In the last few years partially underground structures adjacent to two of the crematoria are considered to have been used as gas chambers. Until a few years ago it was believed to be the entire building that was used and that was based upon the simple fact that eyewitnesses had claimed upwards of three thousand people at a time were gassed. Since then drawings have surfaced in Russian archives that show the building was compartmented into five separate rooms.

      As usual there is a problem with the identification, the feature of five separate rooms is unmentioned by any of the people who claimed to have been witnesses to gassing there. And another problem is that the holohuggers claim there were four such gas chambers (Leichenkellers, LK) one each associated with the four crematoria (Kremas) at the Birkenau annex of Auschwitz. Aerial photos show these Leichenkellers only at two of the four of them thus breaking the false association of gas chambers with crematoria.

      The purported gas chamber buildings are behind the crematoria as one enters from the only gate in the fence around it. Needless to say, not one witness mentions going "around back" of the crematoria to get to the gas chamber.

      What is more, these LKs were built in a more expensive manner and the only such buildings built in this manner in the entire Auschwitz complex. They are partially underground and have flat, reinforced concrete roofs. Needless to say, no eyewitness ever mentioned these unique features.

      This was clearly a more expensive form of construction than for the barracks so there must have been a reason for it. While one might guess that the concrete construction was to keep it air tight for the poisonous gas to be used, that would be no reason for the partially underground construction which is more expensive than simply digging foundations.

      The holohuggers would hold that there is a special ventilation system that is for getting rid of the gas. The problem with that is the ventilation is not clear, not associated with any particular room, and no one has found any information on the fan or vents. The unfortunate fact is that the Russians demolished these buildings when they took over the camp.

      Note that none of the rooms in these drawings suggest a gas chamber. Rather then are reasonbly labeled as "Urn Room" and the like. Yes, this was a real crematorium that needed a place to store the urns to contain the ashes of the dead.

      Then the drawings that have been found which show the five rooms also show the above ground part of the building with dirt bermed up against the exposed sides. This is an unnecessary feature of an air tight building much less one particular room in this building.

      So what was the building? Just what it was named to be, a morgue, a complete facility for handling the dead, from storing the bodies to storing the urns with the ashes. And in building it as far underground as the water table would permit, it did not get so hot in summer when bodies were stored there, just as a basement in summer may be damp and cool but cool nevertheless.

      But then why the more expensive flat roof? Clearly it had a second purpose, it was an air raid shelter. As the simplest explanation of the features, its morgue features were clearly similar to what was needed for bomb shelters. It took only the substitution of a concrete reinforce roof for a peaked roof and the berming to give it a second use as a bomb shelter. All of the known features point to that as a secondary use.

      One of the bits of imagined documentation that the holohuggers provide is a reference to this as a "Vergasnungskeller" claiming that it means "gassing cellar." The problem with this is that the word can only be found in military dictionaries prior to WW II and can not be found in any standard dictionary until well after WW II where the dictionary editors have clearly adopted the holohugger "evidence." In the pre-WW II military dictionaries, the word clearly refers to a shelter from a gas warfare attack.

      It would appear to anyone not a holohugger that there is a clear explanation for this building and that it has nothing to do with gassing anyone. It is also clear that nothing about this building, not even eyewitness testimony supports it being a place where gassing occurred. It is extremely clear to anyone not a holohugger that these two buildings were not used for gassing.