Arizona Prepares for Executions With Gas Used in Holocaust Death Camps

Arizona report­ed­ly has ​“refur­bished” its gas cham­ber and has spent more than $2,000 to acquire ingre­di­ents to exe­cute pris­on­ers with cyanide gas, the same gas used by the Nazis to mur­der more than one mil­lion men, women, and chil­dren dur­ing the Holocaust. 

Records obtained by The Guardian show that the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry pur­chased a sol­id brick of potas­si­um cyanide in December for $1,530. The state also pur­chased sup­plies of addi­tion­al ingre­di­ents for pro­duc­ing hydro­gen cyanide gas, includ­ing sodi­um hydrox­ide pel­lets and sul­fu­ric acid. Initially devel­oped as an insec­ti­cide and known by the Nazis as ​“Zyklon B,” the gas was the sig­na­ture method by which the Nazis car­ried out their geno­cide against European Jews, the Roma, and local pop­u­la­tions at the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, and oth­er con­cen­tra­tion camps and killed Soviet pris­on­ers of war and anti-Nazi resistance fighters.

Executions in Arizona have been on hold since 2014, when the state botched the lethal-injec­tion exe­cu­tion of Joseph Wood. As Arizona offi­cials attempt to restart exe­cu­tions, they spent $1.5 mil­lion to obtain lethal injec­tion drugs, even as the Department of Corrections faces a budget crisis.

In August 2020, the state test­ed its gas cham­ber, built in 1949, to deter­mine whether it can be used for exe­cu­tions. After ini­tial tests found ​“slow drainage” and ​“over­flow­ing,” cor­rec­tions offi­cials had the seals and gas­kets replaced. Corrections staff then test­ed the cham­ber for air­tight­ness by pass­ing the flame of a can­dle slow­ly near the seals of the chamber. 

Arizona last used its gas cham­ber in 1999, for the exe­cu­tion of Walter LaGrand. Eleven peo­ple in five states were exe­cut­ed in the gas cham­ber since exe­cu­tions were per­mit­ted to resume in 1976. LaGrand’s was the last exe­cu­tion by lethal gas any­where in the United States. The Tucson Citizen report­ed ​“ago­niz­ing chok­ing and gasp­ing” dur­ing the exe­cu­tion. ​“The wit­ness room fell silent as a mist of gas rose, much like steam in a show­er, and Walter LaGrand became enveloped in a cloud of cyanide vapor,” the Citizen report­ed. ​“He began cough­ing vio­lent­ly — three or four loud hacks — and made a gag­ging sound before falling for­ward.” LeGrand took 18 min­utes to die.

“Despite Arizona’s efforts to present their planned exe­cu­tion method as accept­able and rep­utable,” The Jerusalem Post report­ed, ​“the name Zyklon B is inex­tri­ca­bly linked to the hor­rors of the past, when over a mil­lion Jews and oth­ers were mur­dered in Nazi gas cham­bers using the lethal gas between 1942 and 1945.” 

Death Penalty Information Center exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham told The Guardian: ​“You have to won­der what Arizona was think­ing in believ­ing that in 2021 it is accept­able to exe­cute peo­ple in a gas cham­ber with cyanide gas. Did they have any­body study the his­to­ry of the Holocaust?”

Arizona’s actions pro­voked a sharp international response. 

Christoph Heubner, exec­u­tive vice pres­i­dent of the International Auschwitz Committee, told the New York Times, ​“For Auschwitz sur­vivors, the world will final­ly come apart at the seams, if in any place on this earth the use of Zyklon B in the killing of human beings is con­sid­ered again.” In a June 2 inter­view, he said, ​“In their eyes, this is a dis­grace­ful act that is unwor­thy of any democ­ra­cy and, more­over, insults the vic­tims of the Holocaust.”

Austrian ambas­sador to the United States, Martin Weiss, tweet­ed: ​“The death penal­ty is in and of itself a cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. Getting ready to use Zyklon B for exe­cu­tions is just beyond the pale.” German and Austrian news head­lines, the New York Times said, ​“reflect­ed a sense of dis­be­lief and dismay.” 

Arizona requires pris­on­ers fac­ing exe­cu­tion to choose between the gas cham­ber and lethal injec­tion. In the words of Joseph Perkovich, a lawyer for death-row pris­on­er Frank Atwood, ​“nei­ther option is ten­able.” If they make no des­ig­na­tion, they are exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion. Atwood is one of the two Arizona pris­on­ers for whom state offi­cials are seek­ing execution dates. 

On April 6, 2021, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that he is ask­ing the Arizona Supreme Court to set a brief­ing sched­ule and issue exe­cu­tion war­rants for Atwood and Clarence Dixon. Attorneys for Dixon and Atwood issued state­ments sharply chal­leng­ing the attor­ney general’s rep­re­sen­ta­tions con­cern­ing the cas­es. Dixon, they say, is severe­ly men­tal­ly ill and also has seri­ous phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties, and his men­tal sta­tus can­not be prop­er­ly assessed while pan­dem­ic-relat­ed con­cerns lim­it experts’ abil­i­ty to trav­el and to con­duct nec­es­sary in-per­son eval­u­a­tions. Atwood main­tains his inno­cence, but his defense lawyers’ abil­i­ty to inves­ti­gate and present evi­dence sup­port­ing his inno­cence claim has been imped­ed by the pandemic.

The Arizona Supreme Court grant­ed Brnovich’s motions on May 21, direct­ing the attor­ney gen­er­al to file a motion seek­ing an exe­cu­tion war­rant for Atwood no lat­er than July 21 and for Dixon no lat­er than August 12. Atwood has until August 4 to respond, and state pros­e­cu­tors have until August 11 to reply. Dixon has until August 26 to respond, and state pros­e­cu­tors have until September 2 to reply.