Return to Educate This file contains answers to some common claims of those who deny the Holocaust, Holocaust Denial and The Big Lie. Comments can be sent to Daniel Keren, [email protected]. Some of the images (GIF files) in the images directory are referred to by their names. 1.00 Introduction & E…
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A Survivor’s TestimonyA Survivor’s PrayerIn August of 1942Jacque LipetzWalter FrankHelen LazarLucille EichengreenJudith JagermannFilip MullerEducateHolocaust Study GuideHolocaust Books A-ZAnne Frank Biography | 1998 Holocaust BookHelp Finding People Lost in the Holocaust Search and UniteHolocaust history and stories from Holocaust Photos, Survivors, Liberators, Books and ArtAboutRemember.org OriginsContactHome Education and the Holocaust Holocaust Denial and The Big LieEducation and the HolocaustHolocaust BooksHolocaust Denial and The Big LieBy Remember.org Editor -FacebookTwitterPinterestReddIt Return to EducateThis file contains answers to some common claims of those who deny the Holocaust, Holocaust Denial and The Big Lie. Comments can be sent to Daniel Keren, [email protected]. Some of the images (GIF files) in the images directory are referred to by their names.1.00 Introduction & Editorial Notes……………………. 1.10 Copyright Notice………………………………. 1.20 Overview……………………………………… 2.00 Point, Counterpoint – Denial Claims Addressed………. 2.01 Disparities in Hydrocyanic compound levels……….. 2.02 Explosive property of Zyklon B & furnace proximity… 2.03 Gas chambers could not have been opened safely……. 2.04 The extermination chambers were actually morgues….. 2.05 Impossible to kill 6 million people at Auschwitz….. 2.06 Doors of gas chambers too weak to prevent escape….. 2.07 They would not have used Zyklon-B for gassing…….. 2.08 The gas chambers were never sealed, or…………… 2.09 The gas would have killed everyone outside when ventilated 2.10 Where did all the ashes from the cremations go……. 2.11 People who dropped the gas into the gas chamber would have been killed by it …………………………. 2.12 The Auschwitz death list doesn’t show all those people were killed 2.13 Why would there be a swimming pool at a death camp… 2.14 The high water table made it impossible to burn bodies in ditches 2.15 How did witnesses to the gassings survive………… 2.16 Toxicity of fumes from a diesel engine…………… 2.17 The doors of the gas chambers which used engine exhaust would not stand the pressure of the gas accumulating inside and would burst…………….. 2.18 There were not enough Jews in Europe to account for six million victims 2.19 There are no documents about gas chambers or mass murder of Jews and others, and no evidence there was a plan to carry out mass extermination. 2.20 The Anne Frank diary is a hoax………………… 3.00 Leuchter’s perjury in Canadian court………………. 4.00 Research Sources & Other Useful Appendices…………. 4.10 Recommended Reading……………………………. 4.20 Glossary……………………………………… 4.30 Works Cited……………………………………1.00 Introduction & Editorial Notes This document provides a counterpoint to assertions commonly made by those who deny that anyone was gassed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau and other death camps during World War II; who, in fact, deny that the gas chambers even existed.The most prestigious source in Germany regarding the crimes of the Nazis during WW2, the “Institute for Contemporary History” in Munich, sums up the facts in a recent publication, mentioning 13 camps in which gassing took place; here are the entries on Auschwitz and Treblinka.Treblinka (district Warschau, general government) from the end of July 1942 on had three gas chambers and received at the start ofSeptember 1942 furthermore ten larger gas chambers. Up to the dissolution of the camp in November 1943 altogether 700,000 Jews were killed here by carbon monoxide.Auschwitz-Birkenau (in the formerly Polish, in 1939 adjoined to the “Reich” upper eastern Silesian area, south eastern of Kattowitz): The extermination camp in Birkenau, established in the second half of 1941, was joined to the concentration camp Auschwitz, existing since May 1940. From January 1942 on in five gas chambers and from the end of June 1943 in four additional large gassing-rooms gassings with Zyklon B have been undertaken. Up until November 1944 more than one million Jews and at least 4000 gypsies have been murdered by gas.