To The Gas Chamber

A gas chamber is an execution facility whereby a deadly poisonous gas is introduced into a hermetically sealed room. Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) were the typical agents used in the Nazi gas chambers. The carbon monoxide was piped from gas cylinders (euthanasia killing centres: located in separate rooms besides the gas chambers, gas trailer(s): located at the tractor) or produced from vehicle petrol engines *. The hydrogen cyanide was delivered by the Degesch Company under the label "Zyklon B", whiteish-blue crystals in sealed cans, originally used as an insecticide for delousing clothes. "Zyklon B" evaporated immediately upon exposure to the air when poured into a room. It was scientifically established that hydrocyanic acid is 6 times more toxic than chlorine, 34 times more than carbon monoxide, and 750 times more than chloroform. One milligram per kilogram of body weight is sufficient to bring about death.

The first Nazi gas chambers for human beings were introduced as part of the Nazi euthanasia programme, called "Aktion T4", the operation for eliminating physically and mentally handicapped people in Germany and Poland. At that time, the preferred gas was carbon monoxide. In Germany this was provided via gas cylinders, in Poland mainly by the exhaust fumes of motors.

The first Nazi mass killings of non-German subjects utilising gas occured in October 1939 at Fort VII in Poznan, where patients from the mental home in Owinska were murdered in a small gas chamber at Fort VII. This was followed by the use of gas vans and gas trailer(s) at other mental homes in Poland. These killings were committed by the SS-Sonderkommando Lange.

In 1924, the gas chamber was introduced in Utah with a hope to still find a more humane way to execute the convicted.

The gas chamber method proved itself to ...