“The Auschwitz camp has a special task in the settlement of the Jewish question. The
most modern methods make it possible to implement the Fuhrer Order
very quickly and discreetly. The so-called "resettlement
action" for the Jews proceeds as follows: The Jews arrive in
special trains (goods wagons) towards evening and are taken by a
special line to a special area of the camp. There they are unloaded
and examined by a medical board in the presence of the Camp
Commandant and several leading SS in the first place to see if they
are fit for work.
"Here anybody who can be integrated into the
work process in any way is sent to a special camp. Those with some
temporary ailment are sent immediately to the quarantine camp and are
brought back to health through a special diet. The basic principle
is: keep as many prisoners as possible for labour. The
"resettlement action" of the old sort is completely
rejected, for it is not permissible to systematically destroy
substantial labour capacities.
“The unfit go to a biggish house, into the
basement rooms, which are accessible from the outside. They descend 5
or 6 steps and come to a long, well-built and ventilated basement,
fitted with benches on the right and left. It is brightly lit, and
above the benches are numbers. The prisoners are told that they are
to be disinfected and washed ready for their new tasks. They
therefore have to undress completely to be bathed. In order to avoid
any panic or disorder, they are told to arrange their clothes neatly
and leave them under a number so that they can find their things
again after the bath. Everything proceeds in complete calm. They then
go through a small corridor and arrive in a big basement room that
resembles a shower room. In this room, there are three big pillars.
Into these it is possible from above, outside the basement, to lower
certain products. After 300 to 400 people have gathered in this room,
the doors are closed and from above containers with the products are
lowered into the pillars. When the containers reach the floor of the
pillars, they produce certain substances that put the people to sleep
in one minute. A few minutes later, the door on the other side is
opened, leading to a lift. The hair of the corpses is cut off and the
teeth are broken out (gold teeth) by qualified people (Jews). It has
been observed that Jews have hidden jewels, gold, platinum, etc. in
hollow teeth. After this the corpses are burned (As fresh corpses
burn particularly well, the whole process requires only 1/2 to 1
Zentner [25 to 50kg] of coke). The work itself is carried out by
Jewish prisoners who will never leave this camp.
“The result to date of this “resettlement
action”: 500,000 Jews. The present capacity of the “resettlement
action” furnaces: 10,000 in 24 hours.” (Pressac, Jean
Claude; Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers; The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, NY, 1989; 238-239)