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Open Air Incinerations in Auschwitz: Rumor or Reality?

Two Studies on the Ground Water Level in Auschwitz and its Consequences in History

By Germar Rudolf ∙ February 1, 2003

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Many former inmates as well as guards of the former National Socialist concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau claim that hundred thousands of corpses of murdered inmates were burned in ditches some 6 to 10 ft. deep. However, almost every book about Auschwitz points out that the entire grounds in and around the camp were swampy in those days. Since the 1970s, Holocaust revisionists have therefore claimed that the incineration of corpses in deep ditches would have been impossible due to the high ground water table in this swampy area, which would have quickly filled any deep ditch. After this argument spread widely with the so-called Leuchter Report in 1988,[1] it was argued that the ground water level during the operation of the camp was significantly lowered with the help of a sophisticated system of drainage ditches, thus allowing the open air incineration of corpses in deep ditches as attested to by various witnesses.[2] In May 2002, the controversy around Auschwitz focused even more on these open air incinerations, since a German mainstream journalist argued that most of the victims of the claimed mass murders of Auschwitz were supposedly disposed of using these open air incineration ditches.[3] Until recently, the effects of the ground water, and the questions arising from this matter, have not been investigated. Due to the availability of much-improved source materials after the end of the Cold War, this matter can now be investigated. The following two studies have thoroughly examined the existing primary documentary sources dealing with the ground water table in Auschwitz during World War II. As a result, the correctness of eyewitness accounts claiming incinerations in deep ditches must be called into question. The documents do not allow for any different interpretation: in the Birkenau area, the ground water table was about 0.30 to 1.20 m beneath the surface.

Notes

[1] Frederick A. Leuchter, An Engineering Report on the alleged Execution Gas Chambers at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek, Poland, Samisdat Publishers Ltd., Toronto 1988.
[2] The drainage plan of the Birkenau camp was first published by J.-C. Pressac, Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gaschambers, Beate-Klarsfeld-Foundation, New York 1989, p. 209.
[3] Fritjof Meyer, “Die Zahl der Opfer von Auschwitz. Neue Erkenntnisse durch neue Archivfunde” (Number of Auschwitz Victims: New Insights from Recent Archival Discoveries), Osteuropa, 52(5) (2002), pp. 631-641; cf. the two contributions in this issue by G. Rudolf and C. Mattogno dealing with Meyer’s article.

  • Germar Rudolf was born on October 29, 1964, in Limburg, Germany. He studied chemistry at Bonn University, where he graduated in 1989 as a Diplom-Chemist, which is comparable to a U.S. PhD degree. From 1990-1993, he prepared a German PhD thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in conjunction with the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Parallel to this and in his spare time, Rudolf prepared an expert report on chemical and technical questions of the alleged gas chambers of Auschwitz (see The Chemistry of Auschwitz). He conclude in it that "the alleged facilities for mass extermination at Auschwitz and Birkenau were not suited for the purpose as claimed." As a result, he had to endure severe measures of persecution in subsequent years. Hence, he went into British exile, where he started a revisionist publishing outlet. When Germany asked Britain to extradite Rudolf in 1999, he fled to the U.S. There he applied for political asylum, expanded his publishing activities, and in 2004 married a U.S. citizen. In 2005, the U.S. granted him an immigrant visa based on his marriage, but seconds later arrested and subsequently deported him back to Germany in crass violation of U.S. law. In Germany, where he was put in prison for 44 months for his scholarly writings, some of which he had published in the U.S., where they are perfectly legal. Since not a criminal under U.S. law, he managed to immigrate permanently to the U.S. in 2011. Rudolf has published more than 90 books (currently available through Armreg US and Armreg UK), among them the 54 volumes of the Holocaust Handbooks. He has compiled 9 documentaries and authored 20 non-fiction books, among them the bestselling Holocaust Encyclopedia. With a brief interruption, he has managed the free-speech organization Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust since 2014, where we defend free speech at the forefront of corporate censorship and governmental persecution. In 2017, he became chief editor of CODOH’s quarterly periodical Inconvenient History. In early 2025, he launched the Holocaust Academy, dedicated to bringing critical thinking to Holocaust education. In that context, he organized the 2026 Holocaust Summit, dedicated to “Tackling the Most-Harmful Ideology Undermining Peace, Truth and Freedom Worldwide”.

    Read more about him here.

Bibliographic information about this document: The Revisionist, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2003, p. 2.
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