SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

282 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
dies, burn them, and scatter the ashes to prevent the possible reconstruction
of the number of victims.”
At Auschwitz this activity is said to have begun on 21 September
1942, 854 at Sobibór in October 1942, at Be��ec in December 1942, and
at Treblinka in March of 1943. 855
These dates do not prove any general cremation order by Himmler,
though – who was, after all, the head of Aktion Reinhardt. On the contrary:
they disprove such an order, since it is incomprehensible why a
specific cremation order would have been issued for each camp separately.
It follows that in these camps the cremations were not carried out
to hide “the traces of the crime,” but probably for specific local reasons.
854 D. Czech, op. cit. (note 825), p. 305.
855 On this point Y. Arad has introduced further contradictions by asserting that Himmler issued
the cremation order at Treblinka on the occasion of his visit in February-March
1943, which, however, has been shown never to have taken place, cf. C. Mattogno, J.
Graf, op. cit. (note 10, Engl. ed.), pp. 141-143.