The Blue Color of the Jewish Victims at Belzec Death Camp – and Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Editor's remark: The following paper challenges in a scholarly way statements repeatedly made by engineer Friedrich P. Berg. Even before the publication of Mr. Provan's paper, Mr. Berg was invited to write a paper addressing the issues raised in it, which was meant to be published right after Provan's challenge. Mr. Berg rejected the invitation and instead became verbally abusive against Mr. Provan (as again later in a Letter to the Editor). After Provan's paper had been published, Mr. Berg felt obligated to reexamine the issue and address it after all, which he has done on his website www.NaziGassings.com (now also available on this website). Thomas Kues also wrote a paper on the issues at hand: “Skin discoloration caused by carbon monoxide poisoning; Reality vs. Holocaust eye-witness testimony”. G.R.
1. Introduction
Fritz Berg's position on diesel toxicity has been revised and published in Dissecting the Holocaust,[1] under the title “The Diesel Gas Chambers: Ideal for Torture – Absurd for Murder.” In the opinion of this author, Berg's conclusion is absolutely in error, and provably so. It is actually easy, fast, and cheap to mass-murder people with diesel exhaust.
I thought it would be good to show some of the errors in Berg's article and post them on our website. We will begin with this article, mainly on a relatively easy subject – that of color.
There are two outside witnesses to the gassing of Jews at the Nazi extermination camp of Belzec in Poland, namely Kurt Gerstein and Wilhelm Pfannenstiel. Both were Germans, and both were members of the Waffen SS, officers of Hygiene. Though on separate missions, they traveled together from Germany to Poland in August of 1942, visiting Belzec. The exact dates they gave for their time at Belzec are, in this author's opinion, somewhat doubtful.[2]
While Kurt Gerstein has been criticized often and severely by many Revisionists over the years, attacks upon his temporary companion and witness have been much more subdued. This is perhaps because Pfannenstiel is more restrained, or because he became friends with the “Father of Revisionism,” Dr. Paul Rassinier, whom he convinced that some gassings of Jews in WWII had a factual, though “wild” basis (that is, unauthorized by the German Government). Rassinier regarded Pfannenstiel as the only convincing eyewitness to a WWII homicidal gassing whom he had ever met.[3]
2. Gerstein on the Toxicity of Diesel Exhaust
In Berg's 2000 article, as well as his original article of 1984,[4] he has this to say about Gerstein and diesel toxicity: “The Gerstein statement, to its credit, makes no claim that carbon monoxide was the lethal ingredient in the diesel exhaust. It is the exterminationists, i.e., the people who try to uphold the holocaust story, who have repeatedly stated that death was due to the carbon monoxide in the diesel exhaust.”
Although Gerstein was not specific in any of the six manuscripts of his statements, mentioning only generalities like “the diesel engine, the exhausts of which are intended to kill the unfortunates,”[5] yet an interesting document was unearthed and published by Henri Roques in 1989. It is a copy of an interrogation of Kurt Gerstein by the French Military Justice Department made on June 26, 1945. In it, Gerstein had this to say: .”..the victims were asphyxiated by means of a diesel engine with toxic exhausts (oxide and carbonic gas[6]) in the four installations previously mentioned.”[7] (It is worth mentioning that Roques himself says concerning this document, “we have every guarantee of authenticity.”[8])
The term “carbonic gas” (French: “gaz carbonique”) is easily identifiable as the French term for “carbon dioxide.” (This provides a valuable clue to identify the somewhat vague “oxide” to which Gerstein refers as the other poisonous substance in diesel exhaust, as we shall see.) There are in fact four main hazardous “oxides” in diesel exhaust:
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Nitric oxide (NO)
- Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
- Carbon dioxide (CO2, already mentioned by Gerstein as “gaz carbonique” and thus eliminated as the mystery “oxide” we are endeavoring to identify).
There are several good reasons for rejecting both of the oxides of nitrogen and accepting carbon monoxide. We shall now list some of them:
- The French term Gerstein uses (“oxide”) is singular, whereas references to the oxides of nitrogen coming from diesel exhaust are always plural,[9] since nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide are both always found together in diesel exhaust.
- Both the German and French terms for carbon monoxide are singular, which agrees with the use of the singular French term in Gerstein's interrogation (German: “Kohlenoxyd”; French: “oxyde de carbone”).
