No One Gassed at Dachau (1961)

Several of the letters of Austin J. App are to be presented as part of the CODOH Revisionist Library. These are important to the historiography of Holocaust revisionism as they are some of the earliest works to question the formative Holocaust story. These works are being presented for researchers as they are rare documents. They should be understood for the time that they were written. They do not necessarily represent the current state of Holocaust revisionist scholarship and research. –Editor

5353 Magnolia St.
Phila. 44, Pa.
April 5, 1961

Inquirer
400 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa.

To the Editor:

Bob Considine in his third series on “Horror and Death at Dachau” (April 5) quotes Auxiliary Bishop of Munich, Johann Neuhaeusler. In it Mr. Considine quotes a character as saying that they will “kick us into the gas chamber” giving the customary impression that Dachau gassed thousands to death.

Way back on August 27, 1949, Bishop Neuhaeusler in an interview he granted me in Munich made it clear that nobody was gassed to death at Dachau. He has since also stated this in his booklet, “So war es in Dachau.” (G. Manz AG., Munich, 72 pages, DM 2.50).

The facts seem to be that a total of 206,000 prisoners, some political but also many real criminals experienced Dachau between 1933 and 1945. Of these a maximum of 27,000 did not come out alive, some done to death, others dying from other causes mostly of typhus, which compares roughly with the American prisoners of war who were done to death or died during the Civil War in the one prisoner-of-war camp of Andersonville, under the auspices of fellow Americans.

In matters of atrocities, if one is honorable, one will make very sure of the facts and will also keep atrocities in perspective with those of other nations.

Yours truly,

Austin J. App, Ph.D.

Originally Published in Morgenthau Era Letters: 119 Letters to Newspapers and Newsmakers- Mostly in the Decade from 1941 to 1950, Boniface Press 1966.