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The Topf and Sons Company is responsible

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for the construction of many crematories

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in Nazi concentration camps

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 during World War II.

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Millions of people have been
murdered in these camps.

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For example in Auschwitz-Birkenau,

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the largest one.

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During our two weeks day in Oświęcim

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we have intensively dealt with the company,

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their motivation and their
relation to the SS.

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In this collage we are going to present

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our results and our thoughts

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concerning the Topf and Sons topic.

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"I informed SS Obersturmführer Kämmer

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that there are five Triple-muffle-ovens

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with a daily capacity

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of 800 per day each to be shoot today."

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Kurt Prüfer in a memo to the

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company management in September 1942.

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The Topf and sons company supplied

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six concentration camps with

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specially designed incineration ovens.

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Kurt Prüfer, the main engineer,

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designed ovens with two, three
and even eight chambers.

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The bodies were exposed
directly into the flames.

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They weren't burned
individually or in coffins

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but three or more corpses in one chamber

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rapidly and inexpensively.

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The remains of human beings
were burnt like waste.

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Furthermore, the company also invented

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special ventilation systems
for the gas chambers

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in the extermination Camp Birkenau.

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This ventilation system enabled the SS

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to murder more people per day.

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Karl Schultze a colleague of Kurt Prüfer,

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specialized for ventilation systems

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supervised the completion of the

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gas chambers in Birkenau in March 1943.

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During his interrogations after the war,

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he reported that in his presence

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up to 300 people were killed
in the gas chambers.

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In response, we hear by inform you

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that we will be happy to
send our senior engineer

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Mr. Prüfer to Auschwitz
often for the purpose

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of overseeing the work there.

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Always willing to serve you.

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We highly recommend also us to you.

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The engineers who were directly
at the construction sites

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in the camps as well as the
involved persons from the company

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had full knowledge of what
happened in the camps.

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The question now is,

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why did Topf and Sons do this.

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What was their motivation?

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The most important person

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if you deal with this
question is Kurt Prüfer.

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He was the one who invented the industrial

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killing machines for the
concentration camps.

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He had the personal motive;

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he was searching for
reputation and interpreted

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the work for the SS as a
technical challenge.

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Between him and his boss,

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the engineer Fritz Sander,

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there was something like a competition

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who's the better engineer.

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For the company itself,

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it was business as usual.

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One thing is clear for us:

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To say that Topf and
Sons is not responsible

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for the holocaust as they
only invented the machines

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to burn corpses is completely wrong.

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Without the acting of this company

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the industrial way of murdering would never

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have been possible in the way it happened.

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That’s why we think that the
company is also guilty

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for what was going on
in Auschwitz Birkenau.

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But what about their motives?

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Neither the companies bosses

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nor the engineers who were directly
involved in the construction

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did really care about the mass murdering.

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Also they had full knowledge.

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The behavior of Kurt Prüfer

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is just repulsive to us.

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To see the mass murdering of whole races

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as a technical challenge

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to gain personal reputation
is just horrible.

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Having no moral doubts

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when you're at least partly responsible

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for millions of deaths

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is just not understandable at all.