- Kurt Gerstein was employed working in German mining from 1919 until 1931, when he became a certified engineer for the mines service. He served in that capacity until 1936, when he was expelled from the German mines service for anti-Nazi activity.[10]
A 1936 study by the U.S. Bureau of Mines on European handling of diesel exhaust in mines was concerned exclusively with carbon monoxide analysis, with one exception: the French who ordered that “The content of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the exhaust gas of the locomotives in service must be measured at least once in every three months.”[11] We may observe from this that the French viewed the carbon dioxide content of diesel exhaust as dangerous, as well as that of carbon monoxide. In the same Bureau of Mines study, it is reported that “carbon monoxide […] is virtually the only poisonous component […] of exhaust gases of Diesel locomotives.”[12]
Why then would carbon dioxide in the exhaust of diesels be viewed as dangerous within mining circles? In earlier years, the study of carbon dioxide had revealed that additional carbon dioxide increases the speed of breathing. Because of this, several German studies had concluded that the presence of carbon dioxide directly affected the quantity of carbon monoxide absorbed by human beings.[13] Hence we may conclude that Kurt Gerstein, trained as a mining engineer, viewed the diesel exhaust deaths of the Jews at Belzec as due to poisoning by carbon monoxide, more speedily absorbed due to faster breathing caused by increased carbon dioxide. This theory was known and current in Europe (especially in Germany) and the United States at the time.[14]
4. In 1940, well after Gerstein had been expelled from the German mining service, the U.S. Bureau of Mines issued a report on diesel exhaust which states that, “In Europe, studies of the exhaust gas from Diesel mine locomotives have been concerned chiefly with the hazard from carbon monoxide, but no data on oxides of nitrogen are given.”[15] One may observe that for years after Gerstein lost his mining job, the Germans still had not yet devoted much effort to the dangers of the oxides of nitrogen found in diesel exhaust. But they had done much work on the dangers of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in diesel exhaust. This again indicates that the poisonous “oxide” referred to by Gerstein was carbon monoxide.
5. A similar example occurs in the writings of the Kommandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höß, who also visited Treblinka. In Nuremburg document PS-3868, Höß agreed that the commandant of Treblinka used “monoxide gas” to kill the Jews sent there.[16] Now, this expression is also somewhat vague, since among the specific components of combustion engine exhaust is to be found nitric oxide (NO), which is technically a “monoxide gas.” But who is there who thinks that Höß thought the Jews of Treblinka were killed by nitric oxide? Not a single person I have ever read. It is obvious that the Höß affidavit is referring to carbon monoxide.[17] In a similar way, it is obvious that Kurt Gerstein meant carbon monoxide (German: Kohlenoxid; French: oxyde de carbone; his interrogation: “oxide”) when he said the Jews at Treblinka were killed by “oxide” and carbon dioxide; that is, carbon monoxide whose absorption was increased by extra carbon dioxide.
3. Gerstein and Pfannenstiel on the Color of Jews Killed by Diesel Exhaust
3.a. Kurt Gerstein
After all the Jews were dead from breathing diesel exhaust, the doors were opened. Gerstein has this to say: “Like pillars of basalt, the dead are still standing, there being not the least place to fall or lean over. Even dead, one still knows the families who clasp hands yet dead. One has difficulty separating them, to empty the chambers for the next load. The blue bodies are thrown, damp with sweat and with urine, the legs full of excrement and menstrual blood.”[18]
3.b. Wilhelm Pfannenstiel
“When there was silence in the chambers the doors in the outer walls were opened and the corpses brought out, searched for gold teeth, and then stacked in a pit. The work was again carried out by Jews. There was no doctor present. I noticed nothing special about the corpses. Some were tinged bluish in the face.”[19]
Note that both witnesses described the color of the victims of the diesel gassing at Belzec as blue.
4. Fritz P. Berg on CO Poisoning and the Color Blue
At this point we will quote Fritz Berg, the most well-known Revisionist authority on diesel toxicity, on what he calls “a major flaw as far as the death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned.”
“According to the last sentence of the text quoted, the bodies of the victims were 'blue'. Here we have a major flaw as far as the death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned because victims of carbon monoxide are not blue at all. On the contrary, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are a distinctive 'cherry red' or 'pink'. This is clearly stated in most toxicology handbooks and is probably well known to every doctor and to most, if not all, emergency medical personnel. Carbon monoxide poisoning is actually very common because of the automobile and accounts for more incidents of poison gas injury than all other gases combined.”[20] (emphasis by Berg.)
On the next page of his article, Berg alleges:[21]
“If the corpses had indeed appeared 'blue', death certainly would not have been due to carbon monoxide poisoning.” (emphasis once again by Berg.)
These two statements by Mr. Berg are false, as our readers may see simply by observing applicable medical literature on the subject, which we will shortly list. The fact is that blue is a regular (and documented) color for carbon monoxide poisoning, especially when the victims are alive, but also when the victims are dead. But before we present our medical selections, it is necessary to mention just how “blue” is mentioned in such literature.
