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In
the extermination camps built under Operation Reinhard – Belzec,
Sobibor, and Treblinka – the gas first used to murder people was
carbon monoxide, generated by gasoline engines or released from
carbon-monoxide cylinders. Experiments in the use of Zyklon B, a
form of hydrogen cyanide or prussic acid, began in Auschwitz in
September 1941. The gas pellets were supplied by DEGESCH (a German
cooperative that manufactured pesticides), which was controlled by
I.G. Farben. Tesch and Stabenow Co. of Hamburg also supplied gas
pellets. The improved gas-chamber and crematoria facilities at
Auschwitz-Birkenau were built by J. A. Topf und Sohne of Erfurt,
Germany. |