Gas Chambers Explained
Although they were used in the US in the 1920's for killing prisoners, Gas Chambers were used as a main method of killing in the Holocaust. They had the ability to kill massive amounts of people in a short amount of time. Using an extremely poisonous, colorless gas called hydrogen cyanide, (to be more specific, Zyklon B) it makes it so that human cells can no longer produce energy they need to synthesize ATP (stores energy). Death occurs in about 2 minutes for a person weighing around 150 lb (68 kg.) This is one of the worst ways a person can die due to the amount you have to suffer beforehand.
The walls in the photos above have been permanently stained blue by the Zyklon B.
In the Holocaust, the elderly and women with children under the age of about 14 (and those who were not fit to work) were sent to these chambers immediately upon arrival. Since they were useless in the eyes of the Nazis, there was no point in letting them live.
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