(Note that these numbers include only people gassed – many were murdered using more “conventional” means. See picture EG1.gif, EG2.gif, EG3.gif, EG4.gif and file of Nazi documents about mass shootings).This is by no means a replacement for serious research – just an expose of common frauds like the “Leuchter report”, and a guide to scholarly sources.This document was prepared by Daniel Keren and Jamie McCarthy, and edited to its present form by Ken McVay. Comments, corrections, and additions are welcome.The appearance of a quotation mark within a proper name indicates that the previous letter should be read as an umlaut, although some quoted material appends a trailing `e’ instead. (I.e. Hoess and Ho”ss reference the same name.)1.10 Copyright This post, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1993 Ken McVay and Daniel Keren as a work of literature. Distribution by any electronic means is granted with the understanding that the article not be altered in any way. Permission to distribute in printed form must be obtained in writing. The removal of this copyright notice is forbidden.1.20 Overview Fred Leuchter is a man with no formal training in either chemistry or toxicology (he obtained a BA in history in 1964), and yet he claims to be a professional engineer – an assertion that has landed him in hot water in his home state. In 1988, at the request of Canada’s Ernst Zundel, Mr. Leuchter went to Poland and visited the site of the Auschwitz extermination camp; (Mr. Zundel financed Leuchter’s trip to Poland.) The result of this journey was the “Leuchter Report.” Here’s what Mr. Leuchter had to say about his “investigation:The purpose [of the investigation and subsequent report] does not include a determination of any numbers of persons who died or were killed by means other than gassing or as to whether an actual Holocaust occurred. It, further, is not the intent of this author to redefine Holocaust in historical terms, but simply to supply scientific evidence and information obtained at the actual sites and to render an opinion based on all available scientific, engineering and quantitative data as to the purpose and usages of the alleged execution gas chambers and crematory facilities at the investigated locations. (Foner)You will note, as we will demonstrate using Leuchter’s own sworn testimony, that Mr. Leuchter failed to demonstrate any concern for the truth, even while under oath.While testifying at Mr. Zundel’s trial in Canada, Leuchter gave false evidence concerning his professional relationship with the administration of two American prisons regarding gas chambers, and proved himself to be unfamiliar with the most basic facts about the lethal gas Hydrogen Cyanide, including its flammability and the concentrations and duration required for delousing purposes.The “Leuchter Report” purports to “scientifically demonstrate” that people were not killed by Zyklon-B at Auschwitz. It is composed of old claims made by the French Holocaust denier Faurisson, as well as some new ones. Many of the claims appear in the Institute for Historical Review’s “66 Q&A on the Holocaust” pamphlet, and also in arguments offered by others who deny the Holocaust.Zyklon-B Zyklon-B is a powerful insecticide. It releases HCN, Hydrocyanic acid, a gas – Zyklon-B is the carrier, a material soaked with the gas; usually it comes in the shape of small pellets or disks. HCN is what causes death. While interacting with iron and concrete, it creates compounds (“Hydrocyanic compounds”). Leuchter concedes that these compounds were found in the ruins of the gas chambers in Auschwitz (as reaffirmed by the findings of the Polish government institute, which completely rejects Leuchter’s conclusions – see Section 2.01).HCN is extremely poisonous to humans. It is used in execution gas chambers in the US; the first such was built in Arizona in 1920. It is absurd to claim (as the deniers do), that Germany in the 1940’s could not handle “technical difficulties” in using HCN for execution – “difficulties” that were easily solved in 1920. Moreover, the Germans had a lot of experience with HCN, as it was extensively used for delousing.There were two types of gas chambers in Auschwitz: those used for delousing clothes (“delousing gas chambers”) and those used for killing people on a massive scale (“extermination gas chambers”). The delousing gas chambers were a standard feature, and were left intact by the SS (as opposed to the extermination gas chambers, which were dynamited in an effort to conceal criminal activity from the rapidly approaching Soviet Army). The deniers try