QWas this movie filmed at the actual site of Auschwitz?
ANo. A replica camp was built near Sofia, Bulgaria using a map of the original camp. It was built to about 90% scale.
QWhat is the Nazi officer pouring into the vents on top of the gas chamber?
AThe method used by the Nazis to gas their victims in some death camps, definitely in Auschwitz, was done by pouring pellets of Zyklon B into vents built into the ceilings of the gas chambers. The vents were attached to columns that had openings for the fumes to fill the room. Zyklon B was originally produced as a pesticide, however, the Nazis found that it was quite effective at killing large numbers of people very quickly and inexpensively (it didn't cost very much to produce). When the pellets were exposed to air, they produced deadly fumes of Prussic acid which, in short, would suffocate the victims.
QHow did the girl survive in the gas chamber?
AThe conclusion that Dr. Nyiszli came to was that there was a large amount of moisture left on the floor after the room was last "cleaned" after the last gassing. This moisture formed a thin layer of humidity near the floor. The fumes from Zyklon B were believed to be unable to penetrate this layer of humidity. While crushed against the floor under a few bodies, the girl breathed a much lower concentration of the gas and was able to survive.In the gas chambers, many people, many of them elderly or children, died of suffocation not from the gas but due to being crushed under the fall of bodies on top of them as they died or while being trampled by stronger victims who were clamoring desperately to escape the chamber.
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