Empty poison gas canisters, found by the Allies at the end of World War II

Zyklon B (IPA: [tsykloːn ˈbeː], also spelled Cyclon B) was the tradename of a cyanide-based insecticide notorious for its use by Nazi Germany against civilians in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Majdanek during the Holocaust. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid, Blausäure in German, hence B), a stabilizer, and a warning odorant that were impregnated onto various substrates, typically small absorbent pellets, fiber discs, or diatomaceous earth. It was stored in airtight containers; when exposed to air, the material released gaseous hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 26 KB) Summary Empty poison gas canisters found by the Allies in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi extermination camp at the end of World War II. Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Zyklon B ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 26 KB) Summary Empty poison gas canisters found by the Allies in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi extermination camp at the end of World War II. Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Zyklon B ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article is about the chemical compound. ... It has been suggested that ovicide be merged into this article or section. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... For other uses, see Gas chamber (disambiguation). ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Majdanek Mausoleum, containing the ashes of cremated victims Majdanek fence in the winter (2005) Majdanek (originally Konzentrationslager Lublin) is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... “Shoah” redirects here. ... R-phrases , , , , . S-phrases , , , , , , , , . Flash point −17. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... An Odorant is an substance that can be smelled. ... A sample of diatomaceous earth Diatomaceous earth (IPA: , also known as DE, diatomite, diahydro, kieselguhr, kieselgur and Celite) is a naturally occurring, soft, chalk-like sedimentary rock that is easily crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. ... R-phrases , , , , . S-phrases , , , , , , , , . Flash point −17. ...

History and production

Ironically, Zyklon B was originally developed as a pesticide by Fritz Haber, a German Jew who emigrated in 1933. It was first produced in World War I by TASCH (Technischer Ausschuss für Schädlingsbekämpfung, or Technical Committee for Pest Control) as a delousing agent. Out of TASCH emerged DEGESCH (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung mbH, or German Corporation for Pest Control), which played a key role in the manufacturing of Zyklon B in World War II. Many German companies had a stake in DEGESCH, but all eventually sold their shares to the chemical giant Degussa (Now known as Evonik) in the early 1920s. Degussa developed the process to manufacture Zyklon B in "crystals" (actually silicagel absorbent chunks), as it was used during World War II. To raise capital, Degussa split its controlling interest of DEGESCH with IG Farben in 1930: both companies held a 42.5% share in DEGESCH, with the remaining 15% held by the Th. Goldschmidt AG of Essen. Fritz Haber (9 December 1868 – 29 January 1934) was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development of synthetic ammonia, important for fertilisers and explosives. ... Degussa Logo Degussa AG is a multinational chemistry corporation based in Düsseldorf, Germany. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... IG Farben (short for Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG) was a German conglomerate of companies formed in 1925 and even earlier during World War I. IG Farben held nearly a total monopoly on the chemical production, later during the time of Nazi Germany. ... Essen is a city in the center of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ...

DEGESCH's role at this point was limited to acquiring patents and intellectual properties: it did not itself produce Zyklon B. The manufacture of Zyklon B was handled by the Dessauer Werke für Zucker and Chemische Werke, which acquired the stabilizer from IG Farben, the warning agent from Schering AG and the prussic acid from Dessauer Schlempe and assembled them into the final product. This company extracted prussic acid from the waste products of the sugar beet refining process. From 1943 to 1945, the Kaliwerken, from the Czech town of Kolin, also supplied prussic acid to the Dessauer Werke. When Zyklon B became used in the gas chambers, the Nazis ordered the warning agent removed. For other uses, see Patent (disambiguation). ... For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ... Two sugar beets - the one on the left has been cultivated to be smoother than the traditional beet, so that it traps less soil. ... The National Socialist German Workers Party, (German: , or NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. ...

Upon production, Zyklon B was sold by Degesch to Degussa. To cut costs, Degussa sold the marketing rights of Zyklon B to two intermediaries: the Heerdt and Linger GmbH (Heli) and Tesch and Stabenow (Tesch und Stabenow, Internationale Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung m.b.H., or Testa) of Hamburg. Both suppliers split their territory along the Elbe river, with Heli handling the clients to the west and Testa doing the same in the east. For other uses, see Hamburg (disambiguation). ... This article is about a river in Central Europe. ...

