Rebuttal of Alvarez of Gas Vans: Misreading the Fine Print

 Rebuttal of Alvarez on Gas Vans

Part I: Why the Diesel Issue is Still Irrelevant (update 1, 2)
Part II: Producer Gas

 Part III: The Ford Gas Wagon (update)
Part IV: The Becker Letter (update)
Part V: The Rauff Letter to the Criminal Technical Institute (update 1, 2, 3, cf. on Mattogno & here)

Part VI: The Turner Letter

Part VII: The Schäfer, Trühe & Rauff Telexes

Part VIII: The Einsatzgruppe B Activity & Situation Report (cf. on Mattogno)

Part IX: The Just Memo

Part X: The West-German Trials Against Members of Einsatzkommando 8

Part XI: Einsatzgruppe D in Simferopol

Part XII: Material Evidence

Part XIII: Misreading the Fine Print 

 

Footnote Fun

 

For those who appreaciate deciphering these results of meticulous research, footnotes are an art form on its right. For others, like the Holocaust denier Santiago Alvarez, it's an opportunity to dig themselves deeper into misinformation. Case in point: he stumbled over the footnotes of the book Nazi Mass Murder by Kogon, Langbein, Rückerl (see Alvarez, The Gas Vans. A Critical Investigation, page 149).

Alvarez states that the former member of Sonderkommando Kulmhof Walter Burmeister was interrogated "after the war in Poland". However, here's the kicker: Burmeister was not interrogated by the Poles. He spent in British internement / near Flensburg after war:

 

"When I was wounded shortly before the end of the war (on May 2, 1945), I was admitted to a Flensburg hospital. As a former member of the SS – I was an Unterscharführer at the time – I was sent to the internment camp at Neuengamme. I was interned there for 2 1/2 years. After my release, I took up residence in the Flensburg district. For several years, I have been self-employed in Flensburg and own a plumbing and installation business here."

https://holocausthistory.site/testimony-of-burmeister-walter-on-kulmhof-extermination-camp/

This interrogation in question took place in West-Germany, not in the late 40s, but more than a full decade later, on 23 March 1961. This mistake now turns Alvarez' timeline into a muddled mess. 

 

He claims that Burmeister was "merely parroting what the Poles put on his platter". Well, that's a bit awkward as Burmeister never dined with them in the first place. He then adds that "during an interrogation some 15 years later in Germany on January 24, 1961, Burmeister described the piping device differently" and concludes that "Burmeister’s knowledge had been 'streamlined" over the years". Except, this interrogation of January 24, 1961 took place before the one of March 23, 1961. So, if anything, we're observing a process of testimonies getting less "streamlined" over time.

 

According to Alvarez, Burmeister described the gas vans with such minutae that it could only mean he was coerced by the Poles. However, the details Burmeister provided actually align with German records - only exploited years after the Polish investigation. If Alvarez timeline were correct, Burmeister could not have been fed with the German records. It’s almost as if Burmeister was, you know, telling the truth. 

The root-cause of the whole confusion is Alvarez careless reading of the footnotes. Burmeister's testimony of 23 March 1961 is cited in reference 7 of Kogon et al., Nazi mass murder. It refers to "vol. 6" of ZSL AZ 203 AR-Z 69/59. The Polish investigations are cited in footnote 6, which refers to "special vol. A" of ZSL AZ 203 AR-Z 69/59. For whatever reason, Alvarez presumed that footnote 7 also cites "special vol. A" without performing any proof-reading or plausibility check. If Burmeister had been interrogated by the Poles after the war, it is all but certain that this would have been mentioned in the judgement of his trial.

 Kogon et al. Nazi Mass Murder, p. 262

Renault or Not Renault: That is the Question

 

Burmeister stated the gas vans were Renault trucks. According to Alvarez, "there is no documentary or anecdotal evidence that a Renault truck was ever used by the RSHA for anything". It's always puzzling how someone with limited knowledge of the RSHA can make such a definitive statement. In fact, there is substantial evidence that Renault trucks were used by the RSHA. For instance, during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, numerous Renault trucks were acquired by the RSHA from army depots in France.

 

 

Transfer of trucks from Heeresfahrpark 511 to the RSHA motor pool, BArch 58/7658

 

There is also at least one testimony that one of the gas vans provided to the Einsatzgruppen in the occupied Soviet Union was based on a Renault chassis:

"The G-van was was a french make, according to my memory a Renault."

(interrogation of Gustav Lauster of 24 October 1967, BArch B 162/2266)

 

Now, the larger gas vans were built on Saurer chassis, while the smaller gas vans used Diamond T chassis and likely other makes. Regarding Kulmhof, the gas van driver Gustav Laabs stated the smaller gas vans were based on Dodge chassis and Walter Burmeister described them as French and Renault. Generally, Burmeister can be considered as the more reliable witness. Both were in excellent positions to know the make of the vehicles. It's possible that one of them was mistaken, or they may have been describing different gas vans from the two operational periods (1942 vs. 1944).  Although this topic needs some further study, it is not central to the question of whether gas vans existed in the first place.