5. Cyanosis
In Appendix 1 of my article, I have listed several medical dictionary definitions of the word “cyanosis,” which is the medical term for blue color occurring in a patient or corpse. To quote Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, “cyanosis” is “a bluish discoloration, applied especially to such discoloration of skin and mucous membranes due to excessive concentration of reduced hemoglobin in the blood.”[22]
Since I do not wish to accuse Mr. Berg of willful lying, the only alternative is to say he may not have been aware at the time he wrote his article that the medical term for blue coloring is “cyanosis,” or that he may not have noticed its listing in the symptom section. I am forced to say this because when Berg stated: “victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are not blue at all. On the contrary, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are a distinctive 'cherry red' or 'pink',” he used as proof a citation from S. Kaye's Handbook of Emergency Toxicology, 1980 edition. What is unusual is that in Kaye's book, “cyanosis” (blue coloring) is mentioned along with “pink discoloration of the skin surface” as a possible symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning. The reader may examine this Berg footnote reference in the following section.
6. Some Examples of Medical Literature which Mention Blue Coloring in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, 1952, “Acute Carbon Monoxide Poisoning; An analysis of One Hundred Five Cases,” by J. Wister Meigs, M.D. and J. P. W. Hughes, M.D., p. 346-347:
“Abnormal skin color, shown in detail in Table 2D, was of interest in that cyanosis[23] or flushing, or in several cases a combination of the two, was much more frequently observed than the commonly described cherry-colored or pink skin or lips.
2D. Abnormal Skin Color*
- Cyanotic* 43
- Flushed 28
- Pink 13
- Cherry lips or skin 14
- Pale 9
*Positive correlation with severity.”
Postgraduate Medical Journal, February 1970, Vol. 46, “Acute carbon monoxide poisoning – 3 years experience in a defined population,” by J. Sydney Smith, M.B., B.S., and S. Brandon, M.D., D.P.M., D.C.H., p. 67:
“Abnormal skin coloration. Of the suicidal group, fifty-one (63.7%) were considered to be of normal appearance, fourteen (17.5%) flushed, seven (8.8%) cyanosed, four (5.0%) 'cherry pink' and four (5.0%) pale.
Forty-four (75.9%) of the accidental group were described as having normal coloration, three (5.2%) were flushed, five (8.6%) cyanosed, four (6.9%) 'cherry pink' and two (3.4%) were pale.
Thus 'cherry pink' colouration was an uncommon finding in our series.” (My emphasis, last line; C.D.P.)
Clinical Toxicology, Fifth Edition, by Clinton H. Thienes, M.D., Ph.D. and Thomas J. Haley, Ph.D., Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1971, p. 235:
“With carbon monoxide, the hemoglobin compound is 'cherry pink' and with a hemoglobin saturation of 30% or more, the skin and mucous membranes are a similar pink color, except when the concentration of carbon monoxide in air is so low as to cause but a slow saturation of the hemoglobin. In this latter situation, cyanosis may occur.”
Handbook of Emergency Toxicology, Fourth Edition, by Sidney Kaye, M.Sc., Ph.D., Charles D. Thomas, Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 1980, p. 252-253:
“Symptoms
Weakness, vertigo, severe headache, nausea, vomiting, apprehension, air hunger, sleepiness, ataxia, great weakness in legs, delirium, tightness around forehead, disturbed vision, clonic and tonic spasms and convulsions, cyanosis, anemic anoxia, paralysis of respiratory center, coma. Heart often continues to beat for a short time after death. Bright cherry red blood, pink discoloration of skin surface.”
The Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 1, 1984, “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Mechanisms, Presentation, and Controversies in Management,” by Kent R. Olson, MD, p. 236:
“The classic 'cherry red' skin coloration is actually rare, and patients are more likely to appear pale or cyanotic.”
7. Some Examples of Medical Literature Which Mention Blue Coloring in Carbon Monoxide Fatalities
Journal of Forensic Science, Vol. 7, 1962, “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning” by Theodore Rowan, M.B., B.S. and Frank C. Coleman, B.A., M.D., p. 111:
“Diagnosis of CO Poisoning
Diagnosis of acute CO poisoning depends on 1) History of exposure, 2) Appearance of victim (as given by Haldane in a classic description following the Tylerstown explosion, 1896), a carmine-red tinge, most noticeable on cheeks and lower limbs, discernable on tongue, lips and mucous membranes everywhere. This may be just as noticeable eight weeks after death. Haldane, however, describes variations from those looking more or less natural pink to those with a cyanotic appearance from marked flushing of the capillaries and veins of the face and neck with bluish-red blood, resembling acute or subacute suffocation.”
