World War II

On 8 May 1995, the British prime minister, John Major, referred to the end of World War II as the end of a thirty years’ war; in this, he was correct: both sides saw this war as an attempt to complete a task left undone at the close of the First World War – the show-down which ended European global domination. The Second World War was, however, the ultimate catastrophe of modern history, laying waste the heart and soul of Europe. Here you will find contributions about this conflict, its prelude, conduct, and personalities – excluding non-military Nazi personalities, which are covered under the entry “Third Reich Era.” Also covered are contributions dealing with war crimes (and lies about alleged war crimes) committed in the course of the conflict. This does not include the “Holocaust,” which has a separate entry (and is not a war crime in the strict sense).

Response to J. McCarthy on NO-365, The Wetzel-Lohse Correspondence

February 7, 1999 Dear CODOH: Thank you for forwarding to me the response to my analysis of the Wetzel-Lohse correspondence in “The Gas Chamber of Sherlock Holmes” as found on The Holocaust-History Project. I would make the following comments. The author of the piece accuses me of many errors, and furthermore, claims that these are…

Mixed Signals From Spielberg?

Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg Let's begin with what this latest entry in the Spielbergian canon is not: it is not a “holocaust” or gas chamber flick. Saving Private Ryan is about combat on the Western front during World War Two and the honor and compassion of the U.S. government; overt Jewish themes…

Germany must be destroyed . A collection of quotes

Introduction “Germany must be destroyed” is a collection of quotes made by various political leaders, scholars, and opinion makers in the West over a period stretching back to the 19th century. It gives a feel for the “problem” that Germany has represented to other nations since Bismarck achieved unity in 1870 and the German people burst…

Documents from the Moscow Archives describe building of air-raid shelters in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943

The imperfect translations which follow convey clearly enough the meaning of three documents recently forwarded by an anonymous source from Russian archives of captured German WWII documents to Samuel Crowell. They give details of logistical problems encountered in the building of hundreds of air-raid shelters at Auschwitz-Birkenau in April through November of 1944. This effort…

Soap and Lampshades: The Lies Persist

In his recently published book, Why People Believe Weird Things, Skeptic editor Michael Shermer recounts an exchange from the Phil Donahue show. On that particular episode, CODOH director Bradley Smith stated, “It [is] a lie that Germans cooked Jews to make soap from them.” Shermer, who is skeptical of many things, but generally a believer…

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