by
Mark Weber
Nearly everyone has
heard that the Germans killed some six million Jews in Europe during the
Second World War. American television, motion pictures, newspapers and
magazines hammer away on this theme. In Washington, DC, an enormous
official Holocaust Museum has been built.
Scholars Challenge Holocaust Story
During the past decade,
though, more and more "revisionist" historians, including respected
scholars such as Dr. Arthur Butz of Northwestern University, Prof. Robert
Faurisson of the University of Lyon in France and best-selling British
historian David Irving, have been challenging the widely-accepted
extermination story.
They do not dispute the fact that large numbers of Jews were deported to
concentration camps and ghettos, or that many Jews died or were killed
during the Second World War. Revisionist scholars have, however, presented
considerable evidence to show that there was no German program to
exterminate Europe's Jews, that numerous claims of mass killings in "gas
chambers" are false, and that the estimate of six million Jewish wartime
dead is an irresponsible exaggeration.
Many Holocaust Claims Abandoned
Revisionists point out
that the Holocaust story has changed quite a lot over the years. Many
extermination claims that were once widely accepted have been quietly
dropped in recent years.
At one time it was alleged that the Germans gassed Jews at Dachau,
Buchenwald and other concentration camps in Germany proper. That part of
the extermination story proved so untenable that it was abandoned more
than 20 years ago.
No serious historian now supports the once supposedly proven story of
"extermination camps" in the territory of the old German Reich. Even famed
"Nazi hunter" Simon Wiesenthal has acknowledged that "there were no
extermination camps on German soil." (note 1)
Prominent Holocaust historians now claim that masses of Jews were gassed
at just six camps in what is now Poland: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka,
Sobibor, Chelmno and Belzec. However, the "evidence" presented for
"gassings" at these six camps is not qualitatively different than the
"evidence" for alleged "gassings" at the camps in Germany proper.
At the great Nuremberg trial of 1945-1946 and during the decades following
the end of the Second World War, Auschwitz (especially Auschwitz-Birkenau)
and Majdanek (Lublin) were generally regarded as the most important "death
camps." For example, the Allies alleged at Nuremberg that the Germans
killed four million at Auschwitz and another 1.5 million at Majdanek.
Today, no reputable historian accepts these fantastic figures.
In addition, more and more striking evidence has been presented in recent
years that simply cannot be reconciled with the allegations of mass
exterminations at these camps. For example, detailed aerial reconnaissance
photographs taken of Auschwitz-Birkenau on several random days in 1944
(during the height of the alleged extermination period there) were made
public by the CIA in 1979. They show no trace of the piles of corpses,
smoking chimneys and masses of Jews awaiting death, all of which have been
alleged and would have been clearly visible if Auschwitz had indeed been
an extermination center.
We now also know that the postwar "confession" of Auschwitz commandant
Rudolf Höss, which is a crucial part of the Holocaust extermination story,
is a false statement that was obtained by torture. (note 2)
Other Absurd Holocaust Claims
At one time it was also
seriously claimed that the Germans exterminated Jews with electricity and
steam, and that they manufactured soap from Jewish corpses. For example,
at Nuremberg the United States charged that the Germans killed Jews at
Treblinka, not in gas chambers, as is now claimed, but by steaming them to
death in "steam chambers." (note 3)
Such bizarre stories have also been quietly abandoned in recent years.
Disease Claimed Many Inmates
The Holocaust
extermination story is superficially plausible. Everyone has seen the
horrific photos of dead and dying inmates taken at Bergen-Belsen,
Nordhausen and other concentration camps when they were liberated by
British and American forces in the final weeks of the war in Europe. These
unfortunate people were victims, not of an extermination program, but of
disease and malnutrition brought on by the complete collapse of Germany in
the final months of the war. Indeed, if there had been an extermination
program, the Jews found by Allied forces at the end of the war would have
long since been killed.
