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Sobibor - Holocaust Propaganda And Reality - Unity of Nobility ...

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J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 171<br />

6. The Sobibór Trials<br />

6.1. Legal Proceedings as the Basis for Historiography<br />

Once the victorious Western Allies had created a puppet state called<br />

“Federal Republic <strong>of</strong> Germany,” its leaders ordered the judiciary to fabricate<br />

the evidence for the mirage <strong>of</strong> the murder <strong>of</strong> millions <strong>of</strong> people<br />

in gas chambers, for which not a single shred <strong>of</strong> evidence survived – if<br />

it ever existed. To prove our point, all we have to do is quote Martin<br />

Broszat, long-time head <strong>of</strong> the Munich Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute<br />

<strong>of</strong> Contemporary History), who said in his introduction to Adalbert<br />

Rückerl’s documentation about the “NS extermination camps:” 490<br />

“Without intending to anticipate a historical investigation and<br />

valuation <strong>of</strong> the part played by the German judiciary in the prosecution<br />

<strong>of</strong> NS crimes, we may retain as <strong>of</strong> today one aspect, particularly<br />

in respect <strong>of</strong> the activity <strong>of</strong> the central agency [at Ludwigsburg]:<br />

One must not judge the significance <strong>of</strong> the large-scale investigations<br />

carried out by the prosecuting and the judicial authorities since the<br />

end <strong>of</strong> the nineteen fifties merely by the – frequently minor – conviction<br />

rates. […] Even though the fact <strong>of</strong> the ‘final solution <strong>of</strong> the Jewish<br />

question’ can be found in nearly all history and other schoolbooks<br />

about the NS era, the specific circumstances <strong>of</strong> those horrifying<br />

events have so far been documented hardly at all in a systematic<br />

manner. The methodical obfuscation by the agencies involved and<br />

the thorough elimination <strong>of</strong> all traces at the end <strong>of</strong> the campaigns<br />

have prevented a precise reconstruction <strong>of</strong> the events over long periods<br />

or rendered them very difficult. This applies in particular to<br />

the large and carefully hidden extermination camps set up in the occupied<br />

Polish territories. In spite <strong>of</strong> unfavorable starting conditions,<br />

the long and painstaking investigations <strong>of</strong> the judiciary have brought<br />

about a general clarification <strong>of</strong> the facts and the circumstances.”<br />

Succinctly said: Although nearly all history and other schoolbooks<br />

mentioned the final solution <strong>of</strong> the Jewish question, the latter had been<br />

490<br />

A. Rückerl (ed.), op. cit. (note 36), p. 7 ff.

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