Mobile gas chambers (Gaswagen)

Mobile gas chambers were first deployed in “euthanasia” operations in German-occupied Poland. At the end of 1941, a more efficient version was used for the mass killing of Jews in the Chełmno/Kulmhof extermination camp. The use of mobile gas vans by the Einsatzgruppen (task forces) in Nazi-occupied Soviet territories, and later in Serbia and Italy, was promoted by the SS leadership and Himmler as a way of relieving the psychological burden of the killing squads. The Reich Security Head Office (RSHA) and the Führer Chancellery were responsible for the development and production of mobile gas vans. Their construction was overseen by Walter Rauff and Friedrich Pradel, who commissioned the Berlin-based Gaubschat company to produce two prototypes of a hermetically sealed van. The first model was the Diamond, a small van that could hold 10 to 30 victims. The second model was the Saurer, a larger version that was designed to hold between 20 and 60 victims. Often, however, as many as 80 people were crammed into the van. Death by carbon monoxide usually occurred between 7 and 15 minutes, sometimes longer. It was dependent on the number of victims in the van, as well their age and physical condition. The gas van was first tested on a group of Russian prisoners of war in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Three gas vans were initially used in Minsk on 15 June 1942 – two Diamond vans brought directly from Berlin by the drivers Karl Gebl and Erich Gnewuch, and a Saurer driven by Harry Rübe. The fourth gas van driver was Johann Hassler.

The gassing mechanism had a high breakdown rate, which is why the gas vans were often used to take prisoners to the execution site to be shot dead by firing squad. More than 97,000 victims were killed in mobile gas vans between December 1941 and June 1942.