The Gas Chamber of Sherlock Holmes

NOTES

1. Already the present essay in its research phase has given rise to two specialist articles, "Technique and Operation of German Anti-Gas Shelters: A Refutation of J. C. Pressac's 'Criminal Traces'" and"Defending Against the Allied Bombing Campaign: Air Raid Shelters and Gas Protection in Germany, 1939-1945, Parts 1 and 2". These articles correspond to sections 12 through 14. The present essay may stand on its own, but it is also in effect an outline for further extended treatments.

2. The first revisionists include the Frenchman, Paul Rassinier (d. 1967), active from 1948, a former inmate of Buchenwald (see his collected writings, Debunking the Genocide Myth, Institute of Historical Review (IHR), Newport Beach, CA: o. p.), and the Rumanian Jew, Josef Ginzburg (d. 1990), whose family was persecuted and deported during World War Two, writing under the pseudonym, J. G. Burg, from 1962. There is no easily available precis of revisionist historiography, Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century, IHR, Newport News, CA:1983 contains some information, pp. 10-12; pp. 317-334.

3. Some descriptive matter is found in Butz, op. cit., loc. cit., and consult also cum grano salis Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, W. H. Freeman, NY:1997, pp. 173-252. After Rassinier and Burg, "Holocaust revisionism" essentially begins with Arthur R. Butz, whose book was first published in 1976 (1977 in the US): Robert Faurisson in France and Wilhelm Stäglich in Germany emerged almost simultaneously along with others. The end of the '70's witnessed the debut of the Journal of Historical Review [hereinafter JHR], the primary English-language organ of revisionist writings. The 1980's found important writings by James G. Martin, Friedrich Berg, and Mark Weber, they were joined in the 1990's by, among others, Carlo Mattogno and John Ball. The 1988 Zündel trial also witnessed the entrance of the British historian David Irving into the revisionist fold, although to this date his writings have not heavily engaged the topic of the Holocaust as such, but see his Goebbels (1996) and Nuremberg:The Last Battle (1996), both issued by Focal Point in London.

4. Shermer, Michael, op. cit., loc. cit., provides a definition of revisionist positions, or as he calls it, "Holocaust Denial": (1) intentional genocide on racial grounds; (2) "highly technical, well-organized" program, using gas chambers and crematoria, (3) between five and six million dead. Shermer is to be credited for not demonizing revisionists, although his treatment leaves much out. More to the point, we do not know of any other historical event where the facts are set as preconditions to the concept, furthermore, not all revisionists give equal weight to each of the three "conditions". In the present case, while we have doubts about the extent of (1) and (3), we do not consider them historiographically interesting. On the other hand, we are certain that (2), at least as stated, is false.

5. Typical are the descriptions of revisionists that one finds in Lipstadt, Deborah, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, Penguin Books (Plume), NY:1994, we note in particular the introduction where revisionist "deniers" are characterized as plague-spreading rats.

6. Revisionism is thus outlawed in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Israel.

7. Two trials were carried out against Ernst Zündel, in 1985 and 1988; Barbara Kulaszka prepared a digest of the transcripts of the second trial, printed as Did Six Million Really Die? and his available on the Zündel-site on the Internet [hereinafter, DSMRD].

8. Tony Blair's promises in news reports, 16 Oct 96, and 30 Jan 97.

9. This is evident, for example, in Raul Hilberg's Destruction of the European Jews, Quadrangle, Chicago:1968, which, on the subject of gas exterminations restricts itself to heavily edited testimonies of two Nazis, taken under vastly different circumstances, two ambiguous documents, and a number of postwar memoirs of former concentration camp inmates.

10. The forensic approach is largely the brainchild of Robert Faurisson who already in the 1970's sought to compare the arrangement of gassing facilities in Poland with known gas execution technology in the United States. In the late 1980's, while preparing for the second Zündel trial, an expert in US execution technology, Fred Leuchter, was commissioned to write a report on the gassing sites in Poland. The resulting Leuchter Report (1988) was a milestone in Holocaust forensics, although its main conclusion, that the crematoria at Birkenau could never have been used for gassing, has been hotly disputed. Leuchter's main scientific conclusions, that the crematoria bore unexpectedly low cyanide traces, considering their supposed use, have been reproduced in several studies by both sides, but the interpretation of these low to non-existent traces has been variously argued and appears inconclusive. The most thorough and rigorous study of forensic issues related to cyanide residues remains the Rudolf Report (Gutachten), but the German chemist Germar Rudolf, published in 1992 and subsequently revised. Rudolf, under the pseudonym Ernst Gauss has also edited the important collection of studies, Grundlagen zur Zeitgeschichte, Grabert Verlag, Tübingen:1994 [hereinafter Grundlagen], as well as the revisionist periodical, Viertelsjahrhefte für freie Geschichtforschung [hereinafter VffG], 1997-present.

11. As evidence of the first, we cite Walter Laqueur's The Terrible Secret: Suppression of the Truth About Hitler's 'Final Solution', Little, Brown & Co., Boston:1980, which repeats every bit of information coming from occupied Poland as proof of the extermination policy, even when he is constrained to admit that it is inaccurate.

12.  Laqueur, Walter, Fascism: Past, Present, Future, Oxford UP, New York:1996, p. 141.

13. Soviet Special Commissions and contemporary reports had established death tolls as follows: Treblinka, 3-3.5 million, Auschwitz Birkenau, at least 4 million, Majdanek, 1.5 million, Sobibor, Chelmno, several hundreds of thousands, Belzec, 600,000. For a survey of death estimates as of 1946, including some even higher than the above, consult Aroneanu, Eugene, Inside the Concentration Camps, translated by Thomas Whissen, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT: 1996, pp. 143-144.

14. Ibid., The implication may not be correct: according to one of Aroneanu's witnesses the Jewish component always comprised 90% of the total, whatever that might be, loc. cit. This seems illogical. It also seems illogical to attribute to the Nazis a policy of exterminating non-Jews if, in the interval of 50 years, it has been accepted that in fact something on the order of seven millions were not exterminated at these six camps.

15. Cf. Butz, Arthur R., op. cit.; Gilbert, Martin, Auschwitz and the Allies,Henry Holt & Co., NY:1982. Also useful to this section are: Gilbert's article, "What Was Known and When", in Gutman, Y. & Berenbaum, M., Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, Indiana UP, Bloomington:1998; Martin, James J., The Man Who Invented 'Genocide', Institute for Historical Review, Newport Beach, CA: 1984; Dawidowicz, Lucy, ed. A Holocaust Reader,Behrman House, West Orange, NJ: 1976; and Laqueur, Walter, The Terrible Secret, Little, Brown, Boston:1980.

16. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 40. For reasons that will become more clear, it does not seem absolutely certain that the entirety of the Bund Report was composed in Warsaw. The entire text is reproduced in Dawidowicz, Reader, pp. 316-318. Priority claims for the first gassing story antedate this appearance: Robert Faurisson has referenced a report of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Bulletin, from Stockholm, December 22, 1941, as follows: "More than 1,000 victims of spotted fever [i.e., typhus] in the densely crowded Warsaw ghetto have been put to death by gas [÷], it is learned today from reliable sources," quoted in Grundlagen, p. 10n. However this account is no longer credited by the traditional narrative. Laqueur, Terrible, passim, cites many other reports from early 1942 that circulated in Poland in various underground newspapers, in letters, etc.

17. Gilbert, op. cit., pp.40-42

18. Cf. Ohlendorf's testimony in the Einsatzgruppen Trial, excerpted in Harris, Whitney R., Tyranny on Trial, Barnes & Noble, NY:1995 (orig. SMU Press, Dallas, TX: 1954), p. 352ff

19. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 43. This rumor is clearly indebted to the claim from December, see note above.

20. Dawidowicz, Reader, p. 215

21. op. cit., p. 216

22. op. cit., p. 294f for the complete text of the front page editorial. It is worthy of note than an analysis of the original text indicates that the atrocities are enumerated by way of justifying the recalcitrance of the Bund to the German occupation, and condemning the cooperation of the Jewish Councils. On these last, consult especially Trunk, Isaiah, Judenrat, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln: 1996 (originally published in 1972); and Ringelblum, Emanuel, Polish-Jewish Relations During the Second World War, Northwestern UP, Evanston, IL: 1992.

23. Ibid., the 700,000 figure appears to come from a 1916 article, see Laqueur, op. cit., p. , and Faurisson, cited below.

24. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 43, passim. The aim of the Bund Report, by the way, was not to elicit a Zionist quid pro quo, but rather to call for reprisals against Germans held by the Allies. This tends to support the idea that the gassing claims were generally believed by Polish Jews in exile.

25. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 44

26. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 43

27. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 44

28. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 46

29. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 44

30. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 45

31. Ibid.

32. The inference derives from the fact that Oswiecim (Auschwitz) is not mentioned in the Bund Report; however, it is mentioned in the underground appeal of 16 March, cf. Dawidowicz, Reader, pp. 215-216, however the details concerning Auschwitz in the 1 July article of the Fortnightly Review are not present in that earlier communication.

33. On Himmelfahrt, see Harris, op. cit., p. 334 for an example.

34. The inference derives from the fact of the Yiddish language broadcast, the BBC's claiming priority in announcing atrocity claims, and the fact, to be discussed later, that the BBC was widely listened to in occupied Europe. An analysis of BBC broadcasts is very much needed. More evidence of this feedback loop will be discussed further below, cf. Shermer, op. cit., p. 100f for an elucidation of the concept.

35. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 51 

36. Ibid.

37. Perhaps the text was rewritten in London for the sake of an Anglo-American audience whose association with poison gas would more readily conjure up the idea of execution: poison cyanide gas had been used for executions in the United States since 1924, see Crowell, Samuel, "Technique an Operation of German Anti-Gas Shelters" at site referenced above, and is also available in German in Germar Rudolf's translation as "Technik und Arbeitsweise deutscher Gasschutzbunker im zweiten Weltkrieg" in VffG, I, 4, (XII, 1997), pp. 226-241, also incorporating some elements of "Defending Against the Allied Bombing Campaign."

38. Gilbert, op. cit., pp. 56-58

39. the "gas oven" formula is attributed to a Dr. Sommer, although it is not exactly clear if he composed the message that was eventually passed on to the West, Gilbert, op. cit., p. 56, 58n.

40. Gilbert, op. cit., loc. cit., repeated arguments that a single source existed for both messages, credit for identifying the "prussic acid" component as being derived from a Mr. Schulte belongs to Richard Breitman.

41. The current version holds that cca. one million people were exterminated with cyanide gas evolving from Zyklon B, a common pesticide, see further discussion below. The other two million gassed are said to have been killed with exhaust gases, specifically carbon monoxide from diesel engines.

42. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 64f

43. quoted by Stäglich, Wilhelm, Auschwitz: A Judge Looks at the Evidence, Institute for Historical Review, Newport Beach, CA: 1990, p. 112f (an English translation by Thomas Francis of Der Auschwitz Mythos, Grabert Verlag, Tübingen: 1979)

44. The inference is supported in Frank, Anne, Diary of a Young Girl (Definitive Edition), Bantam Books, NY:1997, p. 53, where for the entry of October 9, 1942 she describes hearing rumors of gassing over the "English radio", and see further discussion below.

45. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 93f

46. cf. Martin, op. cit., p. 40. In The New York Times the following day, that is, 26 November 1942. The details are clearly the same.

47. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 94

48. Ibid.

49. Martin, op. cit., p. 41

50. cf. the communication of 16 March 1942, discussed above, also Rothschild, Sylvia, ed.,Voices from the Holocaust, New American Library, NY:1981, where a Polish Jewish survivor recalled his fear of going to the bath house at Sachsenhausen already in 1942, p. 159, and habitual BBC listening by others, p. 129, 153. This testimony also indicates the very wide dispersion of the shower-gassing claim/rumor at this time, which inferentially supports the concept of the BBC feedback loop.

51. The nadir of this claim may be found in the Black Book of Polish Jewry, published in 1946, quoted by Porter, Carlos Whitlock, The Holocaust: Made in Russia, Historical Review Press, n. p.:1988, p. 381.

52. cf. Weber, Mark, "Jewish Soap" in JHR, vol.11, no 2. Also compare Hilberg, Raul, The Destruction of the European Jews, Quadrangle Books, Chicago:1968, pp. 331, 470. Rejection of the wartime soap-making rumor should be distinguished from the claim made at the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg by the Soviet Union that the Germans conducted soap-making experiments at Stutthof ca. 1944. This last claim is not explicitly rejected, but see Weber's article above. The reader is directed to the complete affidavit in support of the claim, reproduced in Porter, Holocaust, pp. 368-376, with the recommendation that they read it and decide for themselves.

53. Martin, op. cit., p. 46

54. Hilberg, op. cit., pp. 331, German propaganda division reports October, 1942, and NO-1660.

55. Hilberg, op. cit., p. 331

56. Martin, op. cit., p. 44

57. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 130

58. on "Kugel Decree" see Harris, op. cit., on the real meaning of the term, see Porter, Carlos Whitlock, Not Guilty at Nuremberg, Historical Review Press, Brighton, Sussex, UK:n. d., pp. 15-16, on the "pedal-driven brain-bashing machine" see Porter, Holocaust, p. 15, 378-380.

59. Porter, Holocaust, p. 408

60. cf. Hahn, Fritz, Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres, 1933-1945, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, München:1992, "Windkanone", vol. 2, p. 136f

61. Paul, Allen, Katyn, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis: 1996; p. 210, the Germans broke the story April 13, 1943

62. Paul, op. cit., p. 254, the length of the Soviet report is given as 38 pages.

63. On allied response, see Paul, op. cit., p. 222, and especially pp. 301-315, Martin, op. cit., pp. 65-69

64. On German handling of Katyn, see Paul, op. cit., p. 208-210, 228-231, 270-273

65. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 149. The trial took place from July 14 to July 17, 1943. See The People's Verdict: A Full Report of the Proceedings at the Krasnodar and Kharkov German Atrocity Trials, Hutchinson & Co., London:1944. Dushegubki is the feminine substantive plural from the neuter noun Dushegubstvo, meaning murder, literally, destroying or crushing of the spirit (from the verb "to breathe"). The cognate derivation of suffocation is therefore innate.

66. Weckert, Ingrid, "Die Gaswagen -- Kritische Wurdigen der Beweislage" in Grundlagen, provides a detailed analysis of this claim. A review of the testimonies in The People's Verdict finds that the confessions of the German defendants and other witnesses on the gas vans are almost word for word identical, but these descriptions have never been correlated with any drawing or physical object. Other noteworthy themes developed, beginning at the Krasnodar Trial, include the claim that the Germans became obsessed with secrecy once they found out that the Soviets had obtained "gas van" documents (the most important of the PS-501 documents was developed by the Soviets, see Weckert, op. cit., loc. cit.), that Hitler personally ordered the suppression of "gas van" information in July, 1943, and that the bodies were burned to "wipe out the traces" of the crimes.

67. Butz, op. cit., p. 82

68. Butz, op. cit., p. 89, compare also the critique, "Babi Yar: Kritische Fragen und Anmerkungen" in Grundlagen, by Herbert Tiedemann

69. The question of the number of Jews shot by the Germans or their auxiliaries is hotly debated by revisionists, as is also the reasons for or rationale provided for these shootings. There seems little reason to disbelieve the extensive documentary records, which indicate a minimum of several hundreds of thousands of Jews slain. The next question pertains to the reason for these shootings: in some cases it appears tied to anti-partisan activity, in others, to retaliation or simply punitive measures, in others, to the ideological commitment of some Nazi commanders to the killing of all Jews. The traditionalist claim, supported by the judgment of the IMT and NMT, is that 2 million Jews men women and children, were shot, and that they were shot because of their Jewish identity alone. The actual totals one can derive from the existing documents -- assuming 100% reliability -- is about one million. Revisionists dispute the claim of shooting exterminations, largely, one thinks, because it is traditionally linked to the gassing claim, although it must be said that the evidence for the mass shootings is of a completely different order of magnitude and verisimilitude than the evidence for gassing. The shooting claims deserve an extended treatment on their own, one which places these actions in the context of the German tradition of reprisal shootings, from which the Jewish massacres, one way or the other, undoubtedly derived.

70. The People's Verdict, p. 90.

71. Ibid., p. 90, 91f

72. The Soviet prosecution at Nuremberg in the course of its presentation stressed elements of sexual shame and dishonor among Ukrainian deportees during this time-frame. xxxxx

73. It is also remarkable that Gilbert, in Auschwitz and the Allies, completely ignores Heinisch's testimony about Auschwitz, even though he references the Kharkov trial, references The People's Verdict, and sought to present in that book a complete narrative of how information about Auschwitz was acquired. It is also remarkable that Heinisch's narrative precedes the 1944 constructions of the Auschwitz narrative, discussed below. A review of other sources, primary and secondary, shows no references to Heinisch or Somann concerning Auschwitz.

74. Butz, op. cit., p. 146

75. Butz, op. cit., p. 147. This narrative, like the other Auschwitz narratives for 1944, appears to have come from the Weissmandel circle in Bratislava (cf. Dawidowicz, A Holocaust Reader, pp. 318-327) but given the testimony of Heinisch six months previous its derivative nature is easily argued.

76. Gilbert, op. cit., passim

77. e.g., Butz, op. cit., p. xxxxx Butz' meaning of the word "hoax" is rather more subtle than his use of the word implies, compare a later discussion in Hoax, p. xxxxx The other revisionist most closely associated with the Hoax concept is Robert Faurisson.

78. 78 Gilbert, op. cit., p. 66, and esp. 67, 135, 136 [Ziegelboym's suicide], Morgenthau, Henry III, Mostly Morgenthaus, Ticknor & Fields, NY:1991, p. 366, [Henry Morgenthau Jr.'s comment]

79. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 56-58

80. Trombley, Stephen, The Execution Protocol, Anchor Books, NY: 1993, for further discussion of American execution techniques and their origins.

81. Gellermann, Günther W., Der Krieg, der nicht stattfand, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, München:1986, p. 186f

82. The preeminent revisionist work on the subjects discussed here are two articles by Friedrich Paul Berg, "Zyklon B and the German Delousing Chambers" and "Typhus and the Jews," both originally published in the JHR and now available on the CODOH website at: http://www.codoh.com/gcgv/gcgv.html . The following texts on epidemic diseases and their role in history were found useful: Marks, Geoffrey and Beatty, William K., Epidemics, Scribners, NY: 1976; Cartwright, Frederick F., Disease and History, Barnes & Noble, NY: 1996; McNeil, William, Plagues and Peoples, Anchor Books, NY:1976; Rosenberg, Charles E., The Cholera Years, University of Chicago, Chicago:1962; Zinsser, Hans, Rats, Lice, and History, Black Dog & Leventhal, NY: 1963; Dixon, Bernard, Magnificent Microbes, Atheneum, NY:1979; Schimitschek, Erwin, & Werner, G. T., Malaria, Fleckfieber, Pest, S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart:1985, Hobhouse, Henry, Forces of Change, Arcade, NY:1990.

83. Carwright, op. cit., inter alia, discusses the water-borne diseases in detail.

84. Schimitschek, op. cit., p. 90

85. To a large extent Rosenberg's book, op. cit., is expressly concerned with the development of prophylaxis without a clear comprehension of etiology, and see Evans, cited below.

86. enumerated in Encyclopedia Brittanica, [hereinafter, EB] 12th Edition (1922), Typhus, vol. XXXII, p. 825-827, and Evans, cited below.

87. consult Zinsser, op. cit.,, Marks op. cit., Hobhouse, op. cit., also Goodall, cited below.

88. Note important characterization of typhus quoted in Dixon, op. cit., p. 201f.

89. Ibid., Also Goodall, cited below.

90.  This very important concept involves the manner in which recrudescent typhus, which can recur many years after infection, can lead to a mild case of fever. However, if the person so afflicted with "Brill-Zinsser Disease" lives in a louse-ridden community, infection can then be transmitted to the louse and then to the louse matrix of the community with epidemic and lethal effect. Compare the comments by Zinsser, op. cit., p. 235, 235-239, in which he sketches the outlines of two species of the louse-borne disease. For typhoid fever, it is well known that about 1% of victims (female only) can become permanent carriers of the microbe in their gall bladders, compare "Typhoid Mary."

91. Starkenstein, E., "Hygienische und sanitäre Verhältnisse Polens. Ein Beitrag zur Ostjudenfrage" in Archiv für Soziale Hygiene und Demographie, 1 & 2 Heft, 12.VI.1917, pp. 19-38, is characteristic; gentile populations had similar problems, consult EB, article on Typhus, loc. cit.

92. This is a truism of Russian history, due to the short growing and harvesting season, and other factors, such that grain yields rarely exceeded 3:1. Hobhouse, op. cit., discusses in greater detail.

93. These are the "pogroms" which will continue until the end of the Russian Civil War; the roots of these anti-Jewish actions seem variable; partly attributed to religious anti-Semitism (i.e., Blood Libel accusations), partly due to the "Russification" tendencies of the Empire, which affected all minorities, not just the Jewish people, partly due to economic competition with other ethnics (Greeks, Germans), partly due to the peculiar position the Eastern Jews occupied vis-a-vis the peasantry, which was newly emancipated and striving to adapt, as well as other social, economic, and demographic conditions, some of which are adumbrated by Hobhouse, op. cit. In short, the circumstances that could contribute to anti-Jewish violence at this time and in the examined period were quite complex, what they all seem to have in common is the tremendous and radical changes taking place in the Empire, which will become even more rapid subsequent to the Revolution of 1917. To anticipate a later note, we register here merely the tendency of many Jewish observers to regard these causes as united only by hatred of the Jewish people, we note as well as the tendency of Jewish historians to regard these outbreaks by and large as the product of official instigation.

94. Discussed in, inter alia, Howe, Irving, World of Our Fathers, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, NY: 1976, pp. 29-38.

95. Antin, Mary, The Promised Land, Penguin, NY: 1997, p. 138f, the book was originally published in 1912, and was based in turn on From Plotzk to Boston, from the 1890's, which in turn was based on an epistle Mary wrote in Yiddish to an uncle in Russia shortly after her arrival in Boston in the spring of 1893.  The text is given in truncated form in Howe, op. cit., Markel, cited below, and Jan Van Pelt and Deborah Dwork, Auschwitz: 1270 to Present, W. W. Norton & Company, New York: 1996..

96. On Hamburg, see Evans, Richard J., Tod in Hamburg, a magnificent social history of the Free City (in German translation from the English), Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg: 1996; for New York, see Markel, Howard, Quarantine!, Johns Hopkins UP, Baltimore and London: 1997. 

97. Markel, op. cit., p. 52, 50

98. Markel, op. cit., p. 54, p. 44f. A case of typhus causes the rickettsia to course in the patient's bloodstream, where it can be communicated to lice and from the lice to others people. Hence, in a lice-ridden environment, and it must be stressed in 1892 that lice were not understood as the vector, refusal to comply with quarantine certainly would facilitate the spread of the disease. 

