The Holocaust Historiography Project
Auschwitz, by J.-C. Pressac
PART TWO

CHAPTER 3
BUNKER 1 or “The Red House”
and its supposed mass graves
Study of Bunker 1 according to the testimonies of Rudolf HOESS, Pery BROAD, Szlam[a] DRAGON, Maurice BENROUBI, Milton BUKI and Moshe GARBARZ and of its supposed mass graves, later cremation pits.
I/ Deposition by the eyewitness Szlam[a] DRAGON

[Extract from Volume II of the Hoess trial Volume 11 of the Hoess trial, annex 17]

Deposition recorded on 10th May 1945 by Judge Jan Sehn, concerning Bunker 1:
“Five hundred [in actual fact 800] meters further on [from Bunker 2] there was another cottage designated Bunker 1. This was also a small brick house divided into just two parts and able to contain altogether 2000 naked persons. [Manifest exaggeration by the witness, practically the rule among all the early accounts. Hoess gives the figure of 800: a “technician” of death, he knew what he was talking about, even if he also tended to massage the figures through “professional pride"] These rooms each had one entrance door and a small window. Near Bunker 1, there was a small barn and two huts. The pits were much further on. They were connected to this Bunker [1] by narrow gauge rails.”
The drawing of Bunker 1 by S. Dragon [Document 1], joined to his deposition, shows that the floor of Bunker 1 was higher than the surrounding land. In his deposition the two sets of steps leading to the doors are not mentioned.

Document 1

Document 1
Plan of “Bunker” No.

Translation of the inscriptions:
· Annexe au protocole d'interrogatoire du témoin Szlamy Dragon les 10 et 11 V 1945 /
Annex to the interrogation protocol of the witness Szlam[y] Dragon of 10th and 11th May 1945.
· portes étanches au gaz / Gas-tight doors
· chambers à gaz, bunker / Gas chambers, bunker
· lucarnes où l'on jetait le zyklon / Windows where the Zyklon was thrown in
· escaliers / Steps