curioussoul wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2024 1:52 am
This is largely a re-post from the RODOH forum, where we had an interesting discussion going.
One of the main features of the orthodox gassing story for Auschwitz is that the Birkenau morgues (Leichenkeller I) of Crematoria II and III were secretely converted into gas chambers around the end of 1942 and early 1943, shortly before Crematorium II was inaugurated in March of that year. Because of this, some scholars such as Robert van Pelt have pointed out that Birkenau had "no permanently dedicated morgue capacity".
Nevertheless, a series of documents from Birkenau prove that these morgues were indeed actively used as morgues all throughout 1943 and 1944. Carlo Mattogno published an article in 2004 entiteld "The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents" (found
here). In it, he quoted some pretty extraordinary documents, a few of which I'll quote below. In 1943, camp doctor Eduard Wirths made requests for the camp administration to expand the morgue capacity of the camp, but was shot down by Hoess, Mrugowski and Bischoff on the basis that the morgues in the crematoria were enough. On August 4, 1943, Bischoff (head of the Central Construction Office), replied with the following letter to Wirths:
SS Standartenführer Mrugowski has decreed during the discussion that the corpses are to be removed twice daily, in the morning and in the evening, into the morgues of the crematoria; in this way, the separate construction of morgues in the individual subsections can be avoided.
This is probably the single most damning document because it outright mentions the
morgues of the crematoria, which - followin the official story - would have been unavailable as morgues due to them being supposedly converted into homicidal gas chambers for Jewish deportees. But the letter also mentions a decree whereby corpses are to be removed "twice daily", in the morning and in the evening,
to the morgues, showing that the morgues were expected to be available around the clock for corpse storage.
When confronted with this particular document on the RODOH forum, Nessie appeared somewhat taken aback, denying that such a document could exist. After being convinced the document was indeed real, he pivoted to claiming it had to be a one-off exception. Traces of this corpse removal decree can be found in other documents relating to the morgues. As late as May 1944, the new ZBL head Werner Jothann responded once more to Wirths regarding the expansion of the morgues:
SS Obersturmbannführer Höß points out that in accordance with a presently valid order, the daily load of c.[orpses] is to be removed daily in the morning by means of a dedicated truck; if this order is carried out, an accumulation of c. cannot arise and therefore the construction of the above-mentioned halls is not imperative. SS Ostubaf. Höß therefore demands not to undertake the construction of the halls under discussion.
In other words, the order to remove corpses to the morgues twice daily was still in effect in May 1944. Wirths himself confirmed the order was still being followed in May 1944 in a different letter:
In the sick-bays of the camps at cc Auschwitz II a certain number of corpses accumulate daily on a regular basis. While their transportation to the crematoria has been organized and takes place twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, it does happen that on account of the scarcity of vehicles and/or fuel the corpses are not taken care of for 24 hours.
Anti-revisionist debaters at the RODOH forum attempted a number of arguments to explain these documents. One explanation was that the reference to merely "the crematoria" meant the corpses were immediataly taken to the ovens and burned, but this argument hardly holds up considering the most significant of these letter, the one by Bischoff, expressly mentions "the morgues of the crematoria". The phrasing "the crematoria" generally included facilities other than the ovens, such as the undressing room and the morgue itself. Another attempted explanation was that the morgue could have theoretically been used both as a morgue and a gas chamber, but there is no witness testimony from any of the Sonderkommando witnesses about the gas chamber ever being filled with regular non-gassed corpses. That would mean that the gas chamber would have to be regularly cleared of real corpses before every gassing, a major aspect of the duties of the Sonderkommando. A third explanation was that the SS didn't need morgues at all because corpses could just be burned instantly in the crematoria, which supposedly ran daily 24/7 at fantastical rates. But this doesn't really explain the fact that Wirths was asking for more morgues and the fact that autopsies were regularly carried out at the camp, which would have required morgues.
Given the significance of these documents for the gassing story, I think they deserve their own thread.