In the face of the advancing Soviet forces, large numbers of Jews were
evacuated during the final months of the war from eastern camps and
ghettos to the remaining camps in western Germany. These camps quickly
became terribly overcrowded, which severely hampered efforts to prevent
the spread of epidemics. Furthermore, the breakdown of the German
transportation system made it impossible to supply adequate food and
medicine to the camps.
Captured German Documents
At the end of the Second
World War, the Allies confiscated a tremendous quantity of German
documents dealing with Germany's wartime Jewish policy, which was
sometimes officially referred to as the "final solution." But not a single
German document has ever been found which even refers to an extermination
program. To the contrary, the documents clearly show that the German
"final solution" policy was one of emigration and deportation, not
extermination.
Consider, for example, the confidential German Foreign Office memorandum
of August 21, 1942. (note 4) "The present war gives Germany the
opportunity and also the duty of solving the Jewish problem in Europe,"
the memorandum notes. The policy "to promote the evacuation of the Jews
[from Europe] in closest cooperation with the agencies of the
Reichsfuehrer SS [Himmler] is still in force." The memo noted that "the
number of Jews deported in this way to the East did not suffice to cover
the labor needs."
The document quotes German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop as saying that
"at the end of this war, all Jews would have to leave Europe. This was an
unalterable decision of the Fuehrer [Hitler] and also the only way to
master this problem, as only a global and comprehensive solution could be
applied and individual measures would not help very much."
The memorandum concludes by stating that the "deportations [of Jews to the
East] are a further step on the way of the total solution ... The
deportation to the [Polish] General Government is a temporary measure. The
Jews will be moved on further to the occupied [Soviet] eastern territories
as soon as the technical conditions for it are given."
This unambiguous document, and others like it, are routinely suppressed or
ignored by those who uphold the Holocaust extermination story.
Unreliable Testimony
Holocaust historians
rely heavily on so-called "survivor testimony" to support the
extermination story. But such "evidence" is notoriously unreliable. As one
Jewish historian has pointed out, "most of the memoirs and reports [of
"Holocaust survivors"] are full of preposterous verbosity, graphomanic
exaggeration, dramatic effects, overestimated self-inflation, dilettante
philosophizing, would-be lyricism, unchecked rumors, bias, partisan
attacks and apologies." (note 5)
Hitler and the 'Final Solution'
There is no documentary
evidence that Adolf Hitler ever gave an order to exterminate the Jews, or
that he knew of any extermination program. Instead, the record shows that
the German leader wanted the Jews to leave Europe, by emigration if
possible and by deportation if necessary.
A document found after the war in the files of the Reich Ministry of
Justice records his thinking on the Jews. In the spring of 1942, State
Secretary Schlegelberger noted in a memorandum that Hitler's Chief of
Chancellery, Dr. Hans Lammers, had informed him: "The Fhrer has repeatedly
declared to him [Lammers] that he wants to see the solution of the Jewish
problem postponed until after the war is over." (note 6)
And on July 24, 1942, Hitler emphasized his determination to remove all
Jews from Europe
after the war: "The Jews are interested in Europe for economic reasons,
but Europe must reject them, if only out of self-interest, because the
Jews are racially tougher. After this war is over, I will rigorously hold
to the view ... that the Jews will have to leave and emigrate to
Madagascar or some other Jewish national state." (note 7)
Himmler's SS and the Camps
Jews were an important
part of Germany's wartime labor force, and it was in Germany's interest to
keep them alive.
The head of the SS camp administration office sent a directive dated Dec.
28, 1942, to every concentration camp, including Auschwitz. It sharply
criticized the high death rate of inmates due to disease, and ordered that
"camp physicians must use all means at their disposal to significantly
reduce the death rate in the various camps." Furthermore, it ordered: "The
camp doctors must supervise more often than in the past the nutrition of
the prisoners and, in cooperation with the administration, submit
improvement recommendations to the camp commandants ... The camp doctors
are to see to it that the working conditions at the various labor places
are improved as much as possible."
