Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
was prepared to act as a witness in any court. He handed them a seven-page
document, typed in French, together with a note in English and some Zyklon invoices,
and then vanished. 188 In the other, he somehow found himself in Cherche-
Midi military prison in Paris, composed a document in his own hand in French,
added the Zyklon invoices, and then hanged himself in July 1945. 189 In either case
neither he nor his body has ever been found. He vanished, allegedly leaving a
“statement” and some Zyklon invoices that became document 1553-PS. The former
version of the Gerstein story is the one claimed in the descriptive material accompanying
the document.
Even if we were not presented with such an obviously fishy story concerning
Gerstein, we would doubt the authenticity of the “statement” merely on the
grounds of its contents, for it is ridiculous in the story it presents, e.g. that Gerstein
took his position in the SS in order to attempt to sabotage the exterminations
(“a man who had penetrated hell with the sole intention of bearing witness before
the world and aiding the victims” 190 ). The text of the “statement,” including the
part published by the NMT, is included here as Appendix A; the “statement”
plays no great role in the analysis, but the reader should examine it sometime. It is
absolutely insane. It is no marvel that people who can take this story seriously
have remarked on the “ambiguity of good” and feel “a certain malaise, an inability
to arrive at a full explanation of Gerstein as a person.” 191 The Deputy opens with
“Gerstein“ forcing his way into the reception room of the Papal Legation on the
Rauchstrasse in Berlin, breathlessly relating the story of his “statement” to the Papal
Nuncio!
It is thoroughly unforgivable that Hilberg and Reitlinger use such an obviously
spurious “statement” as a source, and without apology. Reitlinger, however,
points out that Hitler never visited Lublin, as the “statement” asserts. 192
DEGESCH was not the only firm involved in the “extermination” business.
The firm of Tesch and Stabenow supplied customers with Zyklon and also with
equipment for “extermination chambers” that were of typical volume ten cubic
meters and smaller. On page 65, we saw that there apparently existed such “gas
chambers” at Dachau which were, of course, represented as murder chambers in
the early phases of the propaganda, although today no attempt is made to claim
they are anything other than “disinfestation chambers.” Tesch and Weinbacher,
officers of the firm of Tesch and Stabenow, who had sold some “extermination
chamber” equipment to the camp at Gross-Rosen, were hanged for their role in
the extermination business, their plea that they did not know that their merchandise
was to be used for purposes other than disinfestation and their alternate plea
that an order of the SS could not be refused having been rejected by the British
military court. 193
188
189
190
191
192
193
138
Reitlinger, 161; 1553-PS.
Friedlaender, vii-xii.
Friedlaender, xi.
Friedlaender, x.
Reitlinger, 162f. See also Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (Apr. 1953), 189n, which is cited in
an article in Nation Europa (May 1963), 50+ (q.v.).
Hilberg, 567; Reitlinger, 155-156; documents NO-4344 and NO-4345 in NMT, vol. 5, 362-364.