Taylor's Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence, Twelfth Edition, Edited by Keith Simpson, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., F.C.Path., D.M.J., J & A Churchill Ltd., Vol. II, London, 1965, p. 368:
“Post-mortem Appearances. The hypostatic stains over the body may present a bright cherry-red colour, but this may be slight if the saturation is below 30 per cent; it is also often obscured by associated cyanosis – and may be difficult to see in coloured subjects and in those not discovered for some days and decomposing.”
Military Medicine, December 1966, “Exposure to Carbon Monoxide,” by Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck, MC, USA, p. 1517:
“When someone dies immediately from exposure to CO, the proof is often easy to establish by analyzing the blood. For example, a common way to commit suicide is to inhale CO from exhaust gases of an automobile brought into the car by a hose connected with the exhaust pipe. Another way is to perforate the floor of the car and the exhaust pipe. The COHb saturation of the blood is often 70 per cent or more. In such cases, the cadaver displays a cherry-red color of the mucous membranes, skin, viscera, and blood. Such discoloration is also seen in cyanide poisoning and in exposure to cold, but it is most prominent in cases of CO exposure. Bernard, in his book of 1857, noted that blood exposed to CO or cyanhydric acid becomes cherry-red. He observed that the cherry-red color due to exposure to CO persists more than 3 weeks in the blood. Other than the cherry-red color of the organs, there are no changes suggesting acute CO poisoning. In some cases of fatal CO poisoning, there is no cherry-red coloring of the skin.” (My emphasis, last line; C.D.P.)
Same Article, p. 1524:
“Incidence of Gross Pathological Observations by Manner of Death in 533 Cases of CO Poisoning:
Cyanosis
: Accidental -18 (5%), Suicidal – 7 (4%)”
Same Article, p. 1525-1528
“Clinical History and Gross and Microscopic Findings at Autopsy of 37 Persons who Survived Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from 15 Minutes to 9 1/2 Months, Listed according to the Interval between CO Exposure and Death.” (Results: Cyanosis listed in 8 out of 37 Autopsy Cases)
Forensic Pathology, by Bernard Knight MD, MRCP, FRC(Path), Barrister, Oxford University Press, New York, 1991, p. 507:
“At autopsy the most striking appearance of the body is the color of the skin, especially in areas of post-mortem hypostasis. The classical 'cherry-pink' color of carboxyhemoglobin is usually evident if the saturation of the blood exceeds about 30%. Below this, familiarity and good lighting are needed and below 20%, no coloration is visible. As these low concentrations are rarely fatal, however, little is lost. Sometimes, darker cyanosis tends to mask the skin color, but the margins of the hypostasis and the internal tints are usually apparent.
When the victim is anaemic the color may be faint or even absent because insufficient haemoglobin is present to display the colour. In racially-pigmented victims the colour may obviously be masked, though may still be seen on the inner aspect of the lips, the nail-beds, tongue, and palms and soles of hands and feet. It is also seen inside the eyelids, but rarely in the sclera.”
8. Conclusion of the Matter
In this author's opinion, Fritz Berg begins with good research but fails to investigate thoroughly. This incompleteness causes him to come to wrong conclusions. For example, he reads a statement by Kurt Gerstein that does not mention carbon monoxide fumes in diesel exhaust and concludes that Gerstein did not credit deaths from diesel exhaust to carbon monoxide. But upon further investigation of the Roques book on Gerstein, a book to which Berg refers, it is plain that Gerstein did blame carbon monoxide (along with increased carbon dioxide).
Likewise, Berg reads two medical books on carbon monoxide poisoning that contain the oft-seen medical description of carbon monoxide victims as cherry red or pink, and this – plus at least not noticing a symptom of “cyanosis” in one of his sources – causes him to state emphatically such nonsense as
“If the corpses had indeed appeared 'blue', death certainly would not have been due to carbon monoxide poisoning,”
when there is ample medical knowledge to the contrary. This author intends to show further examples of Berg's incomplete research in the future.