Finally, the directive stressed that "The Reichsfhrer SS [Himmler] has
ordered that the death rate absolutely must be reduced." (note 8)
The head of the SS department that supervised the concentration camps,
Richard Gluecks, sent a circular letter to each camp commandant dated
January 20, 1943. In it he ordered: "As I have already pointed out, every
means must be used to lower the death rate in the camp." (note 9)
Six Million?
There is no real
evidence for the incessantly repeated claim that the Germans exterminated
six million Jews. It is clear, though, that millions of Jews "survived"
German rule during the Second World War, including many who were interned
in Auschwitz and other so-called "extermination camps." This fact alone
should raise serious doubts about the extermination story.
A leading newspaper of neutral Switzerland, the daily Baseler
Nachrichten, carefully estimated in June 1946 that no more than 1.5
million European Jews could have perished under German rule during the
war. (note 10)
One-Sided 'Holocaustomania'
Even after more than 40
years, the stream of Holocaust films and books shows no sign of
diminishing.
This relentless media campaign, which Jewish historian Alfred Lilienthal
calls "Holocaustomania," portrays the fate of the Jews during the Second
World War as the central event of history. There is no end to the
heavy-handed motion pictures, the simplistic television specials, the
vindictive hunt for "Nazi war criminals," the one-sided "educational
courses," and the self-righteous appearances by politicians and
celebrities at Holocaust "memorial services."
Britain's chief rabbi, Immanuel Jakobovits, has accurately described the
Holocaust campaign as "an entire industry, with handsome profits for
writers, researchers, film-makers, monument builders, muse-um planners and
even politicians." He added that some rabbis and theologians are "partners
in this big business." (note 11)
Non-Jewish victims just don't merit the same concern. For example, there
are no American memorials, "study centers," or annual observances for
Stalin's victims, who vastly outnumber Hitler's.
Who Benefits?
The perpetual Holocaust
media blitz is routinely used to justify enormous American support for
Israel and to excuse otherwise inexcusable Israeli policies, even when
they conflict with American interests.
The sophisticated and well-financed Holocaust media campaign is crucially
important to the interests of Israel, which owes its existence to massive
annual subsidies from American taxpayers. As Prof. W.D. Rubinstein of
Australia has candidly acknowledged: "If the Holocaust can be shown to be
a ÔZionist myth,' the strongest of all weapons in Israel's propaganda
armory collapses." (note 12)
Jewish history teacher Paula Hyman of Columbia University has observed:
"With regard to Israel, the Holocaust may be used to forestall political
criticism and suppress debate; it reinforces the sense of Jews as an
eternally beleaguered people who can rely for their defense only upon
themselves. The invocation of the suffering endured by the Jews under the
Nazis often takes the place of rational argument, and is expected to
convince doubters of the legitimacy of current Israeli government policy."
(note 13)
One major reason that the Holocaust story has proven so durable is that
the governments of the major powers also have a vested interest in
maintaining it. The victorious powers of the Second World War -- the
United States, Soviet Russia and Britain -- have a stake in portraying the
defeated Hitler regime as negatively as possible. The more evil and
satanic the Hitler regime appears, the more noble and justified seems the
Allied cause.
For many Jews, the Holocaust has become both a flourishing business and a
kind of new religion, as noted Jewish author and newspaper publisher
Jacobo Timerman points out in his book, The Longest War. He reports
that many Israelis, using the word Shoah, which is Hebrew for Holocaust,
joke that "There's no business like Shoah business." (note 14)
The Holocaust media campaign portrays Jews as totally innocent victims,
and non-Jews as morally retarded and unreliable beings who can easily turn
into murderous Nazis under the right circumstances. This self-serving but
distorted portrayal is meant to strengthen Jewish group solidarity and
self-awareness.
A key lesson of the Holocaust story for Jews is that non-Jews are never
completely trustworthy. If a people as cultured and as educated as the
Germans could turn against the Jews, so the thinking goes, than surely no
non-Jewish nation can ever be completely trusted. The Holocaust message is
thus one of contempt for humanity.
Holocaust Hatemongering
The Holocaust story is
sometimes used to promote hatred and hostility, particularly against the
German people as a whole, eastern Europeans and the leadership of the
Roman Catholic church.