99. Markel, op. cit., p. 63

100. Markel, op. cit., p. 65

101. Becker, Helmut, Äskulap zwischen Reichsadler und Halbmond, Helmut Becker, n. p., 1990, provides an extensive survey including many extracts from primary sources and memoirs.

102. Becker, op. cit., p. 3, and compare discussion of Badeanstalten to control typhus, p. 126, Use of petroleum, p. 191, discussion of Apparat, p. 361-362, etc.

103. Ibid.

104. cf. "Ihm lagen zugrunde die Erfahrungen, die ich bei der Typhus- und Ruhrbekämpfung in Nordchina und bei der Genickstarrebekämpfung in München gemacht hatte. Sie lautete kurz: Heraus aus den versuchten Häusern, in weit angelegte, gesund gelegene, womöglich weit entfernte, auf Bergen gelegene Lager, vorher aber energische Reinigung aller Personen, Desinfektion aller Kleidungs- und Wäschestücke, die neuen Lager nur mit völlig gereinigten und neu gekleideten Truppen betreten lassen. Einschränkung des Dienstes, aber doppelte Rationen. So geschah es auch. Die Desinfektionswagen führen vor die Kasernen, Truppenteil für Truppenteil wurde gebadet. Dann die neue Kleidung empfangen, und sofort nach dem Zeltlager abgerückt. In der Kaserne wurde dann die alte Kleidung, Wäsche, Bettzeug desinfiziert, die Zimmer mit Formaldehyd und gegen die Läuse mit schwefelige Säure vergast." quoted from Meyer's memoirs, Becker, op. cit., p. 38

105. Becker, op. cit.

106. EB, article Typhus, loc. cit.

107. Becker, op. cit., inferred from the description of heightened procedures in the European portion of Turkey during this period, pp. 368-388, note also discussion of railroad delousing tunnels, p. 374.

108. "Request for Additional Information on the Myth of 'Gassings' of Serbs in World War One", Robert Faurisson, JHR, vol. 11, no. 2

109. Ibid.

110. The use of such vehicles in World War Two is well attested, consult Crowell, "Technique and Operation of German Anti-Gas Shelters in World War Two" for references.

111. For German disinfection procedures in World War One, titles include: Blumberg, Dr., "Über behelfsmäßig herstellbare Anlagen zur Entlausung und Desinfektion im großen" in Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Heft 10, 1918, pp. 353-364; Wolf, Dr. "Das Desinfektionsverfahren mit Blausäure" in Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Heft 2, 1919, pp. 54-66; Wolf, Dr. "Das Desinfektionsverfahren mit Blausäure (Zusammenfassende Übersicht II)" in Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Heft 4, 1922, pp. 126-130; For Bitish procedures, see Goodall, below, for Americans in the Typhus Relief Expedition of 1919, see Cornebise, Alfred E.,Typhus and Doughboys, University of Delaware Press, Newark, NJ:1982

112. e.g., Celarek, Dr., "Über die unter der Zivilbevölkerung Lublins im Jahre 1915/16 herrschende Fleckfieberepedemie und ihre Bekämpfung" in Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Heft 11, 1917, pp. 597-602; articles by Starkenstein above, and Frey, below.

113. Frey, Dr. "Die Bekämpfung der Fleckfieberepedemie in der Zivilbevölkerung des Generalgouvernements Warschau in den Jahren 1915/16", in Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Heft 1, 1917, pp. 12-30, [the Yiddish instruction appears on pp. 21-25, phonetically in German script, cf. Fig. 11, and the article contains many excellent photos; the following Heft contains the continuation of the article]

114. cited in Goodall, E. W., "Typhus Fever in Poland" in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine,vol. 13, April 23, 1920

115. Goodall, loc. cit., Cornebise, op. cit., Zinsser, op. cit., and several others.

116. Goodall, loc. cit., Cornebise, op. cit.

117. Goodall, loc. cit., Cornebise, op. cit., passim!, but see p. 94, p. 96, [the complaint of the Jews is characterized by Cornebise as "anti-Semitic"] p. 122., however, Isaac Bashevis Singer's historical novel, The Family Moskat, (Fawcett Crest, NY:1950, p. 376) includes an instructive description of the situation at the time: "An epidemic of typhus threatened, and even cases of cholera had been reported; the authorities hastily assigned a barrack for the disinfection of the civilian population. Orthodox Jews were compelled to shave off their beards and earlocks, and girls had their heads shorn. Immediately there sprang up a group of "fixers," who, for a bribe, obtained forged disinfection certificates for those who would not submit to these indignities."

118. Cornebise, op. cit., p. 93, 96-97, 98-100, 115, note in particular the quoted message, "Am looking forward with anticipation to the gas-squad with HCN that you promise sometime.", p. 96f 

119. Berg, Friedrich, "Zyklon B and the German Delousing Chambers"

120. Berg, op. cit.

121. We say "slowly" here, but originally the development of the gas was rather rapid, this caused problems with the shelf life of the can and frequently caused danger, insofar as the liquid would then be de-stabilized within the can even before opening. Germar Rudolf's researches have found that gypsum was added in the 1930's to protract the evaporation,

122. This is indicated by the article of R. Irmscher from 1942, which shows a 100% evaporation of the cyanide from the gypsum ("ERCO") composite pellets after three hours at 59 degrees Fahrenheit. For this and the preceding point consult the most recent version of the Rudolf Report, at: http://www.vho.org

123. Berg, "Zyklon B"

124. Berg, op. cit.

125. Berg, op. cit.

126. Berg, op. cit.

127. Berg, op. cit.

128. Handloser, Siegfried, ed. Wehrhygiene, Springer-Verlag, Berlin:1944, in the article by B. Schmidt, "Desinfektion, Sterilisation, Entwesung", lists several, including Zyklon, Ventox, Tritox, Cuprex, Formaldehyde.

129. Ibid., p. 193f

130. Kalthoff, u. a., Die Händler von Zyklon B, VSA, Hamburg:1999, provides extensive details of these other gases, as well as the history of disinfection materials particularly as these touch upon the activities of the Hamburg- based Tesch & Stabenow.

131. Kämper, "Die Umgestaltung und Vergrößerung der Desinfektionsanstalt der Stadt Dortmund" in Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 27.IX.41; Stangelmeyer, Josef, "Genormte, zerlegbare Rohrleitungsnetze für die gesundheitstechnischen Anlagen der ortsveränderlichen Unterkünfte des Reichsarbeitdienstes" in Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 25.VI.42; Konrich, Friedrich, "Über die Sanierungsanstalten der deutschen Kriegsgefangenenlager" in Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 19.VII.41; Puntigam, Franz, "Die Durchganglager der Arbeitseinsatzverwaltung als Einrichtungen der Gesundheitsversorge" in Gesundheits-Ingenieur, Heft 2, Jahrg. 1944, pp. 47-56; other references of relevance to World War Two include:(articles): Ruppert, Joseph, "Gesundheitsverhältnisse und Seuchenbekämpfung im Generalgouvernement", in Der praktische Desinfektor, June, 1941, pp. 61-74; Finger, Georg, "Grundsätzliches zur Läusebekämpfung mit Imprägnierungsmitteln" in Der deutsche Militarartz, June, 1944, pp. 295-297. Relevant titles include Haag, Friedrich Erhard, Lagerhygiene, J.F. Lehmanns Verlag, München-Berlin: 1943; Walbaum, Jost, Kampf den Seuchen! Deutscher Ärzte-Einsatz im Osten, Buchverlag "Deutscher Osten", Krakau:1941.

132. Kämper, loc. cit

133. Ibid.

134. Stangelmeyer, loc. cit.

135. Walbaum, op. cit., is one source for this, Trunk, Judenrat, describes the general reluctance to submit to these procedures, as do other Holocaust authors, including Browning, Christopher, The Path to Genocide, Cambridge UP, Cambridge, 1992, pp. 145-168.

136. Discussed in Trunk, Judenrat, p. 165, and the whole of chapter 7 is very valuable and apt here. Unfortunately, Trunk follows the tendency among Jewish historians which we will discuss later, whereby all misfortunes that occur are viewed as part of someone else's conspiratorial designs, thus the diseases that occurred in the ghettos are said to have been part of the Nazi's "diabolical plan." [p. 143]. The enormous expenditure that the Germans made for controlling diseases tends to make this interpretation unsupportable.

137. Buchner, Alex, Der Sanitätsdienst des Heeres, 1939-1945, Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim-Berstadt: 1995

138. Discussed in Rothschild, op.cit., also Trunk, Jewish Responses to Nazi Persecution, Stein & Day, NY: 1981, both passim.

139. Vonnegut, Kurt, Slaughterhouse Five, Dell, New York:1988, p. 84

140. Compare Rothschild, op. cit., p. 159, also Trunk, Responses, p. 162; Trunk has several more of these, in Yiddish testimonies most of which were given soon after the war.

141. Butz, op. cit., p. 212, Hilberg, op. cit., p. 619

142. Puntigam, "Durchganglager", loc. cit.

143. Novitch, Miriam, Sobibor: Martyrdom and Revolt, Holocaust Library, NY:1980

144. Ibid.

145. The standard work on Treblinka remains Steiner's novelistic treatment, essays by Andrew Allen and Mark Weber, and, in particular, the article by Arnulf Neumaier in Grundlagen, "Der Treblinka-Holocaust" actually discuss details, and put the workings of the camp in a wider context.

146. Consult and compare floor plan of Majdanek Bath and Disinfection complex, in Grundlagen, p. 276

147. Trunk, in Responses (see citation below) as well as Novitch, op. cit., contain testimonies whereby the Westerners (chiefly Dutch) arriving at Sobibor welcomed the showers, the implication, sometimes explicit, being that the Polish Jews knew better.

148. Gilbert, op. cit., pp. 262-264, where it is described as a summary. The changes involved with this document, which will culminate in the War Refugee Board (WRB) Report, are detailed by Miroslav Karny, "The Vrba and Wetzler Report", in Gutman, Y. & Berenbaum, M., Anatomy, pp. 553-568.

149. Ibid., Although the July Report is described as a summary, it contains errors of detail (e.g., "Megacyclon") that are absent from the November WRB Report, as well as an important omission (i.e., the peephole at the inaugural gassing) that is included in the later report. Karny's article suggests that the report was revised throughout the year, it is difficult to check exactly how because he further notes that the original manuscript has not survived. (Karny, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 564n5.)

150. Ibid.

151. Martin, op. cit., p. 145

152. That is, Zyklon does not come in a powder, and the optimum temperature is not liable to be reached in a packed underground cellar. It should be noted that some cyanide products do come in powdered form, but these are not the substances alleged.

153. This was Operation Bagration, timed to coincide with the third anniversary of Barbarossa and the Western Allies, who continued to be pinned down in Normandy. An evaluation of precisely what the Soviets encountered during this advance, which surrounded huge amounts of territory, is crucial to settling claims of what occurred here during the war.

154. Martin, op. cit., loc. cit. The recent book of Jurgen Graf and Carlo Mattogno, KL Majdanek: Eine historische und technische Studie, Castle Hill, Hastings:1998 is a thorough and indispensable account of materials for this camp.