But for now, it should be apparent that when Gerstein and Pfannenstiel said that the Jews killed by diesel exhaust turned blue, this is quite possible.[24] When Gerstein asserted that the dead Jews died from exposure to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, this is possible too.[25] Further, describing the victims of the Belzec gas chambers as having a blue coloration does not constitute “a major flaw as far as the death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned.” For, as medical literature proves, both sickness and death from carbon monoxide poisoning can result in the victims becoming “cyanotic” or turning blue.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Definitions of Cyanosis
cyanosis (si”ah-no'sis) [Gr. kyanos blue] a bluish discoloration, applied especially to such discoloration of skin and mucous membranes due to excessive concentration of reduced hemoglobin in the blood. (The Sloane-Dorland Annotated Medical-Legal Dictionary, by Richard Sloane, Professor of Law Emeritus, 1992 Supplement, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, p. 151)
cyanosis [G. Dark blue color, fr. kyanos, blue substance]. A dark bluish or purplish coloration of the skin and mucous membrane due to deficient oxygenation of the blood, evident when reduced hemoglobin in the blood exceeds 5 g per 100 ml. (Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 25th Edition, 1990, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, p. 383)
cyanosis Bluish discoloration of the skin, lips, and nail beds caused by insufficient oxygen in the blood; it appears when the reduced hemoglobin in the small vessels is 5 g per 100 ml or more. (Melloni's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Third Edition, 1993, The Parthenon Publishing Group Inc., Pearl River, New York, p. 118)
cyanosis (si·an·o·sis). A blue appearance of the skin and mucous membranes, which may be general but is most prominent in the extremities, hands and feet, and in superficial highly vascular parts such as the lips, cheeks and ears. It is due to deficient oxygenation of the blood in the minute blood vessels, and depends upon the absolute amount of reduced haemoglobin present. (Butterworths Medical Dictionary, Second Edition, Edited by MacDonald Critchley, Butterworths, London, 1978, p. 447)
Cyanosis refers to a bluish color of the skin and mucous membranes resulting from an increased quantity of reduced hemoglobin, or of hemoglobin derivatives, in the small blood vessels of those areas. It is usually most marked in the lips, nail beds, ears, and malar eminences. (Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 15th Edition, Vol. 1, 2001, McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division, New York, p. 215)
cyanosis (si”ah-no'sis) [Gr. kyanos blue] a bluish discoloration, applied especially to such discoloration of skin and mucous membranes due to excessive concentration of reduced hemoglobin in the blood. (Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 27th Edition, 1988, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, p. 415)
“At about 2:00 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. on June 24, Dr. Brown returned to the hospital room of DeWitt, examined DeWitt's leg, saw that DeWitt's left foot and toes were swollen, concluded that DeWitt had severe “cyanosis” (a dark blue color) of the toes caused by decreased circulation of oxygenated blood in and to the lower left leg, and attempted to alleviate this condition by splitting and spreading the cast open halfway up the front.” DeWitt vs. Brown, 669 F.2d 516, 519 (8th Cir. 1982).
“Cyanosis, according to Dr. Gale, is a discoloration of the skin or color of the patient who takes on a bluish hue. General cyanosis, according to Dr. Gale, indicates a problem of bringing oxygen to the body tissue due to either a problem with respiration or circulation. Regional cyanosis occurs when the blood is not flowing normally, but rather is 'flowing very sluggishly or not flowing at all.'” Siegel vs. Mt. Sinai Hospital of Cleveland, 403 N.E.2d 202, 205 (Ct.App.Ohio 1978).
“Dr. O'Donoghue testified that until the crisis occurred during surgery, he was not aware that the patient had not been intubated by means of an endotracheal tube. At the time the crisis was announced, he found that Deborah was receiving anesthesia through a mask and that she had a cyanotic or bluish color signifying a lack of oxygenated blood. At that point Dr. Widder removed the mask and oropharyngeal airway, and inserted an endotracheal tube […] Dr. Greene, an anesthesiologist, testified that based on the observation of cyanosis by Dr. O'Donoghue, hypoxia was the precipitating factor of Deborah's cardiac arrest. He stated that for some period of time prior to the cardiac arrest, Deborah was not receiving adequate oxygen, but the heart was still pumping.” Burrow v. Widder, 368 N.E.2d 443, 450 (App.Ct. Of III. 1977).
Other Authorities: White vs. Mitchell, 568 S.W.2d 216, 218 (Ark. 1978); Savage vs. Christian Hosp. Northwest, 543 F.2d 44, 46 (8th Cir. 1976); Lhotka vs. Larson, 238 N.W.2d 870, 875 (Minn.1976). Garfield Park Community Hosp. v. Vitacco, 327 N.E.2d 408, 410-11 (App.Ct.III.1975); Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co. v. Morris, 208 S.E.2d 637, 640 (Ct.App.Ga.1974). Barnes v. Tenin, 429 F.2d 117-18 (2d Cir. 1970).
The Sloane-Dorland Annotated Medical-Legal Dictionary, by Richard Sloane, Professor of Law Emeritus, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, 1987 p. 176)
“He was noted to have a rather marked cyanosis of both feet while he was in the sitting position. This is a discoloration, a bluish color of the extremities.” [Dissent.] Horton v. Garrett Freightlines, Inc., 772 P.2d 119, 143 (Idaho 1989).
“Other than slight cyanosis of the nail bed and lips, all external indicators were normal. Ex. A-5. [Cyanosis is a bluish discoloration of the skin due to excessive concentration of reduced hemoglobin in the blood. The Sloane Annotated Medical-Legal Dictionary at 176 (1987).]” Bell v. Secretary of DHHS, 18 Cl.Ct. 751, 755 (1989).
