Daily Quiz: On Zyklon B

Former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau with the lettering ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work makes you free’) in Oswiecim, Poland. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A: Prussic acid

Q: While Zyklon B became notorious during World War II, ______ in 1916 and Italy and the United States in 1918 also used it during World War I. Fill in the blank.

A: France

Q: At the Nazi concentration camp in Majdanek, Poland, camp officials used Zyklon B in two buildings: barracks 41 and 42. In barrack 41, they killed the prisoners. What purpose did Zyklon B serve in barrack 42? This was also Zyklon B’s original purpose.

A: Disinfecting clothing

Q: In 1946, X and Y became the only two businessmen to be executed for Nazi war crimes in Western Europe. They had sold Zyklon B to the Nazis knowing the sordid purpose for which it was intended. Name X and Y.

A: Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher

Q: The primary constituent of Zyklon B is deadly because it inhibits the action of an enzyme called __________ _ _______ in mitochondria and chokes cells. Fill in the blanks.

A: Cytochrome c oxidase