155. Communique of the Polish Soviet Extraordinary Commission for Investigating the Crimes Committed by the Germans in the Majdanek Extermination Camp in Lublin, Foreign Languages Publishing, Moscow:1944 This document, in the Hoover Library, Stanford, CA, placed on the Internet due to the efforts of Philip Traurig. cf. Also Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p. 119f for a detailed analysis of Soviet and Polish claims. On contemporary press coverage, consult, e.g., W. H. Lawrence "Nazi Mass Killing Laid Bare in Camp", in Reporting World War II, Part Two: American Journalism, 1944-1946, Library of America, New York: 1995, pp. 267-273.

156. Communique, op. cit., pp. 13-17

157. Ibid.

158. noted by Aroneanu, op. cit., but not the text of the communique we are using here.

159. Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p.

160. Communique, op. cit., loc. cit.

161. Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p.

162. Communique, op. cit., loc. cit.

163. Communique, op. cit., loc. cit. The source of the CO and/or function of the boilers is not completely clear from the text, although bottles of CO are described; apparently this led to some confusion subsequently, thus the photograph #0326 on the USHMM Internet website, at http://www.ushmm.org describes the boilers as "furnaces" which generated "carbon monoxide".

164. loc. cit., consult photo of Majdanek "gas chamber" door.

165. Grundlagen, p. 278 provides four very interesting photos of features at Majdanek.

166. David Cole's "Forty Six Unanswered Questions About the Gas Chambers" is important not only for its discussion of Majdanek but also of Auschwitz Birkenau. On CODOHweb.

167. Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p. , and see the discussion in Schmidt, in Handloser, op. cit.

168. see Crowell, Defending Against the allied Bombing Campaign, Part 2

169. That is, humidity and moisture inhibits the evolution of the gas.

170. compare Grundlagen, photos on p. 278

171. op. cit., loc. cit., p. 277, 129n

172. Gilbert, op. cit.

173. Gilbert, op. cit.

174. Gilbert, op. cit., for coverage in the NY Times, see Reporting World War II, John H. Crider, "U. S. Board Bares Atrocity Details Told by Witnesses at Polish Camps", pp. 553-559

175. Dawidowicz, Reader, p. 119

176. compare Gilbert, op. cit., loc. cit., or Dawidowicz, op. cit., loc. cit.

177. That the WRB report was combined from various rumors was corroborated at the first Zundel trial in 1985, during which Rudolf Vrba, under cross-examination, admitted that he repeated rumors, and was not an eyewitness to what he described, moreover "He defended 'errors in good faith' n his 1944 Auschwitz accounts, which he made two weeks after escaping, as due to 'great urgency' to warn Jews." "Book 'An Artistic Picture'", Dick Chapman, Toronto Sun, January 24, 1985

178. Novitch, op. cit., passim

179. Ibid.

180. The standard story is that the Germans dismantled them to hide the traces of their crimes, but under our theory the huts would have been dismantled after use.

181. All "documentation" pertaining to these camps subsequent to the immediate postwar period has consisted of testimonies, thus, Gitta Sereny's Into that Darkness, Henry Holt, NY:1974, contains what are said interviews with former commandant Franz Stangl in the early 1970's, but aside from being very scanty on detail, these interviews also offer no proof, simply corroboration of the standard claim.

182. Ibid.

183. Ball, John Clive, "Luftbild Beweise", in Grundlagen, German translation of "Air Photo Evidence" which is rehearsed on Ball's website, at

     http://www.air-photo.com

184. noted in the Soviet Special Commission, USSR-8, discussed below.

185. Stäglich, op. cit., contains several such photos.

186. This is according to a postwar SS affidavit, but is not corroborated. Interestingly, Czech, noted below, references this for the 26th, but then references for the day before (November 25th) a scrap of paper of unknown origin which refers to the order to dismantle the crematoria. The juxtaposition would repay careful scrutiny.

187. The facts behind the "stop the gassing" order are reconstructed in "Himmlers Befehl, die Vergasung der Juden zu stoppen" in VffG, I:4 (XII:97), pp.258-259

188. Documents of the US government reproduced in Sheftel, Yoram, Defending Ivan the Terrible, Regnery, Washington, DC: 1996, p. 378. It should be noted that the Leleko interviews are the earliest recorded in this document, however it is also important to note that the Soviets had already issued their "special commission" that is, had established the facts, of Treblinka, two months before Leleko's interrogations began. See discussion of "Canonical Holocaust" below.

189. The two later Leleko depositions played a crucial role in reversing the conviction of Ivan Demjanjuk, hence, they have been widely distributed and widely cited. We reference the versions found on the Nizkor site, at

     http://www.nizkor.org

190. Ibid.

191. xxxxx

192. Compare, for example, the descriptions established at the various Treblinka trials from 1950, and also the testimony of Franz Suchomel in Lanzmann's Shoah.

193. Communique, loc. cit.

194. Roques, Henri, The 'Confessions' of Kurt Gerstein, Institute for Historical Review, Newport Beach, CA: 1989 is the standard analysis of his depositions and his life, cf. P. 90.

195. Ibid., p. 122f. It is important to note here that Roques is strictly concerned with analyzing the statements of Kurt Gerstein, not with overturning any other particular aspect relative to the gassing claim or the Holocaust.

196. Ibid.

197. Ibid., cf. Dawidowicz, Reader, in whose anthology it constitutes the sole description of gassing, and the sole document not completely contemporaneous with what it describes.

198. Dawidowicz, loc. cit., for an example, Roques cites several others, op. cit., pp. 143-156.

199. Roques, op. cit., detailed tables describing the elements of the eight (sic!) diiferent versions are found between pages 117-118.

200. The only "corroboration" for Gerstein's testimony, at a camp where 600,000 murders are claimed, is the 1946 book of Rudolf Reder which describes the same lengthy diesel breakdown. That was precisely one of the elements mentioned in French news reports, July 4, 1945 (Roques, op. cit., pp. 108ff reproduces the story in France-Soir.) The "confession" of Pfannenstiehl came later, consult Roques, op. cit., pp. 299-309, esp. 302, for an interesting discussion of his interrogations by the postwar courts.

201. Furet, Francois, Unanswered Questions, Schocken Books, NY: 1989, Adam, Uwe Dietrich, "The Gas Chambers", 35n, p. 350, 72n, p. 352 pp. 134-154

202. Noakes, op. cit., cited below, like most of those who use Gerstein, annotates when he doesn't omit.

203. This seems clear, although Friedrich Berg believes that the diesel motif goes back to the gas vans of the Krasnodar trial of July, 1943, if not earlier in Soviet propaganda thinking.

204. Werth's account will be given at the beginning of Section 15, below.

205. Roques, op. cit., the document is known as NI-9912. A translation of this document into French was one of the early broadsides in Robert Faurisson's revisionist career.

206. cf. Communique

207. Rassinier summed this up beautifully in Debunking, q. v.

208. Berg's "The Diesel Myth" has existed in several different versions, consult the version in Grundlagen, or one of several articles which cover the same material on CODOHweb.

209. Eichmann, in his 1960-61 interrogations, referenced submarine engines as being the source of the carbon monoxide: this is almost certainly a garbling of Gerstein's assertion. It should be noted that the Germans collected hair from German women in both world wars, although the pupose was unclear. In World War One, a woman's hair was used to strengthen rubber driving belts.

210. ref. to effect of the Communique, and the WRB report.

211. Roques, op. cit.

212. Reilly, Jo, ed., Belsen in History and Memory, Frank Cass, London:1997; Gödecke, Monika, ed. Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen: Berichte und Dokumente, Vendenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen:1995

213. Reilly, op. cit., see especially the article by Paul Kemp, "The British Army and the Liberation of Bergen Belsen April 1945", pp. 134-148

214. Buchenwald was liberated a few days before Belsen, but the bulk of the camps, including the scenes at Dachau and Mauthausen, came towards the end of the month, see the discussion of the chronology in Hackett, David A., The Buchenwald Report, a translation of a contemporaneous US Intelligence Report, translated by Hackett with an introduction, Westview Press, Boulder, CO:1995

215. cf. Aroneanu, op. cit., p. 106

216. Irving, Nuremberg, provides a photograph of the American officer manning his machine gun

217. cf., Edward R. Murrow, "For Most of it I Have No Words", pp. 681-685, and Martha Gellhorn, "Dachau", pp. 724-730, in Reporting World War II, op. cit.

218. The inference is that such sentiments must have informed the decision to conduct autopsies at Natzweiler-Struthof and Dachau: no autopsy report from any camp has ever yielded a verdict of cyanide poisoning.

219. Aroneanu, op. cit., p. 129, quoting from American report on Buchenwald

220. Kamp article, loc. cit., in Reilly, op. cit., p. 147. Fritz Berg however has suggested that it was followed by a little-known but widespread epidemic in Poland. Indeed, this, like most events between the Bug and the Dniepr between 1944 and 1948, still requires enlightening scrutiny.

221. This is the standard revisionist view, consult Butz, op. cit., for Commandant Kramer's description, and Berg, "Typhus and the Jews", for material on infrastructure destruction. Nevertheless, traditional Holocaust writers sometimes view these deaths as intentional (see article by Lattek, in Reilly, op. cit.), in this regard it is interesting to note that during the epidemics that raged through Bergen Belsen in the spring of 1945, of 18,168 total dead between March 1 and April 6, only 183 were from the "Star Camp" especially set aside for Jewish prisoners, and only 321 from the three main subcamps specifically for Jewish prisoners (the balance were approx. 4 thousand in the Women's Camp and 11 thousand in the Prisoner Camp #2), table cited in Gödicke, pp. 164-165.

222. Testimony of Dr. Russell Barton, in Kulaszka, Barbara, ed. Did Six Million Really Die?, on the Zündel-site.

223. Aroneanu, op. cit., photo, before p. 138, reproduces perhaps the most famous of these photographic hoaxes or misunderstandings, a pensive GI standing before a delousing chamber, with the caption: "An American soldier contemplates the entrance to the control room from which cylinders of Zyklon B were released into the gas chamber." 

224. Martin Broszat's letter was published in Die Zeit, 26 August 1960, cf. Butz, op. cit., p. 47

225. "Nazi Kultur" the sign put up by the British at Belsen, a photo of which in Reilly, ed. op. cit.

226. The entire text of this document, "The Soviet War Crimes Report on Auschwitz, Nuremberg Trial - 6 May 1945" referenced as USSR-8, itranslated by Carlos W. Porter maybe found at http://www.codoh.com/trials/triussr8.html

227. Ibid.

228. Ibid.

229. Ibid.

230. Ibid.

231. The main source for this trial is Philips, Raymond, ed., Trial of Josef Kramer and 44 Others, (The Belsen Trial), William Hodge and Co., London: 1949. Also known as volumr II of War Crimes Trials under the editorship of Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe. On Irma Grese, see Brown, Daniel Patrick, The Beautiful Beast, Golden West Historical Publications, Ventura: 1996.

232. Brown, op. cit.

233. Philips, op. cit.,.p. 653

234. Philips, op. cit., pp. 718-737, 738f. Gödecke gives two dates: 2 May, and 22 May. If the latter, the proximity with the death of Himmler is striking. If the former, the weight of the Soviet Special Commission, issued four days later, is increased.

235. Reitlinger, SS: Alibi of a Nation, Da Capo, NY: 1995

236. Philips, op. cit., loc. cit.

237. Ibid.

238. Preceded, as we have seen, by the Soviet Kharkov Trial of December, 1943.

239. Butz, op. cit., loc. cit., makes the same arguments about Kramer's confessions, and further on the quality of Kramer's confessions see Robert Faurisson, "Sur la pretendue 'chambre a gaz' homicide du Struthof, les trois confessions successives et contradictoires de Josef Kramer", see

     http://www.vho.org/aaargh/fran/archFaur/RF80xxxx4.a.html

240. Gödicke, op. cit., pp.231-233 provides a list of the defendants for the three Belsen trials (55 defendants in all) and sentences. What is less well known is that a dozen of the defendants were kapos, that is, prisoners. It should be obvious then that prisoners had a strong incentive to maintain a low profile and an orthodox interpretation: one prisoner was apparently denounced and put on trial because he was in an SS uniform at liberation.

