"The crematorium at Auschwitz I camp was used to burn the bodies of prisoners who died a natural death"

Many negationists, unable to refute the existence of crematorium I in KL Auschwitz, argue in the publications that it contained furnaces which were exclusively used to cremate the corpses of prisoners who had died of natural causes.

Facts:

Towards the end of September 1941, it was established that the mortuary in crematorium I where corpses had been kept before cremation in the furnaces should be converted into a gas chamber. This decision was taken already after Zyklon B (containing hydrogen cyanide) had been used to murder several hundred Soviet prisoners of war and Polish prisoners in the basement of block 11 at the beginning of September 1941. The intention was to create a gas chamber in the crematorium area, and thus avoid the necessity of transporting corpses through the whole camp.

Plan of KL Auschwitz crematorium I. The largest room, which had originally served as a mortuary, was converted into a gas chamber, with a capacity to contain 700 to 800 people, in September 1941. Source: Archives of the Auschwitz Museum

A Zyklon B granulate was poured into the gas chamber through four special openings in the ceiling.

One of the most important extant documents proving this is an order issued to the camp workshops on 25th September 1941 for the construction of four airtight flaps (luftdichte Klappen) to be delivered to crematorium I (BW 11).

An order issued to the metalwork shop on 25th September 1941 to produce four airtight flaps for crematorium I. The flaps were to seal openings in the gas chamber roof through which Zyklon B granules were poured in. Source: Archives of the Auschwitz Museum

Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the Auschwitz camp, describes the murder of a transport of several hundred Soviet prisoners of war in his memoir published after the war:

"‘I do not properly recall the first case of people being killed with gas, perhaps because I was too concerned with the whole procedure. I have a better recollection of the gassing of 900 Russians; it happened shortly afterwards in the old crematorium […] because using block 11 required too much effort.

During the unloading of the transport, several openings were made in the roof. The Russians were made to undress in the vestibule, and then entered the mortuary quite calmly because they had been told that they were to be deloused. The transport filled the entire mortuary. The door was closed, and the gas was poured through the openings. I do not know how long the killing lasted, but murmurs could be heard from inside for a long time. When the gas was poured in, some of the prisoners yelled ‘gas’, subsequently a loud roar sounded, and the inmates began to push from the inside to the door. Nevertheless, the door withstood the pressure.

Only a few hours later the chamber was opened and aired. That was the first time I saw such a mass of gassed corpses. … I was overcome with horror. …

I did not deliberate much about the issue of killing Soviet prisoners of war at the time. That was the order, and I had to carry it out. However, I will openly say that the gassing of the transport had a calming effect on me [sic], for the mass extermination of Jews was about to begin, and neither Eichmann nor I had so far had any idea of how such mass killings were to be conducted. It had already been decided that some kind of gas would be used, but we did not know which gas and how to apply it. Now, however, we discovered not only which gas to use but also which procedure should be conducted.’"

Source: Rudolf Höss, Oświęcim w oczach SS [Auschwitz in the eyes of the SS], pp. 62-63, Warsaw, 1991.

"‘Finally, there were about 600 desperate people crammed into the crematorium. A few SS men left the building, and the last one locked the entrance door from the outside. Shortly afterwards the increasing sound of coughing, screaming and shouting for help could be perceived from behind the door. I was unable to distinguish particular words, for the shouts intermingled with sobbing and crying were drowned by knocking and banging against the door. After some time, the noise grew weaker, the screams stopped. Only now and then there was a moan, a rattle, or the sound muffled knocking against the door. But soon even that ceased and in the sudden silence each one of us felt the horror of this terrible mass death.

Once everything was quiet inside the crematorium, Unterscharfuhrer Teuer, followed by Stark, appeared on the flat roof. Both had gas-masks dangling round their necks. They put down oblong boxes which looked like food tins; each tin was labelled with a death’s head and marked 'Posion!' What had been just a terrible notion, a suspicion, was now certainty: the people inside the crematorium had been killed with poison gas’."

Source: Filip Müller, Auschwitz Inferno, p. 33-34, London 1979.