to confuse the issue by mixing the two types of chambers. For instance, they show pictures of the doors for the delousing chambers, and note that they are too weak to withstand the pressure of people trying to escape. Of course, the doors for the extermination chambers were completely different, but that fact is quietly overlooked (see 2.06).2.00 Point, Counterpoint Holocaust denial often involves the same assertions, repeated endlessly, regardless of response. We present many of them for consideration here, along with our response.The photographs we refer to can be found in Pressac, and many are available from our archives in GIF format.2.01 Disparities in Hydrocyanic Compound Levels Holocaust deniers often claim that since more hydrocyanic compounds were found in the delousing chambers than in the ruins of the so-called “extermination” chambers at Auschwitz, and the reverse would be true if people were actually gassed there, it is clear that no mass gassings occurred.But – HCN is far more effective on warm-blooded animals (including humans) than on insects, so the period of exposure to HCN is far longer for delousing clothes than that required for homicidal gassings, and a much lower concentration is necessary to kill people as compared to lice.A concentration of up to 16,000 ppm (parts per million) is sometimes used, with exposure times of up to 72 hours, to kill insects, but as little as 300 ppm will cause death in humans within fifteen minutes or so.Breitman offers background information about the development of Zyklon B as a killing device, and provides clear evidence that the Nazis determined the effective Zyklon B concentration through a process of trial and error.When the difference in the concentration of gas required to kill insects and humans was mentioned in Leuchter’s cross-examination in the Zundel trial, Leuchter responded: “I’ve never killed beetles. I, you know, I don’t know. I haven’t made computations for killing beetles” – Hardly the response one would expect from an “expert” on the subject…Because of the relatively small concentrations required to exterminate humans as opposed to lice, and because of the far shorter exposure time required, the HCN in the gas chambers used to kill humans hardly had time to form chemical compounds on the walls.The gas chambers were not very large (those in Kremas II and III were about 210 square meters), and the Zyklon B was dropped through four openings in the roof, spreading the gas very quickly. These openings are still visible in the ruins of the gas chambers, and rare photographs of them, taken while the camp was in operation, exist, and copies are readily available (Brugioni et al) from the sources noted in Section 6.1, below. Since the concentration used was higher than the lethal one, death was swift. (See picture Krema4.gif Krema IV was above-ground, and the Zyklon B was introduced through clearly visible slits in the walls. See also picture Krema401.gif, which provides a close-up of the wall openings.)Leuchter’s data is further suspect because the delousing chambers where he obtained his samples were left intact by the SS, while the extermination chambers were destroyed. Clearly, their walls were exposed to the elements for forty-five years, which would certainly influence the validity of the samples taken. (The ruins of Krema II are covered with about three feet of water during certain periods of the year, and HCN compounds would eventually dissolve under such conditions. Nonetheless, so many gassings occurred there that someof the compound did remain).Summarizing, the walls of the extermination gas chambers were in contact with HCN for a much shorter time then those of the delousing chambers, and for the last 45 years were exposed to surroundings which dissolve the compounds, while the delousing rooms were not. Therefore it is obvious that less traces of compounds would remain in them. This debunks the major “amazing discovery” in Leuchter’s report, which, in retrospect, wasn’t “amazing” at all.This fact – that all, or most, of the compounds would vanish during 45 years of exposure – is quite clearly stated in the report written by the experts at the Cracow Institute of Forensic Research:INSTITUTE OF FORENSIC RESEARCH In the name of Prof. Dr. Jan Sehn, Krakow Division of Forensic Toxicology Krakow, 24 Sept. 1990 Westerplatte 9 / Code 31-033 Tel. 505-44, 592-24, 287-50 Telex 0325213 eksad …The hydrocyanic acid (HCN) that is released from the Zyklon