Gas Vans

The Gombin Society

Gas Vans in the Holocaust

In order to understand why the Nazis created permanent, stationary gas chamber complexes, it is important to first learn about the portable Gas Vans that were used in several camps all across Europe.

Gas Vans were first implemented in Kochanowka, Poland, where mentally ill children would be locked inside a hermetically sealed van or truck that would be filled with Carbon Monoxide from the vehicle's engine. Special piping and seals were created to link the engine to the chamber part of the van. Originally, when the Einsatzgruppen began to exterminate Jews, they would often use firing squads, and shoot their victims. However, the Reich Security Main Office deemed that this method was not secret or effective enough. Because of this, they ordered that Gas Vans be used for mass murder. By the end of 1941, these vans could be found across Europe, especially in Soviet Union, and famously in the Chelmno extermination camp.

Wikipedia

By June 1942, 20 Gas Vans were operational, with another 10 being manufactured. Most of the trucks were able to hold 50-60 victims at once, while some of the other, smaller vans could hold around 30.

However, several issues prevented the gas vans from becoming the main method of Nazi extermination. Firstly, the people who had to unload the vans faced several stress-related issues. Secondly, the roads that the gas vans had to travel on, especially in the Nazi-controlled part of the Soviet Union, were very bad quality, and the vehicles would often break down, making them extremely inefficient. At the end of the day, because of these issues, gas vans were not the most reliable option for the mass murder of Jews, and the Nazis decided to build bigger, permanent gas chambers throughout the death camps.