SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

274 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
Eichmann, whom Hitler had charged with the extermination of
the Jews, was in agreement with these plans. Consequently, there
were ‘no objections to doing away with those Jews who are unable
to work, by means of the Brack remedy.’ [829] Kallmeyer, who was
charged with the manufacture of the gassing apparatus and equipment,
had been trained for this task in the Euthanasia Program.
Previously he had been responsible for the proper operation of the
gas chambers of the different euthanasia institutions.”
The foregoing is a summary of the draft of a letter, allegedly drawn
up by Amtsgerichtsrat E. Wetzel, Sonderdezernent für Rassenpolitik
(special secretary for racial policy) in the Ministry of the East, addressed
to Hinrich Lohse, Reichskommissar für das Ostland. The letter
dated 25 October 1941 deals with the “solution of the Jewish question.”
The policy of deportation to the East is clearly confirmed:
“According to Sturmbannführer Eichmann, camps for Jews are
to be set up at Riga and Minsk, with Jews from the Altreich possibly
being sent there as well. At the moment Jews from the Altreich are
being evacuated to Litzmannstadt, but they may also be moved to
other camps, later on to be employed for work in the East to the extent
that they are physically apt.”
The novelty consisted in the plan to kill the unfit Jews in camps yet
to be set up at Riga and at Minsk. The killing was to be carried out by
means of “gassing equipment” (the “Brack remedy” mentioned above).
However, “as Brack thinks that the manufacture of the equipment in the
Reich is much more difficult than on site, Brack suggests to detach his
staff, in particular his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, to Riga to take care of the
necessary arrangements.” 830
But what kind of “gassing equipment” are we dealing with? At the
trial of the physicians, Brack described it as follows: 831
“Then the patients were led to a gas chamber and were there
killed by the doctors with carbon monoxide gas (CO).
Q. Where was that carbon monoxide obtained, by what process?
A. It was in a compressed gas container, like a steel oxygen container,
such as is used for welding – a hollow steel container.
829 “keine Bedenken, wenn diejenigen Juden, die nicht arbeitsfähig sind, mit den Brackschen
Hilfsmitteln beseitigt werden”
830 NO-365.
831 “The Medical Case,” op. cit. (note 828), pp. 876, 881.