B preparation is a liquid with a boiling point of about 27 degrees Celsius. It has an acidic character, and therefore forms compounds with metallic salts, which are known as cyanides. The salts of alkaline metals (such as sodium and potassium) are water soluble.Hydrocyanic acid is a very weak acid, and accordingly its salts dissolve easily in stronger acids. Even carbonic acid, which is formed as a reaction of carbon dioxide with water, will dissolve ferro-cyanide.Stronger acids, such as sulfuric acids, easily dissolve the cyanides. The compounds of cyanide ions with heavy metals are longer lasting. This includes the already mentioned Prussian blue, although this will also slowly dissolve in an acidic environment.Therefore, one can hardly assume that traces of cyanic compounds could still be detected in construction materials (plaster, brick) after 45 years, after being subjected to the weather and the elements (rain, acid oxides, especially sulfuric and nitrogen oxides). More reliable would be the analysis of wall plaster [samples] from closed rooms which were not subject to weather and the elements (including acid rain).The discovery of hydrocyanic acid compounds in samples of material which had been subject to the elements can only be accidental.The deniers often claim that the gas chamber in Krema I was left intact, and therefore its walls were not exposed to the elements. Curiously, they also make great issue of the fact that Krema I was converted into an air-raid shelter, and then rebuilt by the Soviet Army, after the liberation of the camp, to reproduce its original shape, saying that it has been used to mislead the public, who were told that people were gassed in the building. (The logic of their holding both views when it seems advantageous to do so will perhaps escape you, but then logic has not been a demonstrated asset when it comes to Holocaust denial. See Section 3.0.)The modification consisted of essentially removing some partitioning walls inside the gas chamber, which were added as a common feature of bomb shelters. Nonetheless, this is the room in which people were gassed; there are still traces of cyanide on its walls, as Leuchter admits (he found traces in 6 of 7 samples).But – the gas chamber of Krema I was used only for a short time, before the conversion. This, and the fact that “only” about ten thousand people were murdered inside it, compared to three-hundred-fifty-thousand and four-hundred-thousand in Kremas II and III, explains why relatively small amounts of cyanide compounds remain. The other Kremas were destroyed by the SS prior to the Soviet liberation.Finally, cyanide compounds were found on the ventilation grills of the extermination chambers, proving beyond doubt that gassing did take place within.2.02 The Explosive Property of Zyklon B & Furnace Proximity Holocaust denial often asserts that Zyklon B could not have been used for killing in the gas chambers, because it is explosive, and the furnaces were nearby.They overlook, however the fact that the concentration of HCN necessary to cause death is nearly 200 times lower than that necessary to cause an explosion. Although the SS used a concentration higher than the lethal one, it was far less than what would be required to cause an explosion.As a reference, one can look at “The Merck Index” and the “CRC handbook of Chemistry and Physics”, or consult any manual dealing with toxicity and flammability of chemicals. For HCN, a concentration of 300 ppm (parts per million) kills humans within afew minutes (Merck, 632, entry 4688), while the minimal concentration that can result in an explosion is 56,000 ppm.2.03 Gas Chambers Could Not Have Been Opened Safely in 20-30 Minutes The claim is often heard that it takes 20 hours to air a room which was disinfected with Zyklon-B, and therefore the eyewitness accounts giving a time of 20-30 minutes from when the gassing started to when the bodies where carried out is impossible, because the people carrying out the bodies would perish.It is true that if one disinfects a building in ordinary commercial use, it should not be reentered within 20 hours. That figure, however, has no meaning relative to the extermination chambers, which were forcibly ventilated. Fifteen minutes was ample time to replace the air after a gassing. When ventilation was not used, the Sonderkommando (prisoners used as forced labor) who removed the bodies wore gas masks. 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