The well-known Jewish writer, Elie Wiesel, is a former Auschwitz inmate
who served as chairman of the official U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. He
received the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. This dedicated Zionist wrote in his
book, Legends of Our Time: "Every Jew, somewhere in his being,
should set apart a zone of hate -- healthy, virile hate -- for what the
German personifies and for what persists in the German." (note 15)
Let Both Sides Be Heard
As even defenders of the
orthodox extermination story concede, skepticism about the Holocaust story
has grown dramatically in recent years.
Responding to this trend, officials in some countries -- including France
and Israel -- have made it a crime to challenge the Holocaust story.
Revisionists in France and Germany have been heavily fined for their
views. Teachers in the United States and elsewhere have been summarily
dismissed from their positions for daring to doubt the Holocaust story.
Criminal thugs have brutally attacked prominent Holocaust revisionists;
one was even killed for his views.
In spite of desperate restrictions on free speech, frantic media attacks
against those who "deny the Holocaust," a seemingly perpetual Holocaust
media campaign, and even physical attacks, considerable headway is being
made. More and more thoughtful people in the United States and around the
world are willing to express doubts about at least some of the more
sensational Holocaust claims.
Summary
The Holocaust
extermination story is breaking down as suppressed evidence becomes better
known, and as more people become aware of the facts about what is
certainly the most hyped and politicized chapter of modern history.
Artificially maintaining the hatreds and passions of the past prevents
genuine reconciliation and lasting peace.
Revisionism promotes historical awareness and international understanding.
That's why the work of the Institute for Historical Review is so important
and deserves your support.
Notes
- Books and Bookmen,
London, April 1975, p. 5, and in Stars and Stripes (Europe), Jan.
24, 1993, p. 14.
- Ruper Butler, Legions of
Death (England: 1983), pp. 235-237, and R. Faurisson, Journal of
Historical Review, Winter 1986-87, pp. 389-403.
- Nuremberg document PS-3311
(USA-293). IMT blue series, Vol. 32, pp. 153-158; IMT, Vol. 3, pp. 566-
568.; NMT green series, Vol. 5, pp. 1133, 1134.
- Nuremberg document
NG-2586-J. NMT green series, Vol. 13, pp. 243-249.
- Samuel Gringauz in
Jewish Social Studies (New York), January 1950, Vol. 12, p. 65.
- Nuremberg document PS-4025.
D. Irving, G°ring: A Biography (New York: 1989), p. 349.
- H. Picker, Hitlers
Tischgesprche im Fuehrerhaupt quartier (Stuttgart: 1976), p. 456.
- Nuremberg document PS-2171,
Annex 2; NC and A red series, Vol. 4, pp. 833-834.
- Nuremberg document NO-1523;
NMT green series, Vol. 5, pp. 372-373.
- Baseler Nachrichten,
June 13, 1946, p. 2.
- H. Shapiro, "Jakobovits,"
Jerusalem Post (Israel), Nov. 26, 1987, p. 1.
- Quadrant
(Australia), Sept. 1979, p. 27.
- New York Times Magazine,
Sept. 14, 1980, p. 79.
- The Longest War (New
York: Vintage, 1982), p. 15.
- Legends of Our Time
(New York: Schocken Books, 1982), chap. 12, p. 142.
Mark Weber is editor of
The Journal of Historical Review, published by the Institute for
Historical Review. He studied history at the University of Illinois
(Chicago), the University of Munich, Portland State University, and
Indiana University (M.A., 1977). For five days in March 1988, he testified
as a recognized expert witness on the "final solution" and the Holocaust
issue in a Toronto District Court case. He is the author of many published
articles, reviews and essays on various aspects of modern European
history. Weber has been a guest on numerous radio talk shows, and on the
nationally-syndicated "Montel Williams" TV program.
For a current catalog,
with a complete listing of books and audio and video tapes, send one
dollar to:
Institute For Historical Review
Post Office Box 2739
Newport Beach, California 92659
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