Did Michael Shermer Lie?

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 14:54:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Grubach
Subject: Did Michael Shermer Lie?
To: [email protected]

Dr. Shermer:

I have shown the following extract from your Denying History to two professors who teach at Eastern Colleges. They think that you are guilty of conscious deception.

In regard to Crematorium I (the alleged gas chamber) at Auschwitz I, you write:

“David Cole, in the video documentary of his visit to Auschwitz, dramatically proclaims that he got the museum director to 'confess' that the gas chamber [in Crematorium I] was a reconstruction and thus a 'lie' thrust upon an unwitting public. We see this as classic denier hyperbole and ideological flag waving. No one at Auschwitz—from the guides to the director—denies that the gas chamber there is a reconstruction. A visitor only has to ask.” (p. 133 Denying History)

Shermer and Grobman conveniently fail to provide their readers with the proper information as to how they may acquire a copy of “David Cole Interviews Dr. Franciszek Piper” so they may see for themselves that this is false. In the documentary an Auschwitz guide named Alicia says into the camera in broken English that the alleged gas chamber is in its original state and not a reconstruction. This is in fact a lie that was thrust on the public.

[Editor's comment: The video is no longer for sale but can be watch online, see e.g. at http://holocausthandbooks.com/index.php?page_id=1004.]

You have a duty to respond to your critics. Please respond to this accusation.

Paul Grubach