Carbon Monoxide

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Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a color and odorless tasteless gas. When carbon monoxide is breath into a persons lungs it makes them fall a sleep. This happens without them even knowing that there being poisoned. Carbon monoxide was developed in 1776 by a man named Lassonne. He did this by heating a mixture of charcoal and zinc oxide. This mixture proved to be a source of heat to the home and the industry. Today we mostly find that coal gas oil propene all give off carbon monoxide gas.

Carbon monoxide gas was used by the German Nazis party as a way to murder hundreds of thousands of jews. The gas vans were used on people that were retarded mantle or chronically ill and criminalist. These people were placed into vans that were all sealed up with no windows. After they were all in the Natizs would lock them in there and turn on the van the exhaust from the van ran through a hose were it lead into the back were the people are. When the people were being loaded they had no clue that this was going to happen they were told that they are going to a better facilities.

In the early stages of the war with the Soviet Union the Einsatzgruppen or know as the "mobile killing squads." the first to find such a method was arthur Nebe, the commander of the Eninsatzgruppen B. His men had been receiving mantle anguish by doing all the kill with guns. They also seemed to have a problem killing young children and woman. That's when the started to look for an alternative way to kill them. The first gas vans were ready in September 1941. They were tasted out on soviet prisoners of war. The second test was attend by two chemists by the names of Dr. Walter Hees and Dr. Theodor Frierich Leidig. Leidig said the following about the gassing at the post war trial in West Germany : " the van was opened some bodies fell out, others were removed by prisoners. As our chemists had predicted, the bodies had the pinkish tinge typical of victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Fifteen gas vans were in operation in German occupied Soviet territory that's were the Einsatzgruppen put them. Two vans were for the use in Latvia and Estonia and all the areas between those two and the eastern war front.

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