Appendix 2: Fritz Berg Quotes on Blue[26]
“'Jewish workers on the other side opened the wooden doors. They had been promised their lives in return for doing this horrible work, plus a small percentage of the money and valuables collected. The men were still standing, like columns of stone, with no room to fall or lean. Even in death you could tell the families, all holding hands. It was difficult to separate them while emptying the room for the next batch. The bodies were tossed out, blue, wet with sweat and urine, the legs smeared with excrement and menstrual blood.'[27]
According to the last sentence of the text quoted, the bodies of the victims were 'blue'. Here we have a major flaw as far as death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned because victims of carbon monoxide are not blue at all. On the contrary, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are a distinctive 'cherry red' or 'pink'. This is clearly stated in most toxicology handbooks and is probably well known to every doctor and to most, if not all, emergency medical personnel. Carbon monoxide poisoning is actually very common because of the automobile and accounts for more incidents of poison gas injury than all other gases combined.
The Gerstein statement, to its credit, makes no claim that carbon monoxide was the lethal ingredient in the Diesel exhaust. It is the exterminationists, i.e., the people who try to uphold the Holocaust story, who insist that death was due to the carbon monoxide in the Diesel exhaust. The recurrence of references to 'bluish' corpses in several other examples of so-called 'eyewitness testimony' from West German trials merely demonstrates the 'copy-cat' nature of much of that testimony. That such testimony has been accepted by West German courts specializing in Holocaust-related cases and by the Holocaust scholars, apparently without any serious challenge, merely demonstrates the pathetic shoddiness of those trials and of the 'scholarship' pertaining to the subject in general.
If the corpses had indeed appeared 'blue', death certainly would not have been due to carbon monoxide poisoning. A 'bluish' appearance could have been an indication of death from asphyxiation, i.e., from lack of oxygen. In this article we will investigate that possibility and we will see that in any Diesel gas chamber, although death from lack of oxygen is very unlikely, it is nonetheless far more likely than death from carbon monoxide.”
(Source: “The Diesel Gas Chambers: Ideal for Torture – Absurd for Murder,” by Friedrich Paul Berg, published in Dissecting the Holocaust, Edited by Ernst Gauss, Theses & Dissertations Press, P.O. Box 64, Capshaw, Alabama 35742, 2000, pgs. 439-440; all emphasis is Berg's.)
11. The Failure of Scholarly Evasion
A marvelous attempt at evasive action took place almost fifteen years ago in the Holocaust story. A prominent group of Holocaust 'scholars' tried to drop the Diesel claim by not even mentioning the engine type any longer or, alternately, by referring only to gasoline engines. This amazing transmutation took place in the book Nationalsozialistische Massentötungen durch Giftgas, published in Germany in 1983. The book represents the state of Holocaust mythomania in the first half of the 1980s and was recommended by the World Jewish Congress in London.
The clumsy juggling of evidence, which characterizes this book, is shown by the fact that although the Gerstein Statement refers to Diesel engines four times, the portion, which is quoted in this supposedly definitive rebuttal of the Revisionists, does not mention the Diesels at all, nor does it even describe the alleged killing process. For a description of the killing process that Gerstein supposedly witnessed, the book gives a piece of post-war testimony by Dr. Pfannenstiel in which there is also no mention of the use of Diesels, but only of the use of Diesel fuel in the engine. How one could possibly have operated a gasoline engine with Diesel fuel is, of course, left to the imagination. The fact is that any gasoline engine simply would not operate with Diesel fuel (and vice versa).
A fatal flaw in this intermediate, non-Diesel version is the retention of the recurrent claim that the corpses were 'blue'. Although any possible death from Diesel exhaust would have been due to lack of oxygen, which would have in turn caused a bluish appearance of the corpse, death from gasoline engine exhaust would 'only' have been due to carbon monoxide and could 'only' have caused a distinctive 'cherry red' or 'pink' appearance. Although Pfannenstiel's post-war testimony is generally less wild than the Gerstein Statement, nonetheless he and other 'eyewitnesses' also repeated the claim that the corpses were 'blue'.
Anyone who reads the complete Gerstein Statement critically must realize that this 'statement' poses grave problems for the revised version of the Holocaust tale. That this 'statement', even in a severely and fraudulently abbreviated form, was included in Massentötungen at all only shows how desperately the Holocaust scholars are scraping together anything and everything to support their monstrous fantasy. They have precious little. The 'Gerstein Statement' is still their best evidence.
The new 'revised' version of the Holocaust story is even more absurd than the old version. Although it might be remotely possible for an engineer to mistake a gasoline engine for a Diesel engine, how could anyone mistake 'red' for 'blue'? Perhaps they were all color blind?
