Arizona Jews sue to stop the state from executing people with Zyklon B, which the Nazis used to gas Jews

(Jewish News of Greater Phoenix via JTA) — Leaders of Arizona’s Jewish community are suing the state to prevent it from using hydrogen cyanide, the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz, to carry out capital punishment.

During the Holocaust, the Nazis used pellets of Zyklon B, a hydrogen cyanide formulation, in the gas chambers at Auschwitz and other death camps. At the height of Auschwitz’s operations in 1943 and 1944, an average of 6,000 Jews were gassed to death each day there.