Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
some of the victims were Jews.
Reitlinger considers the high death rate at Auschwitz and offers an estimate of
160 to 179 deaths per day as a normal rate. However, the data he employs is essentially
that which applies to the summer of 1942, which was a particularly
catastrophic period. In the connection with these high death rates we should observe
the fact that the extermination mythologists Reitlinger and Hilberg make
much over such happenings at Auschwitz, although they recognize the distinction
between high death rates and exterminations. It is therefore remarkable, indeed
almost incredible, that they do not consider the possibility that the crematories existed
on account of these high death rates. On the contrary, they both treat the
crematories as having been provided primarily to serve in the extermination program.
In establishments that were supposed to be providing desperately needed labor
these high death rates were naturally intolerable, so in late 1942 a special campaign
got under way to reduce the concentration camp death rate and on December
28, 1942, Himmler ordered that the rate “be reduced at all costs.” 260 On January
20, 1943, Glücks, in a circular letter to all concentration camp commanders,
ordered that “every means must be used to lower the death rate.” On March 15,
1943, Pohl wrote Himmler that: 261
“[…] the state of health […] of the prisoners sent in by the administration
of Justice is catastrophic. In all camps a loss of between at least 25-30 per
cent is to be reckoned with […] till now there were 10,191 prisoners […] of
which 7,587 were assigned to […] Mauthausen-Gusen. From these the deaths
totaled 3,853; 3,306 of them died in Mauthausen-Gusen. The reason […] must
presumably be that the many prisoners […] who have been in prisons for
years are suffering from physical debility owing to the transfer to a different
milieu […] a great number of tuberculosis patients were also delivered.”
On April 10, 1943, Pohl requested Himmler’s approval of the draft of a letter
to the Reich Minister of Justice. The letter, approved and presumably sent, points
out that of 12,658 prisoners transferred to concentration camps, 5,935 had died by
April 1. Pohl complained in the letter that these:
“[…] shockingly high mortality figures are due to the fact that the prisons
transferring them have literally released inmates who were in the worst possible
physical condition [and] that in spite of all medical efforts the […] death of
the prisoners cannot be retarded. […] I do not wish to support a quarantine
station in the concentration camps. […]”
What seems involved here is inter-departmental rivalry or, at least, conflict of
interest. The prisons of Germany no doubt had their own economic-productive
aspects and were not only reluctant to part with their more healthy prisoners but
also eager to part with the more sickly ones.
We do not know whether or not Pohl managed to get more cooperation from
the prison system. However, on September 30, 1943, he was able to report progress,
due mainly to hygienic, nutritional, and procedural measures; he presented
260
261
160
Reitlinger, 127; 2172-PS.
NO-1523 and NO-1285 in NMT, vol. 5, 372-376.