The Diesel gas chamber claim is rubbish – apparently some of the Exterminationists, including Raul Hilberg, recognize that now. However, the alternate claim that gasoline engine exhaust was used instead is rubbish also, since it contradicts the only 'evidence' that is available, namely the statements of the witnesses. For this reason the Holocaust pundits have returned to the old story: the 1993 Enzyklopädie des Holocaust agrees with the Jerusalem verdict about Demjanjuk's alleged crimes in Treblinka as well as with the findings of German courts: They were Diesel engines!”
(Source: “The Diesel Gas Chambers: Ideal for Torture – Absurd for Murder,” by Friedrich Paul Berg, published in Dissecting the Holocaust, Edited by Ernst Gauss, Theses & Dissertations Press, P.O. Box 64, Capshaw, Alabama 35742, 2000, pgs. 463-464; all emphasis is Berg's.)
“According to the last sentence of the text quoted, 'the bodies were tossed out blue, wet with sweat and urine.' Here we have a flaw as far as the death-from-carbon-monoxide theory is concerned because victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are not blue at all. On the contrary, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning are a distinctive 'cherry red,' or 'pink.' This is clearly stated in most toxicology handbooks and is probably well known to every doctor and to most, if not all, emergency medical personnel. Carbon monoxide poisoning is actually very common because of the automobile and accounts for more incidents of poison gas injury than all other gases combined.
The Gerstein statement, to its credit, makes no claim that carbon monoxide was the lethal ingredient in the Diesel exhaust. It is the exterminationists, i.e., the people who try to uphold the holocaust story, who have repeatedly stated that death was due to the carbon monoxide in the Diesel exhaust. The recurrence of references to 'bluish' corpses in several examples of so-called 'eyewitness testimony' from West German trials merely demonstrates the 'copy-cat' nature of much of that testimony. That such testimony has been accepted by West German courts specializing in holocaust-related cases and by the holocaust scholars, apparently without any serious challenge, merely demonstrates the pathetic shoddiness of those trials and of the 'scholarship' pertaining to the subject in general.
If the corpses had, indeed, appeared 'bluish,' death certainly would not have been due to carbon monoxide. A 'bluish' appearance could have been an indication of death from asphyxiation, i.e., lack of oxygen. In this article we will investigate that possibility and we will see that in any Diesel gas chamber, although death from lack of oxygen is very unlikely, it is nonetheless far more likely than death from carbon monoxide.”
(Source: The Journal of Historical Review, Volume Five, Number One, 1984, p. 20)
© 2001
Notes
| [1] | Dissecting the Holocaust, Edited by Ernst Gauss [Germar Rudolf], Theses & Dissertations Press, P.O. Box 64, Capshaw, Alabama 35742, 2000. |
| [2] | Gerstein's manuscripts have the date of August 19, 1942 for the gassing he and Pfannenstiel witnessed. Gerstein said that they visited the death camp of Treblinka the next day, and that Treblinka had 8 operating gas chambers. (Manuscript T1, found on pgs. 19 – 27 of The 'Confessions' of Kurt Gerstein, by Henri Roques, Institute for Historical Review, 1989.) Only 3 Treblinka gas chambers were in operation in August, 1942; the building of additional gas chambers did not begin until late August or September (The Death Camp Treblinka, Edited by Alexander Donat, The Holocaust Library, New York, 1979, pg. 300). Additionally, Pfannenstiel did not rely upon his memory for the date, according to his statement of April 25, 1960: “According to the available documentation, I was in the city of Lublin for the first time in August 1942.” (“The Good Old Days,” Edited by Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Riess, The Free Press, N.Y., 1991, pg. 239.) It seems likely to this writer that Pfannenstiel is referring to Gerstein's written statement, which gives the same information, as “available documentation.” |
| [3] | The Holocaust Story and the Lies of Ulysses, by Paul Rassinier, The Institute for Historical Review, Costa Mesa, California, 1978, pgs. 270 – 271 |
| [4] | The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 1984, “The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth Within a Myth,” by Friedrich P. Berg, pg. 20; and Dissecting the Holocaust, pg. 440. |
| [5] | Roques, pg. 23 (Gerstein manuscript T1) |
| [6] | In French, the text in parentheses is: “(oxide et gaz carbonique),” which is translated literally in the IHR edition as “oxide and carbonic gas.” |
| [7] | Roques, pgs. 97c and 99, French and English, respectively. The four “installations” to which Gerstein refers are: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka and Maidanek |
| [8] | Roques, pg. 97 |
| [9] | In German, NO and NO2 are listed together as “Nitrose Gase” – “Nitrous Gases” in English. |
