From him we learned where our comrades had disappeared and how the whole thing operated. [...]
" 'As soon as you were separated from them, ' he said, 'they
were taken to a second yard where everyone, without exception must gather. [...] ...the bareheaded women. wearing only their undergowns, and the children go first. About a hundred steps behind them go the men, completely naked. All are heavily guarded. There is the 'bath' he pointed with one hand, 'not far from where you see the smoke. Two buildings are standing there, one for women and children, the other for men. I MYSELF HAVE NOT SEEN WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE INSIDE (emphasis mine - HWM) but people who know have described it.'
"At first glance, as one entered, it like a normal shower: hot and cold taps for running water, wash basins... as soon as everyone was inside, the doors slammed shut with a loud noise. Out of holes in the ceiling, a heavy, blackish substance poured down in spiral shapes..."
(etc.)
Note how Graf attempts to attribute the statement to
Pechersky, rather than clearly identifying it as hearsay repeated by him. It is this sort of peculiar behavior that separates mendacious people like Graf from true historians.
And Mr. Toivi Blatt, also a former Sobibor inmate, wrote:
Dear Mr. Romanov.
I read all of Pechersky's writing and also twice personally interviewed him. He never claims to see inside the gas chambers. Yuri Suhl book is plain literature and the author had the freedom of imagination. No Jew who was once inside the gas chamber in operation come out alive. The information about the gassing installation came from the accused Nazi testimonies in the court proceedings. Second hand stories are many times deceitful. I myself find my story completely rewritten and unrecognizable in Miriam Novich book about Sobibor.
BTW, maybe we could start a new thread called "Murder methods in Aktion Reinhardt camps"?
