Editing Arthur Nebe (section)

====New killing methods====

In August 1941, Himmler, after a visit to Minsk, decided that alternative methods of killing should be found, instead of mass-shootings.{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=547}} He told Heydrich that he was concerned about the SS men's mental health.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=199}} Himmler turned to Nebe to devise a more "convenient" method of killing, particularly one that would spare executioners elements of their grisly task. Murder with [[carbon monoxide]] gas, already in use in the Reich as part of [[Action T4|the "euthanasia" program]], was contemplated, but deemed too cumbersome for the mobile killing operations in the occupied Soviet Union.{{sfn|Heberer|2008|p=232}}

Nebe decided to try experimenting by murdering Soviet psychiatric patients, first with explosives near Minsk, and then with automobile exhaust at [[Mogilev]].{{sfn|Lewy|2000|pp=204–208}} The idea of using gas was partly inspired by an incident in Nebe's past. One night after a party, Nebe had driven home drunk, parked in his garage, and fallen asleep with the engine running, nearly dying of [[carbon monoxide poisoning]] from the exhaust fumes.{{sfn|Rees|2006|p=53}} To conduct the experiments, he ordered the SS chemist [[Albert Widmann]], a member of the criminal-technical institute of the RKPA, to come to Minsk with {{convert|250|kg|lb}} of explosives and exhaust hoses. The next day, Widmann, Nebe, and an explosives expert carried out their first experiment in prepared bunkers in the Minsk area. According to testimony presented at Widmann's postwar trial:

{{quote|One of the bunkers was loaded with explosives and 24 mental patients were put into it. Nebe gave the signal to detonate, but the resultant explosion failed to kill the patients. Several of them emerged from the bunker covered in blood and screaming loudly. Thereupon more explosives were brought up, the wounded patients were forced back into the bunker, and a second explosion finally finished the job. The bunker had become quiet and parts of bodies could be seen hanging from nearby trees.{{sfn|Lewy|2000|pp=204–208}}}}

Two days later, Nebe and Widmann carried out another killing experiment: five psychiatric patients from Mogilev were placed in a hermetically sealed room with pipes leading to the outside. At first, exhausts from a passenger vehicle were vented into the room, so that the carbon monoxide would kill those inside. This method failed to kill the patients, so a truck was added; the patients were dead within 15 minutes. Nebe and Widmann concluded that killing with explosives was impractical, while gassing "held promise", as vehicles were readily available and could be used as needed.{{sfn|Dederichs|2009|p=106}}

After these experimental killings, Nebe thought of remodelling a vehicle with a hermetically sealed cabin for killing. The carbon monoxide from the vehicle's exhaust would be channelled into the sealed cabin in which the victims stood. He discussed the idea's technical aspects with a specialist from Kripo's Technology Institute and together they brought the proposal to Heydrich, who approved it.{{sfn|Arad|1987|pp=10–11}}