241. Grabner's confession cited in Klee, Ernst, u.a., Hrsg., "Schöne Zeiten", S. Fischer Verlag, p. 228

242. Philips, op. cit., p. 68, 740ff, in both direct testimony and sworn affidavit.

243. The general consensus from Reitlinger (1953) through Pressac (1993) that the overall death toll at Auschwitz was less than one million, although there have always been those who have claimed higher totals, e.g., Dawidowicz (1974), Yehuda Bauer (1982), etc.

244. Carlo Mattogno, "Two False Testimonies from Auschwitz", in Jounral of Historical Review, Vol. 10, Number One, spring, 1990.

245. quoted in Shirer, Rise and Fall, p. 1141

246. It is understood that an interrogator will seek to elicit information; therefore he must have some kind of focus as to which information is valuable and truthful and which is not: the Canonical Holocaust provided this. Compare the comments in Ruthven, Malise, Torture: The Grand Conspiracy, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London: 1977, p. 275

247. Reilly, op. cit., in an article provides several references to ways in which the Belsen images were appropriated for other camps, thus, for Buchenwald for the film Judgment at Nuremberg; see also Grundlagen, p.223 for an example where a photo of a Belsen pit grave is transposed to Auschwitz.

248. This is widely attested, see especially Morgenthau, op. cit. Tusa, Ann and John, The Nuremberg Trial, Atheneum, NY:1983, pp. 21-28, Irving, Nuremberg, discusses the matter extensively in chapter 2, "Lynch Law".

249. The widespread fascination with castrating Germans elicited comments from none other than President Roosevelt himself; see Morgenthau, op. cit., Butz, op. cit., cites Clifton Fadiman and Ernest Hemingway, Irving traces the concept back to a book written by an embittered American Jew, in Goebbels, p. 369, 372-373

250. Deighton, Len, Blood, Tears and Folly, Harper, NY:1994, pp.194-195

251. Cohn, Norman, Warrant for Genocide, Serif, London:1996, a study on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, recapitulates much of this material, and also shows the composite roots of that document. Unfortunately, Cohn takes an uncritical and erroneous view of statements derived from the Gerstein statement, cf. p. 236. The reader will have perhaps already noted that the concept of the National Socialist mass gas extermination program is an inversion of the Protocols concept which many, including many National Socialists, held about Jewish people. Therefore, in this sense, Cohn's choice of quotes is apt: the Gerstein Statement is the mirror image of the Protocols. Further, the reader would note that the wide-spread popularity of the Protocols concept (which nowadays embraces most conspiracy theories) is fundamentally a mythic reaction to certain aspects of modernity; in other words, just like our subject.

252. Collins, Richard, The Plague of the Spanish Lady, Atheneum, NY: 1974, p. 83.

253. Cohn, Norman, The Pursuit of the Millenium, also Ruthven, op. cit., Both authors (indeed, most modern authors) trace the witch hunts to social and hence ideological stress.

254. The Reichstag Fire is a classic instance of paranoia striking in both directions; the National Socialists were convinced that the communists had set the blaze, most everyone outside of Germany was convinced of German guilt. Fritz Tobias' study eventually showed that van der Lubbe set the fire by himself; thus the Law of Parsimony eventually gets rid of conspiracy theories, see Tobias, Fritz, The Reichstag Fire, Secker and Warburg, London:1962. Because Hitler benefited from the fire, in the sense that it facilitated the Enabling Acts, it was long considered another Nazi plot, cf. Shirer, Rise and Fall. xxxxx

255. One theme that is not pursued here but certainly deserves fuller treatment involves the allied desire to pacify Germany; this meant not only the demilitarizing of the nation by also the discrediting of its military and political elite. Lucius Clay, in his memoirs, Decision in Germany, discussed with frankness the result of the Nuremberg Trials: the National Socialist party was thoroughly discredited. [Doubleday, NY:1950, pp. 250-252] At the same time, Clay noted that the attempt to discredit the military leadership was less successful. [Ibid.] Therefore the reader should understand that one of the reasons that the atrocity charges (including the gassing claim) were pursued with such abandon, and were allowed to be pursued, and have been allowed to propagate unchecked, is because very quickly they became narrowed in function to the simple discrediting of National Socialism. However, just because these charges have been allowed to stand because they discredit National Socialism, it does not follow that to question these charges is the same thing as an endorsement of National Socialism.

256. The interrogation of Dr. Pfannenstiehl, who Gerstein mentioned in his statement, is characteristic. See Roques, op. cit., pp. 299-308

257. cf. Life Magazine, May 8, 1945, provides some examples, but this is a very common sentiment expressed in GI memoirs and the press.

258. This is the central thesis of Ruthven's book, op. cit., interestingly the notion is recapitulated by the conspiracy of Hitler's resurrection, cf. Life, issue cited above, cf., New Yorker, article cited below, as well as the generalized paranoia about "Werewolves" and the "Alpine Redoubt."

259. Tucker, Richard, The Great Terror, is the standard reference, but see also Ruthven, op. cit., pp. 218-278.

260. quoted in Ruthven, op. cit., pp. 245-246

261. Ibid.

262. Ruthven, op. cit., p. 265

263. Butz, op. cit., p. 238, provides a photograph of the Buchenwald exhibition that the German people were forced to view, again, as proof of the moral bankruptcy of the National Socialist regime. The photograph featured various anatomical exhibits, two shrunken heads, and half a dozen strips of human skin, most with tattoos, one of almost the complete frontal torso. Over on the far right of the photo one can see a lampshade on a stand, this was also claimed to have been made of human skin although basic visual inspection indicates that it is of a different order of material than the others. This lampshade appears to have been made of goatskin, and is the root of all of the rest of the "human skin" stories. Cf. Aroneanu, op. cit., p. 106, quoting Supreme AEF report on Buchenwald. As far as is known, neither that lampshade nor any of the other materials discussed in the text has ever been positively identified, many, not even seen; it is doubtful that such materials would be unavailable for testing even today if they had ever existed, since it is known that the United States government retains human skulls gathered by Americans soldiers and sailors in the South Pacific, Iserson, Kenneth, Death to Dust, Tucson, AZ, 1995.

264. cited in Porter, Holocaust, the reader is reminded that Porter's text simply involves captioned pages from the trial record that have been photographed and presented in legible format whole, i.e., his book does not comprise interpretation of these affidavits and testimony, other than, of course, in his selections.

265. cited in Porter, Holocaust

266. Ibid.

267. Ibid.

268. Taylor, Telford, Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials, Back Bay, NY: 1992, p. 315

269. cited in Porter, op. cit.

270. discussed in Irving, Nuremberg

271. Irving, Nuremberg, and see also Harris, Tyranny

272. Tusas, op. cit., p. 198

273. Irving, in both Goering and Nuremberg, makes references that are keyed to Biddle's private papers, the first gives the impression that it was Shmegelovskaya who was doubted, the second, Vaillant-Couturier. Perhaps Biddle doubted both.

274. quoted in Taylor, op. cit., p.315

275. This ties directly to the judges and lawyers at Nuremberg, and the community of historians, who have failed to oppose censorship today. It is of course one thing for historians to avoid investigating contentious matters. That is not praiseworthy but it is understandable; although we should keep in mind that tenure was not designed to cover minor personal peccadilloes but rather to protect scholars when pursuing difficult questions. It must be said that Dr. Butz, regardless of the merits of his book or his arguments, is the only American academician to have used tenure for the purpose for which it was designed. On the silence of historians in the face of censorship, that is another affair. On the other hand, we are bound to record the statements of professors emeritus Raul Hilberg and Gordon Craig, who have both publicly denounced both censorship and taboo on this subject.

276. Taylor, op. cit., p. 313, reference to Article 21 of the London Charter.

277. The Majdanek report comes in at 26 pages, the Auschwitz report would be estimated at about 35, the brochure of Katyn introduced in evidence was 56 pages long.

278. Paul, op. cit.

279. Harris, Tyranny, summarizes the German counter, as well as the 1952 Congressional Hearings.

280. No mention in judgment, cf. Taylor, op. cit., Generally speaking it seems odd that historians continue to use Nuremberg testimony, especially unattested Soviet-generated testimony, as proof of German atrocities. The Soviet Katyn testimony, that described how the Germans dug up the bodies of the 11,000 Polish officers, transported them to Katyn, went through their pockets and planted papers, then reburied them, and then dug them up again, as part of a plot to discredit the Soviet Union, is just as detailed, cogent, and realistic as that provided by the Soviet Union for the extermination camps.

281. Churchill's speech, 6 March 1946, Fulton, Missouri, first stated by Goebbels, [date], Irving, Goebbels, p. xxxxx

282. Höß, Rudolf, Death Dealer, Paskuly, ed., Da Capo, NY:1996. This is the standard translation of Höß' writings available in English. The German original, Kommandant in Auschwitz: Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen des Rudolf Höß, edited by Martin Broszat, Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich:1998, is slightly truncated but includes valuable annotations.

283. For example, on the subject of the Final Solution in Poland, Norman Davies simply transcribes the entire 5 April 1946 affidavit in his God's Playground, vol. 2, Oxford UP, New York: 1982. 

284. Höß, Rudolf, Death Dealer, p. 179f

285. First developed by Robert Faurisson, "How the British Obtained the Confessions of Rudolf Hoess" in JHR, vo. 7, Number 4 (Winter 1986-87), also corroboration in Irving, Nuremberg, pp. 240-246, and the relevant footnotes.

286. quoted in part in Klee, Ernst, u.a., Hrsg., "Schöne Zeiten", pp. 242-245, The Bergen refugees who ended up at Auschwitz are also described by Gilbert, op. cit. and Czech, op. cit.. The story appears to have emerged into the mainstream sometime at the beginning of 1944. The basic feature of the tale is a riot in the undressing room, which requires the "half gassing" of those already in the gas chamber. Another element of the tale, left out of Höß' account, is the woman who tempts the German soldier, acquires his weapon and shoots him, which sparks the riot. Stäglich covers this element of the story in detail, the woman is variously described, op. cit.  xxxxx

287. Other affidavits from this period include an affidavit for American psychologist G.[ustave] M.[ahler] Gilbert admitting to the gassing of 2.5 million, and the death of another .5 million, etc. The March 16, 1946 affidavit (NO-1310), as well as other affidavits under American auspices (NI-034, NI-036) have never been published but can be obtained from mimeographs in large document centers in the United States. Irving remarks, Nuremberg, that the transcripts of Höß' interrogations are not yet complete, op. cit., loc. cit., and almost unique among historians has gone to the trouble of actually reading the interrogation transcripts. Many of these, at least those conducted by the Americans, are located on microfilm M 1270, roll 7, at the National Archives, and Irving's notes may be found on his Internet website at http://www.fpp.co.uk/Auschwitz/documents/Hoessinterrogations.html

288. A reference to the London Charter, Article 21. As to the "authority" and "reliability" of such affidavits the reader is directed in particular to NI-036, which consists of a lengthy and leading interrogation of Höß in German, followed by the English language affidavit that grew out of the session. A comparison of the two is highly instructive.