| [10] | Roques, pg. 97. |
| [11] | U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3320, Diesel Mine Locomotives – Development and Use in European Coal Mines, by George S. Rice and F. E. Harris, November 1936, pg. 38. |
| [12] | Ibid., p. 29. |
| [13] | The earliest one we have located is the following: Archiv für Hygiene und Bakteriologie, Vol. 102, 1929, pgs. 254 – 262, “Zur Beurteilung der Giftigkeit kohlenoxydhaltiger Luft”(Evaluating the Toxicity of Air Containing Carbon Monoxide), by Dr. Walter Deckert. |
| [14] | Carbon Monoxide: Its Hazards and the Mechanism of its Action, by W.F. von Oettingen, Principal Industrial Toxicologist, United States Public Health Service, by Direction of the Surgeon General, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1944, p. 160. See also the previously mentioned article, “Zur Beurteilung der Giftigkeit kohlenoxydhaltiger Luft” by Dr. Walter Deckert, which says, “With the same content of carbon monoxide, an air rich in carbon dioxide is more poisonous than air with the normal content of carbon dioxide, in proportion to the content of carbon dioxide. This is explained in a two-fold way: first through the increased breathing activity as a result of the stimulating effect of the carbon dioxide on the breathing center, and secondly through the fact that a corresponding decrease in the oxygen content is usually connected with the increase of the carbon dioxide in the air.” (P. 256) On p. 257, Deckert states that the carbon monoxide is more poisonous, the less oxygen there is. Further German studies confirmed the danger of increased carbon dioxide in the presence of carbon monoxide, though there was disagreement on the correct formula of its effect. |
| [15] | Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3508, Diesel Engines Underground, 1. Composition of Exhaust Gas from Engines in Proper Mechanical Condition, by John C. Holtz, L.B. Berger, M.A. Elliott, and H.H. Schrenk, May 1940, p. 3. Additional confirmation is to be found on p. 29. |
| [16] | IMT, Vol. 7, pgs. 416 – 417, Testimony of Rudolf Hoess, 15 April 1946. “He used monoxide gas, and I did not think that his methods were very efficient.” |
| [17] | In the most recent English translation of Hoess's statements while in Polish captivity (Death Dealer, edited by Steven Paskuly, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992), there occurs the following statement: “During my visit to Chelmno I also saw the airtight trucks used to kill prisoners with carbon monoxide gas [exhaust gas from the truck engine]. (Found on p. 34). I was excited to find a passage which could be used to absolutely identify the “monoxide gas” of PS-3868 with “carbon monoxide.” However, upon obtaining a copy of the German text, I discovered that the original German does not mention any reference to “carbon monoxide,” but rather refers to death through exhaust gases of engines (“Tötung durch die Motorenabgase,” p. 162 of Kommandant in Auschwitz, published by DTV, 1987). On p. 169, Hoess makes the same assertion concerning the destruction of Jews at all the Operation Reinhard camps: Motorenabgase: “exhaust gases of engines.” This makes it seem unlikely that Hoess actually wrote “monoxide” in PS-3868. Nevertheless, the language problem and its solution is similar; this is why I left it in my article. |
| [18] | Roques, p. 24 (manuscript T1). The bodies being blue is also mentioned on p. 32 (manuscript T2). |
| [19] | Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen, Ludwigsurg, File No.: AR-Z 252/59, Vol. 1, pgs 41-44, Statement of Dr. Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, Darmstadt Regional Court, Criminal Division III, Darmstadt, June 6, 1950. My thanks to Michael Tregenza for supplying me with this document, plus most of the translation. |
| [20] | Dissecting the Holocaust, p. 439. |
| [21] | Ibid., p. 440 |
| [22] | Full citation given below. |
| [23] | The reader will please note that in the medical citations, I have emphasized the occurrences of “cyanosis” and its variants. |
| [24] | When one considers the additive and even synergistic effects of various gasses found in the exhaust of diesels, it is interesting to note that cyanosis is also to be found among the symptoms of carbon dioxide and also NOx (the oxides of Nitrogen). For a German source, one may consult Lewin's 1929 book on poisons (mentioned above). For NOx, see p. 150; for CO2, see p. 84. It is also a symptom of reduced oxygen (also found in Diesel exhaust), as Berg himself correctly states (Dissecting the Holocaust, p. 440). |
| [25] | Allowing also for the additional or even synergistic toxic effect of NOx and reduced oxygen. |
| [26] | Permission to list these more than brief quotes was granted orally by Dr. Robert Countess, and in writing by Germar Rudolf. |
| [27] | Here Berg quotes Gerstein manuscript T2 from Roques' German edition. |
Bibliographic information about this document: The Revisionist 2(2) (2004), pp. 159-164
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