The German Schaeffler auto parts manufacturer used the hair of Auschwitz inmates in order to make fabrics and textile products during the Second World War, according to Polish researchers. In an interview with the German Spiegel TV, Dr. Jacek Lachendro, the deputy head of the Auschwitz Museum research department, stated that part (1.95 tons) of the hair on display in Auschwitz was found at the Schaeffler factory in Kietrz at the end of the Second World War.
He also mentioned transcripts of interrogated former factory workers who stated that in 1943, two train wagon loads of hair were delivered to the Kietrz factory, a three-hour ride by car from Auschwitz. Polish authorities later tested the hair and found traces of Zyklon B, the poisonous gas used to murder over a million Jews in the Auschwitz gas chambers.
The Schaeffler textile factory’s Kietrz branch, which is in ruins, was originally the site of the Jewish-owned Davistan Company. The Kietrz branch formed the basis of the Schaeffler Group. After the war, Wilhelm and Georg Scaheffler moved the company operations to Bavaria.
Two years ago, historian Prof. Gregor Schollgen was asked by the Schaeffler family to research the company’s history during the Nazi era. While confirming that the company used forced laborers in Kietrz, he did not find evidence linking the company to the processing of human hair from Auschwitz.
A complete set of blueprints for the construction of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz went on display in Berlin in February. The newly discovered Auschwitz plans are dated Oct 23, 1941, evidence that the Nazis’ industrial mass murder of Jews was formulated years before the Final Solution was implemented.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's concentration camps. The campgrounds are located in Poland approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Cracow and 286 kilometers (178 miles) south of Warsaw. Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Oświęcim was annexed by Nazi Germany and renamed Auschwitz, the town's German name.
According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 1.1 million victims were murdered at Auschwitz, about 90 percent of whom were Jews from almost every country in Europe. Most victims were killed in Auschwitz II's gas chambers using Zyklon B gas; other deaths were caused by systematic starvation, forced labor, lack of disease control, individual executions, and purported "medical experiments".