289. For example, Faurisson, "How the British ÷" goes directly from the German surrender of 8 May 1945 to Höß' capture, preferring to stress the Jewish identity of those he identifies as being instrumental in the construction of what he calls "The Auschwitz Myth."

290. Irving, Nuremberg, pp. 236ff

291. Harris, op. cit.

292. cf. Harris, op. cit. These women were the two main witnesses to what transpired at Auschwitz, Vaillant-Couturier's testimony was admittedly hearsay. They were not cross-examined.

293. For Grabner, cf. "Schöne Zeiten", loc. cit., and above. For Broad, see Trial of Tesch, Weinbacher, & Drohsinn, Public Records Office, London.

294. that is, bearing in mind the results of the Soviet Special Commissions, and the elaboration of same by the Allied prosecutions to that point in time. Thus, for example, there is no reference to euthanasia, the public exposition of that connection would await Konrad Morgen's affidavits and testimony at Nuremberg three months later. On the other hand, the euthanasia connection does appear in Höß' recollections written in November, 1946, that is, after the connection had become public knowledge. See Death Dealer, p. 28.

295. Porter, Nuremberg, discusses this in detail.

296. Ibid.

297. Broszat, ed., Kommandant, pp. 8-10

298. Höß, Rudolf, Death Dealer, compare Paskuly's comments in the Forward, p. 22

299. Broszat, op. cit., loc. cit.

300. Ibid.

301. Höß, Rudolf, Death Dealer, p. 171, and, inter alia, compare his final letters to wife and children.

302. Such studies do not exist, of the dozen or so books on the Nuremberg Trials in the past 50 years that are not strictly memoirs, the majority are concerned either with the defendants in a biographical format, or concerned with enumerating the actual flow of the trial itself.

303. Taylor, A J.P., The Origins of the Second World War, Atheneum, NY:1983, p. 13f

304. Based on a review of the documentary lists provided with the publication of the International Military Tribunal; as reproduced in Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, volume 1: Aristarchus International Law Database Series [hereinafter, Aristarchus], Aristarchus Knowledge Industries, 1995, POB 45610, Seattle, WA, 98105. This is a CD-ROM which contains all of the proceedings of the IMT and NMT: the production suffered from inaccurate scanning, numerical and spelling errors abound. However, when cross-checked to the original published volumes it is a valuable source. Two obvious exceptions to the statement concerning documents at the IMT would be PS-501, containing a document pertaining to the use of gas vans, and originally discovered by the Soviets in 1943, and various Zyklon invoices contributed by Kurt Gerstein, given the number PS-1553. However, given the wide use of Zyklon for disinfestation, as noted earlier, these last cannot be given any probative weight.

305. Based on a review of the documents listed in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 5: United States v. Oswald Pohl, et. al. (Case 4: 'Pohl Case'), District of Columbia: GPO, 1950, loc. cit.

306. The most obvious of these is the Diary of Dr. Kremer, discussed below, another well-known document concerns a special order from Commandant Höß of Auschwitz dated August 12, 1942, concerning the potential for accidents in airing out spaces that have been gassed (vergasungen) due the the lower content of odor agent in the Zyklon B then in use. The document, uncatalogued in the archives of the Polish State Auschwitz Museum [PMO], is reproduced in J. C. Pressac, Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers, [hereinafter, ATO] Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, NY:1989, p. 201.

307. A major exception concerns the documentation unearthed by J. C. Pressac in the 1980's, and contained in ATO. The quality of Pressac's evidence is discussed in Section 14.

308. document quoted in Klee, Ernst, (hrsg.) Dokumente zur "Euthanasie", Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M.: 1997, p. 271f

309. Such descriptions and floor plans are legion in the German disinfection literature, we cite here the floor plan contained in Stangelmeyer, Josef, "Genormte, zerlegbare Rohrleitungsnetze für die gesundheitstechnischen Anlagen der ortsveränderlichen Unterkünfte des Reichsarbeitdienstes" in Gesundheits-Ingenieur, 25.VI.42.

310. The non existence of the Riga gas chambers has been noted by all revisionists, although the traditionalist Fleming, Gerald, Hitler and the Final Solution, UC Press, 1987, makes a connection between this memo and gassing vans, but "huts" are not "vans."

311. Dr. Kremer's Diary was a staple of the first Auschwitz Trial in 1946, Kremer was imprisoned for ten years and then returned to Germany. The relevant portions of the diary have been reproduced Klee, Ernst, u.a., Hrsg., "Schöne Zeiten", S. Fischer Verlag, pp. 231-241. Robert Faurisson has contributed an important discussion of Kremer's Diary, his imprisonment and aftermath, "Le professeur de medecine Johann Paul Kremer devant les horreurs du typhus a Auschwitz en Septembre-Octobre 1942", originally published in 1980, and available on the website of AAARG at: http://www.vho.org/aaargh/fran/archFaur/RF8011xx1.a.html The AAARGH site, run by the Frenchman Serge Thion, maintains at the above URLs a large and indispensable chronological archive of Faurisson's writings.

312. Ibid., p. 233, 234, 237

313. This last appears to be the interpretation of Robert Faurisson, also who believes that the "last bunker" in question is the famous "Block 11" at the Stammlager.

314. Czech, Danuta, Auschwitz Chronicle, 1939-1945, Henry Holt & Co., NY:1997, p. 809

315. The normal scenario at Auschwitz involved one or two individuals who would empty cans into overhead apertures (for crematoria I, II, and III), or a single individual (crematoria IV and V) who would open a can, climb a ladder, and throw the contents through a window.

316. Stäglich, op. cit., p. 112-113

317. Frank, Anne, Diary of a Young Girl (Definitive Edition), Bantam Books, NY:1997, p. 53

318. E.g., Rothschild, Sylvia, ed.,Voices from the Holocaust, New American Library, NY:1981, , p. 129, 153

319. Stäglich, op. cit., p. 92; quotes Langbein to different effect; but see Faurisson's discussion of the sequel, op. cit., loc. cit., and elsewhere.

320. cf. Hilberg's remark in the first version of his book, op. cit., pp., also Gilbert, op. cit., who scants references to the toll of the epidemics. According to Grundlagen, (p. 168) 300,000 died in the concentration camp system, officially, taking into consideration the Eastern camps (which are not normally counted) an estimate of hundreds of thousands dead seems reasonable for the camps alone.

321. On the concept of esoteric speech involved here, Dawidowicz has made the most extended arguments, War Against the Jews, Bantam, NY:1978. However well put these arguments, they are unconvincing, first, because as she acknowledges esoteric (or "Aesopian") speech is a function of powerless minorities, not empowered ones, second, because under this assumption it presumes a meaning of the code that has never been demonstrated, and third, because she overreaches the thesis and attempts to argue that the Madagascar proposal was also a "code word", a concept which most historians reject, partly because of documents such as Rademacher's 1942 letter, see

     http://www.codoh.com /incon/inconmad.html

322. A communication from the SD of the SS, NO-5156, written 26 June 1942, quoted in Trunk, Judenrat, p. 260

323. Rosenbaum, Ron, "Explaining Hitler" in The New Yorker, vol. LXXI, #10, 1 May 1995, pp. 50-73, p. 60; in 1998 Rosenbaum's writings were expanded into book form. Further on the issue of the "Hitler Order" see: http://www.codoh.com/ incon/inconorders.html The focus that historians of this subject have in attempting to prove Hitler's culpability seems rather tendentious: if no order has surfaced, then there is no reason to presume that one ever existed. This has not prevented historians from going into extended arguments over exactly when this hypothetical order was issued, see Browning, Christopher R., "Beyond 'Intentionalism' and 'Functionalism': The Decision for the Final Solution Reconsidered" in The Path to Genocide, Cambridge UP, Canto, NY:1992.

324. Irving, Nuremberg

325. Lengyel, Olga, I Survived Hitler's Ovens (Five Chimneys),Avon, NY: 1947, Nyiszli, Miklos, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Arcade, NY: 1993

326. Lengyel, Olga, I Survived Hitler's Ovens (Five Chimneys),Avon, NY: 1947, Nyiszli, Miklos, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Arcade, NY: 1993

327. Lengyel, op. cit.

328. Hilberg uses both Lengyel and Nyiszli, op cit., extensively to describe camp conditions.. Pressac also relies heavily on Nyiszli, see op. cit., pp. 469-480. Controversy of Nyiszli's identity has been a constant since Paul Rassinier first investigated the matter at the time that Nyiszli's memoirs first achieved broad circulation in the West, when published in Le temps moderne in 1953, see Butz, op. cit., Rassinier, Debunking, loc. cit.

329. Nyiszli, op cit.

330. Nyiszli, op cit.

331. Nyiszli, op cit., and consider Pressac's rationalization of this fact

332. Lengyel, op. cit., p. 68-70

333. The testimony of Henryk Tauber, from May, 1945, reproduced in Pressac, Auschwitz, pp. 481-502. Pressac considers this "95% accurate."

334. quoted in Porter, Holocaust, Irving, Nuremberg, esp. p. 236

335. Irving, Nuremberg, pp. 186-188, and entire discussion of Holocaust, including notes, pp. 235-246.

336. Main texts on the euthanasia program are Klee, Ernst, Dokumente zur "Euthanasie", Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M.: 1997; and Klee, Ernst, "Euthanasie" im NS-Staat, Fischer Verlag: Frankfurt a. M.:1997. In English, there is a substantial section on euthanasia in Noakes, J. and Pridham, G., Nazism, 1919-1945: vol. 3: Foreign Policy,War, and Racial Extermination, University of Exeter Press, Exeter:1995, pp. 997-1048. To these might be added Robert J. Lifton, The Nazi Doctors, Basic Books, NY: 1986, and Henry Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill & London: 1995. The first three of these texts are valuable because they represent the sum of the documentary evidence gathered or proffered to prove that euthanasia was carried out by means of poison gas. Friedlander's text is valuable because it is based on the extensive interrogations and trial records in various postwar euthanasia trials. There are two ways in which Friedlander's book is particulary valuable. First, because he makes clear the kinds of pressure that was brought to bear in euthasia interrogations, see for example, op. cit. , p. 198f, and 193. Second because his review of interrogations indicates that the first admission of euthanasia gassing occurred during the interrogation of Karl Brandt, September 2, 1945, that is, contemporaneous with the Belsen trial. Friedlander considers many of Brandt's statements as "bizarre" as well they might be, especially if they are taken at face value.

337. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1006

338. Noakes, op. cit., p. for characteristics of adult prospective victims, p. 998, p. 999

339. New York Times, referenced by Butz, op. cit., p. 174

340. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1036f

341. Noakes, op. cit., see copy of the form letter of condolences, p. 1028, and Shirer entry below.

342. Noakes, op. cit., 1039f

343. As Butz notes [op. cit., p. 118], cremation had evolved into a relatively clean procedure partly in response to objections such as these, which, in our view, were symptomatic of a broad social condemnation of cremation for other reasons.

344. Shirer, Berlin Diary, Knopf, New York:1941, pp. 570-574. Note that Shirer dismisses the idea that euthanasia would be done for cost, however, Noakes, op. cit., cites a document that suggests just this kind of reasoning, p. 1042; it is interesting to note that this odd and ambiguous document did not make it into Klee's comprehensive collection.

345. Morgen's affidavits were offered in defense by way of demonstrating that the SS was not a criminal organization. To that end there are numerous defects in Morgen's affidavits, such as the assertion that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were located at Monowitz, which was not under SS control. Revisionists have doubts about Morgen, but in our opinion, to the extent that he describes a situation where some individuals in the concentration camp system lost their bearings and engaged in arbitrary behavior he seems credible. With respect to euthanasia, per se, Morgen attempted to argue that the "extermination camps" of Aktion Reinhardttt were run by Wirth of the Criminal Police, but not the SS, and to that end he was apparently the first to emphasize Wirth's connection to the T-4, or euthanasia, program.

346. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1025

347. see photograph of this pipe, in Grundlagen, p. 278, note aperture that had been cut through the reinforced concrete; the rebar remained and there is no apparent provision for gas-tightness.

348. Friedrich Berg points out in his article, "Typhus and the Jews", that, given the reluctance that East Europeans had to public bathing, dummy shower arrangements would not be a particularly good way to lull potential victims. 

349. That is, the justification for the use of carbon monoxide in the euthanasia program is that it caused rapid death with no premonition, but that deception has nothing to do with the deception alleged in the extermination campaign.

350. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1019

351. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1027

352. NMT, Case 1, xxxxx

353. Ponsonby, Arthur, Falsehood in Wartime, Institute for Historical Review, Newport Beach, CA:1991, pp. 78-82

354. cf.; Casement, Roger, "Treatment of Women and Children in the Congo States, what Mr. Casement saw In 1903", n.d., n.p.

355. That is, there was a euthanasia program and it may have used carbon monoxide in some fashion on some occasions, although the balance of the data indicates injections, both in Germany and in the concentration camps. But if the fact of the euthanasia program, relatively well recorded, can be established as having had the shower-gas-burning sequence, then that provides corroborative weight to the thesis of the shower-gas-burning sequence for the alleged extermination facilities, for which there is no documentary record at all.

356. Klee, opp. cit., provides the closest thing to documentary proof; with regards to the shower-gas-burning sequence, virtually nothing: there is a photograph of a shower, [Dokumente, p. 132] for example, which is supposed to have been a gas chamber, but which was later cleverly converted into -- a shower. So in essence we are offered a photograph of a shower. His book also contains a photograph of alleged victims dug up by the Soviets in a mass grave[Dokumente, p. 320], the reader is invited to consult the photograph. But in any case it does not support the shower-gas-burning sequence.

357. The smoke and stench element comes up in Höß' 5 April 1946 affidavit, as we have seen, it appears in many contexts. Butz, op. cit., pp. 118-120. considered this claim prima facie evidence of hoaxing; the "murder wagons" of course are important to the Soviet claims of "gas vans", and see notes 62 and 63, as well as Section 3 above.

358. Martin, op. cit., p. 38f. This in turn supports the inference that the mass gassing claim derives not only from the circumstances of delousing and disinfection but also directcly from the rumors of the euthanasia program.

359. Reference to Section 3, above, not only disinfection but quarantine itself would give rise to suspicion and rumors.

360. On the subject of cremation's reemergence, see Iserson, Kenneth, Death to Dust, Galen Press, Tuscon, AZ: 1995, Fischer, Norbert, Vom Gottesacker zum Krematorium, Böhlau Verlag, Köln:1996, and see also Thompson, Sir Henry, "Cremation" in Encyclopedia Brittanica, 11th Edition, NY & London: 1910, vol. 7, pp. 403-407

361. Cf. Thompson, loc. cit.

362. Thompson explores this theme in particular, but it is something of a truism in writings about cremation.

363. Although Germany built the first modern crematorium, actual use was hindered by social attitudes, consult Thompson, loc. cit.

364. Fischer, op. cit., p. 96f

365. Fischer, op. cit., p. 116, the increase in cremation rates in traditionally Protestant venues was even greater, In Hamburg it climbed from 2.8% to 27.8% between 1913 and 1930.

366. Fischer, op. cit., p 11

367. Fischer, op. cit., p 124, and also quoting Siegrfied Giedion, p. 101

368. Fischer, op. cit., p 116, also p. 99ff for typical exaggerations and hostile reactions, particularly from churches, to the process.

369. Fischer, op. cit., p. 115, his actual words were "Die moderne Kultur ist eine antichristliche Kultur", which Fischer characterizes as anti-clericalism, and probably correctly. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the psychic investment which most people have made in traditional religions, to construe his words as "Modern culture is the culture of the Antichrist" would probably not exaggerate the way in which many regarded such attitudes.

370. Iserson, op. cit., p. , Thompson, loc. cit.

371. Iserson, op. cit., p. , Thompson, loc. cit.

372. Fischer, op. cit., p. 126, here we mean "mandatory" in the sense that from 1939 virtually every concentration camp would be equipped with cremation facilities.

373. Huxley, Aldous, Brave New World, Perennial, NY: 1991, p. 48f

374. The Soviet Special Commission on Auschwitz, USSR-8

375. Patton, George S. Jr., War As I Knew It, Bantam, NY:1980, p. 284

376. Life Magazine, July 23, 1945, p. The relationship of German rocket and secret weapons technology to postwar hysterias, and most particularly to science fiction and UFO hysterias, has been the subject of a number of credulous studies, but the theme has not received the mainstream exposure that it deserves, particularly because these hysterical claims flow right back to the kinds of claims repeatedly made about the extermination processes in the camps.

377. Specifically, the Soviet Special Commission on Auschwitz claimed that 279,000 people could be cremated by the 56 Auschwitz Birkenau ovens in a month, i.e., 9,300 per day. Some eyewitnesses, e. g., Nyiszli, assert even higher rates of combustion.

378. Testimony of Dr. Konrad Morgen, August 7, 1946, IMT vol. XX, loc. cit.

379. Cross-examination of Dr. Bendel, Trial of Tesch, Weinbacher & Drohsinn, Public Records Office, London, UK.

380. A document of dubious provenance (marked as a copy ("Abschrift"), reproduced in one of its forms by J. C. Pressac, ATO, p. 244, asserts half that amount. Neither number is credible because neither is possible, as even Pressac admits, Ibid. A recent article argues that the document is moreover faked, see "'Schlüsseldokument' ist Fälschung" by Dipl Ing. Manfred Gerner in Viertelsjahrhefte für freie Geschichtforschung, 1998, vol. III.

381. Mattogno, Die Krematorienofen, in Grundlagen, pp. 288ff, 302.

382. Mattogno cites "Factors which affect the process of cremation", Third session by Dr. E. W. Jones, assisted by Mr. R. G. Williamson, Annual cremation conference report, Cremation Society of Great Britain, 1975. It should be stressed that all of the surviving documentation on mass cremations in German camps, cited by Pressac, ATO, Mattogno, op. cit., and by Pressac (w/ Van Pelt), "The Machinery of Mass Murder at Auschwitz" in Gutman, Y. & Berenbaum, M., Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, Indiana UP, Bloomington:1998, pp. 183-246, are of orders of magnitude that support the British conclusions. None support the extravagant cremation rates argued by Pressac, e.g., in "Machinery", p. 199.

383. A phrase from "The Factory of Death at Auschwitz" by Boris Polevoi, Pravda, February 2, 1945, p. 4. The article has been separately translated into English and annotated.

384. The concept of "gas ovens" has been a particularly venerable one, such that the linkage of cremation, gas, and homicide has been considered well-nigh absolute. It is notable in this respect that, as previously noted, only four prosecution exhibits in the NMT concentration camp case pertained to possible gas chambers, but many more described the construction of crematoria in the camps.

385. TIME magazine, May 23, 1940, p.

386. Consult Crowell, Samuel, "Technique and Operation of German Anti-Gas Shelters", at, http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconpressac.html for an introduction to poison gas usage and several references. Also consult Martinetz, Dieter, Der Gaskrieg, 1914-1918, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, München: 1996, for World War One use. For World War Two non-use, consult Crowell, "Technique", also Gellermann, Günther W., Der Krieg, der nicht stattfand, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, München:1986, and for groupings of documents and document extracts pertaining to gas warfare throughout the 20th Century see Brauch, Hans Günther & Müller, Rolf-Dieter, Chemische Kriegführung-Chemische Abrüstung, Berlin Verlag, Arno Spitz: 1985, also Hahn, op. cit. , pp. 223-235

387. Crowell, loc. cit.

388. Crowell, loc. cit.

389. Trombley, Executioner's Protocol

390. Grand Hotel, 1932, Edmund Goulding, dir.

391. Kameradschaft, 1931, Georg W. Pabst, dir.

392. quoted by Stäglich, op. cit., p. 59

393. quoted by Riedel, Johannes, "Echoes of Political Processes in Music During the Weimar Republic", in Hirschbach, Frank D., Germany in the Twenties: The Artist as Social Critic, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota: 1980, p. 72

394. Things to Come,1938, William Cameron Menzies, dir. Significantly, the film also features a plague outbreak.

395. Laurence Thompson, The Greatest Treason: The Untold Story of Munich, William Morrow, NY:1968, p. 2f

396. Ibid., p. 210

397. Ibid., p. 3

398. Ibid., p. 5

399. MacDougall, Curtis, Hoaxes, Dover, NY: 1966, p. 43f

400. Kuebler, Harold W., ed. The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics, "The Invasion from Mars" (radio adaptation by Howard Koch of H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds"), pp. 417-438, Hanover House, Garden City, NJ: 1954. Interesting to note that the other Martian weapon was a "death" or "heat-ray", cf. Shirer's diary entry, above.

401.   Ibid., p. 425 and p 431f

402. These and other newspaper excerpts come from Howard Koch's The Panic Broadcast, Avon, NY: 1970, which contains between pp. 16-24 and 89-96 reproductions of newspaper clippings.

403. Ibid.

404. Ibid., pp. 89-96

405. Ibid.

406. Ibid., p. 103

407. Ibid. , p. 86

408. Hoyt, Edwin P., The Invasion Before Normandy, Stein & Day, NY: 1985. Note especially the photograph of mock casualties in gas masks, section after p. 134

409. Seagrave, Sterling, Yellow Rain: A Journey Through the Terror of Chemical Warfare, M. Evans and Company, NY: 1981, pp. 60-62, pp. 80-81, the last quoting Omar Bradley. Michael Shermer provides a war-time home-front episode of gas hysteria, concerning the "Phantom Gasser of Mattoon", op. cit., p. 99.

410. Gellermann, op. cit., reproduces a photocopy of the entire document, pp. 249-25

411. We are reminded here of the mentality associated with poisons and poisonings, cf. Mackay, Charles, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Noonday, NY:1970, section on the "Slow Poisoners", pp. 565-592

412. Roueche, Berton, "Sandy" in The Medical Detectives, Pocket Books, NY: 1982, pp. 339-352.

413. Rosenberg, op. cit., and Evans, op.cit., both discuss this, particularly in connection with the career of Max Pettenkofer. Pettenkofer was so certain that germs were not themselves etiological decisive that during a cholera epidemic he quaffed a glass of contaminated water to prove his point. He did not contract the disease. His experiment was later repeated by the Russian scientist Elie Metchnikov, with matching results. Indeed, it appears that such daring was the real motivation behind the Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky's replication of the stunt, during the cholera epidemic of 1892-93. The fact that his attempt followed the premiere of his most maudlin symphony ("Pathetique") by only a few days, and the fact that he died as a result, has led to no end of speculation among music historians.

414. e.g., Showalter, Elaine, Hystories, Columbia UP, NY: 1997, p. 23

415. cf. Crowell, Defending Against the allied Bombing Campaign, xxxxx

416. McCallum, John Dennis, Crime Doctor, Mercer Island, WA: 1978, conducted autopsies at Dachau, his comments are ambiguous. Autopsies were also supposed to have been conducted at Natzweiler-Struthof, no results indicating cyanide poisoning have been released.

