Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
of these documents. The general position taken in his testimony was a reasonable
one in view of his objective of gaining acquittal or a light sentence. He had to report
everything that went on in Hungary, and thus, Jewish measures were in his
reports. However, these measures did not have the importance in his mind at that
time that they have in our minds at this time. He testified that he often got twenty
assignments a day and in the course of a month would receive mutually contradictory
assignments. His reports, he said, were naturally prepared by assistants, hastily
scanned by him, and then signed. Shown documents, which have him reporting
that two transports, each of 2,000 Jews fit for work, were sent to Auschwitz in
April 1944, and asked if this were correct, he remarked that he had no specific
memory but that it was “quite possible,” but that he never knew what Auschwitz
was. Shown NG-5567, which had him reporting that up to June 17, 326,009 Jews
had been deported from Hungary, he also remarked “quite possible.” In other
words, he did not want to involve himself, in any way, in these matters by taking
any strong position, either assenting or dissenting, with respect to the alleged
facts. If he had said that he clearly recollected, in detail, mass deportations of
Jews in the numbers alleged in the spring and summer of 1944, then such testimony
would have implicated him in the alleged exterminations. On the other
hand, if he had denied that such mass deportations had taken place, then he would,
in effect, have been claiming close involvement in whatever had happened and he
would have also, by such testimony, flung down a challenge to the prosecution
and court which they couldn’t possibly have ignored. Thus the logic of his testimony.
He said that he was concerned with moving the Jews out of Budapest because
of the danger of revolt as the Russians approached. Pressed on this matter,
he explained that:
“In practice the question was, will the front hold or won’t it If Budapest
revolts, the whole front will be rolled up. […] If I participated in such conversations,
which I won’t deny is possible, then I participated exclusively from a
military point of view. What can I do to hold up the Eastern front as long as
possible Only from that point of view.”
Veesenmayer was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, but he was out by
early 1952. 305
This seems to be as good a place as any to point out a fact that seems to be effectively
forgotten by many writers on this subject. There was a war going on during
World War II. The Germans were thinking about ways of winning it, not
about exterminating Jews. The claim of NG-2233 that the extermination program
had rail priority over military production is absolutely ridiculous.
What Happened in Hungary
On the subject of what actually happened in Hungary, note that the Red Cross
Report says that the basic German policy in 1944 was to intern East European
305
210
NMT, vol. 13, 487-508; Reitlinger, 566.