Traces of cyanide found in gas chamber walls

WARSAW, Poland -- Traces of the lethal gas used at the Auschwitz concentration camp remain in the walls of the crematorium, an analysis released Thursday showed.

Polish scientists found cyanide gas in samples taken from the walls of crematorium No. 2 in Birkenau, an integral part of the Auschwitz- Birkenau Nazi Germany death camp of World War II, the Polish news agency PAP said.

The findings came 45 years after last mass exterminations in the camp.

An estimated 1.5 million people, the overwhelming majority Jews, perished in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, built by Nazis in 1940 near Krakow in southern Poland.