Gas chamber

A gas chamber is a means of execution whereby a poisonous gas is introduced into a hermetically sealed chamber. When the condemned breathes this gas, death follows. Hydrogen cyanide, or more rarely carbon monoxide, are the typical agents.

Nazi Germany

More notoriously, gas chambers were used in the Nazi Third Reich during the 1930s as part of the so-called "public euthanasia program" aimed at eliminating physically and intellectually disabled people, and later the mentally ill. At that time, the preferred gas was carbon monoxide, often provided by the exhaust fumes of cars and trucks.

Related Topics:
Nazi - Third Reich - 1930s - Euthanasia program - Carbon monoxide

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Later, during the Holocaust, gas chambers were modified and enhanced to accept even larger groups as part of the Nazi policy of genocide against Jews, Gypsies, and others. Through experimentation in September 1941 Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide absorbed into various solid substrates) was found to be most efficient. Nazi gas chambers in mobile vans and at least eight concentration camps (see also: extermination camp) were used to kill several million people between 1941 and 1945; some of them could kill 2500 people at once. The gas chambers were dismantled when Red Army troops got close.

Related Topics:
The Holocaust - Genocide - Jew - Gypsies - 1941 - Zyklon B - Hydrogen cyanide - Concentration camp - Extermination camp - 1945

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