It's true that Adam Zlobnicki had say that the holes in Auschwitz gas chambers were "remade"?
Executive summary
Adam Zlobnicki — a Polish witness involved in postwar reconstruction work at Auschwitz — is on the record saying that the Zyklon B introduction holes in the roof of Crematorium I were visible after the war and that several were reopened during the 1946–47 restoration; that statement appears explicitly in the Auschwitz State Museum’s reporting of witness testimony and in debunking resources citing his account [1] [2]. While some Holocaust revisionists have seized on the broader question of which roof holes are "original" versus "reopened" to argue the site is a postwar reconstruction, mainstream historians, museum documentation, and a forensic study conclude the holes existed originally and most were resealed and later reopened during restoration [3] [4].
1. Adam Zlobnicki’s reported recollection: a clear, limited claim
Multiple accessible sources quote Adam Zlobnicki as saying he “remember[s] well that the introduction holes for Zyklon B…were also reconstructed in 1946/47” and that traces of openings were visible during postwar work, language that places him as a reconstruction witness rather than claiming the holes were newly invented for tourists [1] [5]. The Auschwitz State Museum itself records that “several of the holes in the roof of the gas chamber were reopened” in postwar reconstruction, which aligns with Zlobnicki’s reported memory that openings were visible and that some were re-exposed during restoration [2].
2. Corroboration from forensic study and museum documentation
A forensic investigation published in 2000 mapped and analyzed the positions of holes and concluded that the Zyklon-introduction openings existed during construction, were later sealed when the chamber was converted to an air‑raid shelter, and (with the exception of one) were reopened in the restoration process — a finding that supports Zlobnicki’s description of visible and reconstructed holes rather than fabrication [4] [3]. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum provides archival and material evidence showing the crematorium’s furnaces and some roof openings were reconstructed using original components and that several holes were reopened, explicitly documenting a restoration process that can account for visible postwar work [2] [6].
3. How deniers and revisionists interpret the same facts for a different narrative
Holocaust revisionists have long exploited nuances — such as whether holes visible today are the original wartime apertures or postwar restorations — to claim the gas chamber is a “fake” or tourist reconstruction; critics cite altered rooflines, removed internal walls, and reopened holes to allege inauthenticity [7]. That tactic is visible in high‑profile legal and public controversies (for example, Irving’s litigation and promotion of the idea that “no holes” were found in ruins), yet courts, museum curators, and multiple technical studies have rejected the revisionist inference that reopened restoration work negates the historical use of these spaces for gassing [8] [3].
4. Assessment, motives and limits of the record
The straightforward truth supported by the cited material is that Zlobnicki reported seeing the sealed openings and that some were reopened during postwar restoration — a claim corroborated by museum records and a forensic study [1] [4] [2]. The political and rhetorical context matters: deniers and some revisionist authors selectively highlight restoration to cast doubt on the homicidal function of crematoria, an agenda repeatedly exposed and countered by institutional scholarship and forensic work [9] [3]. Reporting and technical reports vary in emphasis and methodology, and while the sources provided document Zlobnicki’s testimony and corroborative forensic conclusions, they also show debates over interpretation — therefore, assertions beyond what these sources state about intent or every single hole’s wartime state would exceed the available documentation as supplied here [10].