KANADA I AND ITS CLOTHING DELOUSING INSTALLATION

Auschwitz did indeed have ‘gas chambers’ which used Zyklon-B, complete with airtight doors and peepholes – but, they were used exclusively for disinfecting clothes. The clothing gas chambers were kept for the clothes of new arrivals, which were the most likely to be infected with lice.

This gas chamber was in the section of the camp called ‘Kanada I’. The following set of photographs, taken during the war and immediately afterwards, show very clearly the operation of the delousing station, and also reveal the true origin of the allegations about homicidal gas chambers.

All photographs and information come from the “pro-holocaust” book, AUSCHWITZ:  Technique and operation of the gas chambers by Jean-Claude Pressac, 1989.

Above left: The arrival of trucks loaded with effects at Kanada 1. They will be unloaded around the only post fitted with a lamp for night work. Above right: Unloading of effects and initial rough sorting under the watchful eye of the SS.

Above left: In the yard behind building 164, that contained the clothing delousing gas chamber, non-textile objects are being sorted. Above right: Sorting deloused linen at the end of the yard between huts 1 and 2, Kanada I.

Above: The provisional baggage depot. These two photos were taken one after the other. The first shows the entrance to hut 5, in the background on the left, hut 4. On the extreme left of the second photo is the  the entrance to the delousing gas chamber, with the gastight door open. Above the ladder leaning against the wall is the (or one of the) extractor fan(s) for removing the hydrocyanic gas. To the side, most probably the fan motor switches.

Above left: Unloading linen and clothing to be deloused outside the gas chamber with the gas-tight door open. The ventilator is clearly visible above the ladder. Above right: Unloading linen and clothing to be deloused outside the gas chamber with the gas-tight door open. The ventilator is clearly visible above the ladder. 

Above left: Inside delousing building 164. the store where empty Zyklon B cans were found. The state of the premises as observed by the Soviet Commission in 1945.  Above right: Northwest side of building 164. From right to left, the main entrance door, two extractor fans and their control boxes, and the gas-tight door of the gas chamber. Since the building no longer exists, its interior arrangement remain unknown.

Above left: Before the gas-tight door of the disinfestation gas chamber, a low-ranking Russian officer and a civilian member of the first Investigation Commission in the company of two former prisoners are presenting empty Zyklon-B cans found in building 164. (Note the healthy state of the prisoners, once again belying the allegations of maltreatment as are so often made). Above right: A Russian Second Lieutenant presenting for the camera (for the film "Chronicles of the Liberation of the camp, 1945") a gas detector box, probably specific to hydrocyanic acid. Behind him, is the gas-tight door of the "Kanada I" gas chamber.

Left: A close-up of the interior of the clothing delousing gas chamber door from Kanada I. An exhibit furnished by the archives of the Warsaw Central Commission for the investigation of Nazi war crimes. The notice in German on the door read :"Giftige Gase! Bei Betretendes Raumes LEBENSGFFAHRT” or, in English,  “Toxic gases! DANGER on entering this room.” The existence of the sign is in itself evidence that the chamber was not used for homicidal use, as it would have been very difficult to get people into such a room with a sign like that on the front door. [CDJC Paris, document DL XII-2] Warsaw Central Commission Archives, sygn.10]