Editing Zyklon B (section)

==Use in the Holocaust==
[[File:GiftgasAuschwitzMuseum.jpg|thumb|upright|Empty Zyklon B canisters found by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] at [[Auschwitz-Birkenau]] in 1945]]
In early 1942, the Nazis began using Zyklon B as the preferred killing tool in extermination camps during [[the Holocaust]].{{sfn|Longerich|2010|pp=281–282}} They used it to murder roughly 1.1&nbsp;million people in gas chambers at [[Auschwitz-Birkenau]], [[Majdanek]], and elsewhere.{{sfn|Hayes|2004|pp=2, 272}}{{sfn|PBS: Auschwitz}} Zyklon B was preferred because it was assumed to be a "humane" killing method, with the Nazis priding themselves as "civilized killers".{{sfn|Russell|2018}} Most of the victims were Jews, and by far the majority of murders using this method took place at Auschwitz.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=161}}{{sfn|Hayes|2004|p=272}}{{efn|Soviet officials initially stated that over 4&nbsp;million people were killed using Zyklon B at Auschwitz, but this figure was proven to be greatly exaggerated.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=132–133}} }} Distributor Heli supplied Zyklon B to [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp|Mauthausen]], [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]], and [[Buchenwald]], and Testa supplied it to Auschwitz and Majdanek; camps also occasionally bought it directly from the manufacturers.{{sfn|Hayes|2004|pp=288–289}} Some 56 tonnes of the 729 tonnes sold in Germany in 1942–44 were sold to concentration camps, amounting to about 8 percent of domestic sales.{{sfn|Hayes|2004|p=296}} Auschwitz received 23.8 tonnes, of which 6 tonnes were used for fumigation. The remainder was used in the gas chambers or lost to spoilage (the product had a stated shelf life of only three months).{{sfn|Hayes|2004|pp=294–297}} Testa conducted fumigations for the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' and supplied them with Zyklon B. They also offered courses to the [[SS]] in the safe handling and use of the material for fumigation purposes.{{sfn|Hayes|2004|p=283}} In April 1941, the German agriculture and interior ministries designated the SS as an authorized applier of the chemical, which meant they were able to use it without any further training or governmental oversight.{{sfn|Hayes|2004|p=284}}

[[File:Rudolf Höß.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Rudolf Höss]] at his trial in Poland, 1947]]

[[Rudolf Höss]], commandant of Auschwitz, said that the use of Zyklon-B to murder prisoners came about on the initiative of one of his subordinates, SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' (captain) [[Karl Fritzsch]], who had used it to murder some Russian [[POW]]s in late August 1941 in the basement of [[Block 11]] in the main camp. They repeated the experiment on more Russian POWs in September, with Höss watching.{{sfn|Browning|2004|pp=526–527}}{{sfn|Pressac|Pelt|1994|p=209}} Block 11 proved unsuitable, as the basement was difficult to air out afterwards and the crematorium (Crematorium I, which operated until July 1942) was some distance away.{{sfn|Pressac|Pelt|1994|p=209}} The site of the murders was moved to Crematorium I, where more than 700 victims could be murdered at once.{{sfn|Piper|1994|pp=158–159}} By the middle of 1942, the operation was moved to Auschwitz II–Birkenau, a nearby satellite camp that had been under construction since October 1941.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=161}}

The first gas chamber at Auschwitz II–Birkenau was the "red house" (called Bunker 1 by SS staff), a brick cottage converted to a gassing facility by tearing out the inside and bricking up the windows. It was operational by March 1942. A second brick cottage, called the "white house" or Bunker 2, was converted some weeks later.{{sfn|Rees|2005|pp=96–97, 101}}{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=161}} According to Höss, Bunker 1 held 800 victims and Bunker 2 held 1,200 victims.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=162}} These structures were in use for mass-murder until early 1943.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|p=98}} At that point, the Nazis decided to greatly increase the gassing capacity of Birkenau. Crematorium II was originally designed as a mortuary with morgues in the basement and ground-level incinerators; they converted it into a killing factory by installing gas-tight doors, vents for the Zyklon B to be dropped into the chamber, and ventilation equipment to remove the gas afterwards.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=100–101}}{{efn|The gas chamber also had to be heated, as the Zyklon B pellets would not vaporize into hydrogen cyanide unless the temperature was {{convert|27|C}} or above.{{sfn|Pressac|Pelt|1994|p=209}} }} Crematorium III was built using the same design. Crematoria IV and V, designed from the beginning as gassing centers, were also constructed that spring. By June 1943, all four crematoria were operational. Most of the victims were murdered using these four structures.{{sfn|Rees|2005|pp=168–169}}

The Nazis began shipping large numbers of Jews from all over Europe to Auschwitz in the middle of 1942. Those who were not selected for work crews were immediately gassed.{{sfn|Pressac|Pelt|1994|p=214}} Those selected to die generally comprised about three-quarters of the total and included almost all children, women with small children, all the elderly, and all those who appeared on [[Selection (Holocaust)|brief and superficial inspection]] by an SS doctor not to be completely fit.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=235–237}} The victims were told that they were to undergo delousing and a shower. They were stripped of their belongings and herded into the gas chamber.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=162}}

A special SS bureau known as the Hygienic Institute delivered the Zyklon B to the crematoria by ambulance.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=162}} The actual delivery of the gas to the victims was always handled by the SS, on the order of the supervising SS doctor.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=170}} After the doors were shut, SS men dropped Zyklon B pellets through vents in the roof or holes in the side of the chamber. The victims were dead within 20 minutes.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=170}} [[Johann Kremer]], an SS doctor who oversaw gassings, testified that the "shouting and screaming of the victims could be heard through the opening and it was clear that they fought for their lives".{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=163}}

''[[Sonderkommando]]s'' (special work crews forced to work at the gas chambers) wearing gas masks then dragged the bodies from the chamber. The victims' glasses, artificial limbs, jewelry, and hair were removed, and any dental work was extracted so the gold could be melted down.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=171}} If the gas chamber was crowded, which they typically were, the corpses were found half-squatting, their skin discolored pink with red and green spots, with some foaming at the mouth or bleeding from their ears.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=170}} The corpses were burned in the nearby incinerators, and the ashes were buried, thrown in the river, or used as fertilizer.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=171}} With the Soviet [[Red Army]] approaching through Poland, the last mass gassing at Auschwitz took place on 30 October 1944.{{sfn|Piper|1994|p=174}} In November 1944, ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]], head of the SS, ordered gassing operations to cease throughout Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=123–124}}