Zyklon B is still in production in the Czech Republic in the factory Draslovka Kolín a.s. in the city Kolín under the tradename Uragan D2, sold for eradicating insects and small animals.^[1] Town hall Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic on the Elbe river. ... A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the legal name of a business, or the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes. ...

Use on humans

A Soviet soldier posed at Majdanek holding the cover of the vents through which Zyklon B was poured. London press, October 1944.

From 1929 onwards the U.S. used Zyklon B to disinfect the freight trains and clothes of Mexican immigrants entering the US.^[2] Farm Securities Administration photographer Marion Post Wolcott recorded the use of cyanide gas and zyklon by the Public Health Service at the New Orleans Quarantine Station during the 1930s.^[3] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x732, 69 KB) Summary A Soviet army man posed at Majdanek holding the cover of the vents through which Zyklon B was inserted. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x732, 69 KB) Summary A Soviet army man posed at Majdanek holding the cover of the vents through which Zyklon B was inserted. ... Majdanek Mausoleum, containing the ashes of cremated victims Majdanek fence in the winter (2005) Majdanek (originally Konzentrationslager Lublin) is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... Infection is also the title of an episode of the television series Babylon 5; see Infection (Babylon 5). ... Mexican may have several meanings. ...

The pesticide was used by Nazi Germany as a chemical weapon to poison prisoners in the gas chambers of the largest extermination camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, and also at Majdanek, one of the Operation Reinhard camps. At the other extermination camps, engine exhaust was used in the gas chambers. Many of the victims were Jews and the Zyklon B gas became a central symbol of the Holocaust. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Dressing the wounded during a gas attack by Austin O. Spare, 1918. ... For other uses, see Gas chamber (disambiguation). ... Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become known as the Holocaust. ... Auschwitz (Konzentrationslager Auschwitz) was the largest of the Nazi German concentration camps. ... Majdanek Mausoleum, containing the ashes of cremated victims Majdanek fence in the winter (2005) Majdanek (originally Konzentrationslager Lublin) is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard, Einsatz Reinhard, Aktion Reinhardt or Einsatz Reinhardt in German) was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the former General Government and rob their possessions. ... Automobile exhaust Exhaust gas is flue gas which occurs as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline/petrol, diesel, fuel oil or coal. ... “Shoah” redirects here. ...

Zyklon B was used in the concentration camps initially for delousing to control typhus. The chemical used in the gas chambers was deliberately made without the warning odorant.^[4] It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... Suborders Anoplura (sucking lice) Rhyncophthirina Ischnocera (avian lice) Amblycera (chewing lice) Lice (singular: louse) (order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3000 species of wingless parasitic insects. ... For the unrelated disease caused by Salmonella typhi, see Typhoid fever. ...

In January or February 1940, 250 Gypsy children from Brno in the Buchenwald concentration camp were used as guinea pigs for testing the Zyklon B gas.^[5] On September 3, 1941, 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners were gassed with Zyklon B at Auschwitz camp I; this was the first experiment with the gas at Auschwitz. The experiments lasted more than 20 hours. Language(s) Romani, languages of native region Religion(s) Romanipen, combined with assimilations from local religions Related ethnic groups South Asians (Desi) This article is about the Indo-Aryan ethnic group. ... Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region South Moravia Founded 1146 Area  - city 230. ... Buchenwald is the German for beech forest. A koolio forest in the hill range Elm (Höhenzug Elm), in the Helmstedt and Wolfenbüttel districts, Lower Saxony A German name for a Hungarian region Bakony Forest (Hungarian: , German: ) A Nazi concentration camp in Germany (German: ); See Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald... is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... Soviet redirects here. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

After the war, two directors of Testa – Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher – were tried by a British military court and were executed for their part in supplying the chemical. Bruno Emil Tesch (14 August 1890 - 16 May 1946 in Hameln) was a German chemist and entrepreneur, condemned and executed on 16 May 1946 for his involvement in the production of Zyklon B. Not to be confused with Bruno Guido Camillo Tesch. ...