417. This section corresponds to the article, Crowell, Samuel, "Defending Against the allied Bombing Campaign: Air Raid Shelters and Gas Protection in Germany, 1939-1945, Part 1", at http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconabr.html and consult these sources.

418. Crowell, loc. cit.

419. Crowell, loc. cit.

420. Crowell, loc. cit.

421. Crowell, loc. cit.

422. Crowell, loc. cit.

423. Crowell, loc. cit.

424. Crowell, loc. cit.

425. Crowell, loc. cit.

426. Crowell, loc. cit.

427. This section corresponds to the article, Crowell, Samuel, "Defending Against the Allied Bombing Campaign: Air Raid Shelters and Gas Protection in Germany, 1939-1945, Part 2", at http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconabr_2.html and consult these sources.

428. Crowell, loc. cit.

429. Crowell, loc. cit.

430. Crowell, loc. cit.

431. Crowell, loc. cit.

432. Crowell, op. cit.

433. The documents, copies of which were transmitted to this author by Germar Rudolf, have been reproduced on the Internet on David Irving's website, at http://www.fpp.co.uk, with translations on CODOH at http://www.codoh.com.

434. Mchael Foedrowitz, Bunkerwelten, n.p., 1998, p. xxxxx

435. Graf & Mattogno, op. cit., p. xxxxx

436. Ibid., p.

437. DIN standards xxxxx

438. Described in Entgiften von Bekleidung und Ausrustung in ortsfesten Anlagen, issued by the Gasabwehrdienst aller Waffen, dtd 1 Jan 43. The author would like to thank David Irving for providing this rare pamphlet.

439. Crowell, loc. cit.

440. Stroop Report, IMT xxxxx

441. Crowell, loc. cit.

442. This section corresponds to the article, Crowell, Samuel, "Technique and Operation of German Ant-Gas Shelters in World War Two: A Refutation of J. C. Pressac's 'Criminal Traces'", at http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconpressac.htmland consult these sources.

443. Crowell, loc. cit..

444. Crowell, loc. cit.

445. Crowell, loc. cit. This is clear by consulting the manner in which Pressac obtained and used these documents, see his book, Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers, Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, NY:1989

446. Crowell, loc. cit.

447. Crowell, loc. cit.

448. Crowell, loc. cit.

449. Crowell, loc. cit., and in particular follow the links to the Internet articles of Arthur R. Butz, "Vergasungskeller", and "Gas Detectors at Auschwitz". Both Dr. Butz and myself have construed "Vergasungskeller" in a civil defense context, however, if anything "vergasen" type words are even more firmly rooted in disinfection and delousing procedures. While convinced that we are correct in identifying several civil defense and gas protection features to Leichenkeller 1 of Krematorium II (i.e., the "Vergasungskeller") it is conceivable that part of it was intended for the disinfecting or delousing of clothing of the dead or the corpse handlers, but in that case it is doubtful that the entire Keller would have been set aside for that purpose: then the use of the word would be an example of metonymy, and the facility itself could well have been used for a variety of purposes: disinfecting corpse handlers, ad hoc disinfection and delousing of camp arrivals, and decontamination. Such multi-purpose use harmonizes with German civil defense procedures in the cities, consult also Section 3 above.

450. Crowell, loc. cit., This conclusion is, we believe, inescapable. At the beginning of our research we explored the possibility that the Soviets and other communists misconstrued the air raid shelter evidence, and it is certainly at least possible that many individuals did, and probably most Westerners. However, at no point in the historical record, or in the elaboration of these materials since then, has there ever been a recognition of the air raid shelter origins of these gas-tight features. It is beyond belief that the association never occurred to an establishment historian on this subject, particularly in Eastern Europe, where the only extant "gas chamber" facilities are located. Therefore we are forced to conclude that establishment historians in Poland and the Soviet Union failed to point out the implications to their thesis, namely, that the Germans had constructed air raid shelters but had used them for exterminations. This failure can only be understood as a desire to suppress the issue of air raid shelters per se, because otherwise it most certainly would have been (and would be!) a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Holocaust. Hence we conclude that the air raid shelter origin of gas-tight features was suppressed because of the questions it would raise, namely, the questions it would raise about the validity of the extermination hypothesis overall.

451. Werth, Alexander, Russia at War, 1941-1945, Avon, NY: 1964, pp. 807-808; the context indicates the Werth is simply quoting his older dispatches here.

452. Noakes, op. cit., p. 1019f

453. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Garden City, NJ: n.d., p. 1120f

454. Chambers Encyclopedic Guides, Catastrophes and Disasters, NY: 1992, pp. 121-126

455. Chambers Encyclopedic Guides, Great Scientific Discoveries, NY: 1992, p. 16, 17

456. Wells, H. G., The War of the Worlds, n. p., n. d.

457. cf. Burroughs, the Princess of Mars (1913), such gas in the medium of the hero's instantaneous space travel.  

458. The anecdotal evidence of this is large, but unspecified. Gas as a means of suicide (not merely gas ovens but simply gas lamps that are not lit) appears to have been used in the famine in the German speaking world after World War One, as well as periodically throughout the West during various economic depressions.

459. Fritzsche, Peter, A Nation of Fliers, Harvard UP, Cambridge:1992, p. 41

460. Fritzsche, Peter, op. cit., p. 229

461. Doyle, op. cit., passim. The malefactor in the story cited attempts suicide with cyanide after his capture.

462. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, The Poison Belt, Chronicle Books, San Francisco: 1989.

463. Lewis, Sinclair, It Can't Happen Here, Signet, NY: 1993, p. 232

464. See the comments in the introduction by the translator, Andrew McAndrew, in 20th Century Russian Drama, Bantam, NY: 1963, pp. 159-162.

465. Dubnow, Simon, History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Jewish Publication Society of American, Philadephia: 1912, vol. II, p. 295

466. Dubnow, Simon, Nationalism and History (Essays edited by Koppel Pinson), Jewish Publication Society of American, Philadephia: 1958, p. 355 -- the "one million .... destroyed and mutilated" are then described as "one half driven out" and the other half held prisoners and hostages.

467. see the comments of David Irving on the term "Ausrottung" in DSMRD, testifying at the Zundel trial in 1988. Irving has other relevant materials on his Internet website, fpp.co.uk.

468. In The American Hebrew, October 31, 1919; credit for this discovery to the Polish Historical Society. Cited by Irving, Nuremberg, Focal Point, London:1996, p.

469. Butz, op. cit., in the context of his review of wartime propaganda, also Gilbert, op. cit., p. 66

470. Sanning, Walter N., The Dissolution of Eastern European Jewry, IHR, Newport Beach, CA: 1983, provides a revisionist analysis, Germar Rudolf's article Statistisches uber die Holocaust-Opfer in Grundlagen contrasts Sanning with the latest traditional computations of Benz and others. The question of number is not particularly interesting, unless judicious consideration is given to emigrations throughout the 1930's, realistic birth rates that would be reactive to conditions, deaths through war-time conditions, as well as the massive Soviet deportations or evacuations, this last encountered throughout the literature but usually discussed in the context of Holocaust victims, but cf. Martin, op. cit., p. 43, p. 47. Furthermore, whatever the number it does not prove a gassing program.

471. Dubnow, History, Grayzel, A History of the Jews, Meridian, New York:1984. This attitude is especially clear in explanations for the pogroms from 1881 onwards, but Dubnow also invokes the conspiratorial plotting which supposedly underlay medieval violence and "blood libel" accusations. This emphasis on "top down" causality, whereby the common people never acted against the Jewish people without external prompting, seems to be rooted in four concepts: first, biblical thinking of causality, second, the habit of Christian monarchs and nobility to extort Jewish wealth as a guarantee of peace-keeping, and therefore were presumably capable of controlling popular violence at will, third, an unwillingness to credit spontaneous violence especially in times of hardship, dislocation, and change, and fourth and finally, a desire not to recognize that the presence of an unassimilated minority could naturally create tensions and problems. Of course, to a pre-Zionist mind, Jewish people must have been committed to one of two paths: assimilation, which invariably involved a falling away from the Jewish community, (cf. Dubnow, History, vol. 2, p. 211ff) or maintenance of tradition, which in turn involved an acceptance of the Jewish community existing in an unassimilated context in a larger society. (This last was definitely inimical to the interests of the Russian Empire at least from the time of Nicholas I.) In this latter case they would most definitely have to believe that it was normally possible to maintain their customary insular existence without inspiring negative passions among their neighbors. But it is precisely here that there is a dilemma, since the modern nation state has tended to demand homogeneity and uniformity from its members, and has systematically eroded the particularism of communities and minorities: the Tsarist policy of "Russification", which afflicted all of the minorities of the Empire, was analogous to processes carried out by Prussia and in a different degree by the Western states at earlier times. Whether this is "right" or "wrong" is not a historical question; however, we believe that it is inarguable that the ethnic complexity of Eastern Europe, including, but not limited to the unassimilated Eastern Jews, was the central dynamic in evolving extremist policies in Germany, Russia, and among the various nationalities in between.

472. see above, there were no doubt a number of factors that led to widespread anti-Semitism throughout Europe, and particularly Eastern Europe, at this time (we are inclined to the thesis that the continent-wide phenomenon grew out of the ethnic problem in the East.). The usual explanations are ideological (cf. Goldhagen, Daniel J., Hitler's Willing Executioners, Little, Brown & Co., NY:1996) that is, anti-Semitism arose from the evolution of untrue and hateful prejudices about Jews, and nothing besides. But this is to some extent an obvious tautology: Jews were persecuted on the basis of hateful ideas -- but why did these ideas arise in the first place? This is where Goldhagen's method, shared, by the way, by most intellectual historians of this period, even if they do not share his conclusions, shows its defects. Racial or national hatreds do not exist and develop independently of human affairs, to put it another way, such ideas always exist, but require some empirical context in order to flourish. To combat the ideas alone is merely to combat the symptom; what is needed is to examine and alter the situation in which such ideas gain adherents, or so it would appear. Our analysis of 19th Century anti-Semitism is pointing to the peculiar, almost caste-like, position of unassimilated Eastern Jews, the demographic trends in the region, the dynamic of industrialization, the bureaucratization of nation states, and secularization as being the most important elements in fostering anti-Jewish hatred as a species on "non-Russian" and "unassimilated" hatred. Since these are social, economic, or otherwise empirical factors, this tends to argue that the disappearance of the unassimilated East European communities, Jewish or non-Jewish, was a foregone conclusion, it further suggests that the gradual homogenization of East European communities, involving the large-scale population movements, and including the brutal expulsion and/or absorption of German, Jewish, and other sectarian and ethnic minorities, was also to a large degree inevitable. This is what we mean by "other Final Solutions" -- modern nationalism, as the symbolic structure of efficiently run modern states, seems to have an innate intolerance of difference; demographic pressures alone, not counting hegemonic competition, made the re-ordering of Eastern Europe a necessity, the grim playing out of this re-ordering, in our opinion, is the true context of the Jewish catastrophe.

473. Goldhagen, op. cit., is to our minds a typical example.

474. All of these are of course typical descriptions attributed to the German National Socialists.

475. Hasek, Jaroslav, The Good Soldier Schweik, Penguin, London:1973; from the chapter entitled "A Religious Debate", p. 138. First published in serial form between 1921-1924

476. quoted in Showalter, Elaine, Hystories, Columbia UP, NY:1997, p. 6

477. Ibid.

478. cf. Aroneanu, op. cit.

479. cf. Berger, Peter, The Sacred Canopy, Anchor, NY: 1969, "plausibility structures" and secularization, passim. See also Scheler, Max, Ressentiment,