Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
at this time and that the Committee naturally thought it convenient that he testify
at the Frankfurt hearings, does not explain anything. During the course of all of its
hearings, the only other member of the prosecution that the Committee heard was
Justice Jackson, but his appearance in November in Washington was somewhat
ceremonial and added nothing to the record.
According to the record of the public hearing held in Frankfurt, Kempner explained
that the Katyn massacre was, according to the understandings among the
prosecution staffs, “a clear-cut Russian affair and was handled right from the beginning
by the Russians. […] We had no right to interfere in any way.” Nevertheless,
after the witnesses had been heard, the general view, according to Kempner,
was that Göring had scored a victory on this point. Thus, the failure to mention
Katyn in the judgment called into question the integrity of the Nuremberg trials,
and a realization of this was implicit in the questions asked by the committee
members. Kempner was asked about possible participation by the U.S. prosecution
staff in the behind-the-scenes activity in regard to Katyn, and denied that
such had taken place. In response to questioning, he also denied that there had
been any “conspiracy or attempt to collude between anybody on the American
side and anybody on the Russian side.” 299
The New York Times reported that the tone of the Frankfurt hearing was such
that “the principles governing the trial procedure in Nuremberg were being questioned.
United States officials at the hearing privately expressed concern over the
situation.” 300 The Chicago Tribune reported that, at a secret session the night before
the public hearing in Frankfurt, Kempner had admitted that the U.S. prosecution
staff at the IMT had possessed evidence showing that the Russians had committed
the Katyn murders.
The Select Committee on the Katyn Forest massacre concluded that the U.S.
government had suppressed the truth about Katyn both during and immediately
after the war. In particular, a report by Lt. Col. John H. Van Vliet, Jr., one of the
American POW’s who had witnessed the mass graves, “later disappeared from either
Army or State Department files.” It was also found that the Federal Communications
Commission had intimidated radio stations in order to suppress criticism
of the Russians. 301
In the years immediately following 1952, there was little for Kempner to do in
relation to Nazis, but with the Eichmann affair he was back in action and served
as a “consultant” to the Israeli government in assembling evidence for the trial.
From that point on, he was very active. He contributed an article to the Yad
Vashem Studies on methods of examining Nazis in trials, and he published a book
in German, rehashing old propaganda myths. In 1971, he expressed approval of
the conviction of Lt. Calley, and in December 1972, he endorsed the “evidence”
that Ladislas Farago had gathered in connection with Farago’s Martin Bormannis-in-Argentina
fiasco of that month. Evidently yearning for the old days, Kempner
declared that the “United States and its Allies should reopen the Bormann case
299
300
301
208
Select Committee, 1536-1548.
New York Times (Apr. 25, 1952),5; Chicago Tribune (Apr. 24, 1952), pt. 4, 1.
New York Times (Nov. 15, 1952), 2; (Dec. 23, 1952), 1.