The use of the word Zyklon (German for cyclone) continues to prompt angry reactions from Jewish groups. In 2002, both Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte and Umbro were forced to withdraw from attempts to use or trademark the term for their products.^[6] This article is about the meteorological phenomenon. ... Umbro (LSE: UMB) is an internationally recognised football brand based in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England. ...

Modern Holocaust deniers assert that Zyklon B gas was not used in the gas chambers, relying as evidence on the low levels of Prussian blue residue in samples of the purported gas chambers found by Fred A. Leuchter, which Leuchter dismissed as the results of general delousing of buildings. However, Leuchter's negative control, a sample of gasket material taken from a different building in the camp, registered as having no such cyanide residue.^[7] The manager of the analytical laboratory hired by Leuchter states in an interview in Errol Morris' film Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., that Leuchter's thick samples of brick would have greatly diluted the cyanide residue, which forms only an extremely fine layer on the walls and cannot penetrate. Richard Harwoods Did Six Million Really Die? Holocaust denial is the claim that the mainstream historical version of the Holocaust is either highly exaggerated or completely falsified. ... A sample of Prussian blue Prussian blue (German: Preußischblau or Berliner Blau, in English Berlin blue) is a dark blue pigment used in paints and formerly in blueprints. ... Frederick A. (Fred) Leuchter, Jr. ... For other uses, see Louse (disambiguation). ... A scientific control augments integrity in experiments by isolating variables as dictated by the scientific method in order to make a conclusion about such variables. ... Some seals and gaskets 1. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Errol Morris Errol Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American Academy Award winning documentary film director. ... Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. ...

In 1994, the Institute for Forensic Research in Kraków re-examined this claim on the grounds that formation of Prussian blue by exposure of bricks to cyanide is not a highly probable reaction (Amoklauf gegen die Wirklichkeit. Praca zbiorowa; B. Gallanda, J. Bailer, F. Freund, T. Geisler, W. Lasek, N. Neugebauer, G. Spenn, W. Wegner; Bundesministerium fuer Unterricht und Kultur Wien, 1991). Using more sophisticated microdiffusion techniques, they tested 22 samples from the gas chambers, delousing chambers (as positive controls), and living quarters (as negative controls), finding cyanide residue in both the delousing chambers and the ruins of the gas chambers but none in the ruins of the living quarters, thus refuting the Holocaust deniers claims.^[8] For other uses, see Krakow (disambiguation). ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

References

1. ^ Producer of Uragan D2 homepage.
2. ^ How America inspired the Third Reich
3. ^ Photographs are retained in the National Library of Medicine. WA 234AL6 no. 2
4. ^ Van Husen, William H. Zyklon B. World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia. 1999.
5. ^ Emil Proester, Vraždeni čs. cikanu v Buchenwaldu (The murder of Czech Gypsies in Buchenwald). Document No. UV CSPB K-135 on deposit in the Archives of the Museum of the Fighters Against Nazism, Prague. 1940. (Quoted in: Miriam Novitch, Le génocide des Tziganes sous le régime nazi (Genocide of Gypsies by the Nazi Regime), Paris, AMIF, 1968)
6. ^ BBC NEWS | Business | Siemens retreats over Nazi name
7. ^ Shofar FTP Archive File: cyanide.002 The Nizkor Project
8. ^ A Study of the Cyanide Compounds Content in the Walls of the Gas Chambers in the Former Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps

For other uses, see Prague (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... The Nizkor (Hebrew: we will remember) Project is an ongoing Internet-based project run by Ken McVay which is dedicated to countering Holocaust revisionism. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Zyklon B

• Chemistry is Not the Science - a critique of the arguments of Holocaust deniers regarding the use of Zyklon B in gas chambers.
• A summary of Degussa's role in the production of Zyklon B during the National Socialist era
• URAGAN D2 (Czech)