Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
involved in the Nazi euthanasia program. The present claim is that the gas chambers
in Poland, exclusive of those allegedly used at Auschwitz, “evolved” from
the euthanasia program which, it is claimed, employed gas chambers. Despite
Brack’s testimony, it is difficult to believe that euthanasia was practiced in German
hospitals by a method of gassing 20 or 30 persons at a time with carbon
monoxide. 308 Auschwitz, of course, must be excluded from this “evolution” from
the euthanasia program on account, among other reasons, of the Höss testimony.
Reitlinger and Hilberg do not seem worried over the confusion thus created in the
structure of the legend.
The euthanasia program came into existence via a Hitler decree of September
1, 1939, authorizing the mercy killing of mortally ill patients. Later the severely
insane were included. The program encountered deep hostility in the German
population, especially because rumors of unknown origin immediately started circulating;
the rumors claimed, inter alia, mass gassings of the sick and elderly. On
November 6, 1940, Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich wrote to the Ministry of Justice,
setting forth the Catholic Church’s objections, and pointing out 309
“[…] that a great disturbance has arisen in our people today because the
mass dying of mentally ill persons is discussed everywhere and unfortunately
the most absurd rumors are emerging about the number of deaths, the manner
of death, etc.”
It did not take long for the euthanasia program to appear in propaganda, and in
December 1941 the BBC broadcast an address by author Thomas Mann, in which
Mann urged the German people to break with the Nazis. In listing the Nazi
crimes, Mann said: 310
“In German hospitals the severely wounded, the old and feeble are killed
with poison gas – in one single institution, two to three thousand, a German
doctor said.”
This seems to be the first appearance of gas chambers in the propaganda but,
as far as we can see, this claim was not related to the extermination propaganda
which started half a year later, and in the course of which no reference, apparently,
was made to the euthanasia program. The relating of the euthanasia program
to exterminations came much later.
At the IMT, the prosecution did not attempt to relate euthanasia to exterminations.
It remained for a defense witness to do this. In the closing days of the IMT,
Konrad Morgen appeared as a defense witness for the SS. We have seen that it
was Morgen who had exposed the ring of murder and corruption centered around
commandant Koch of Buchenwald. Morgen was thus considered a “good” SS
man, in contrast to the bloodthirsty scoundrels who had been his colleagues and
comrades (he continues to be considered a good guy, although not as good as Gerstein,
who has by now achieved beatification in the “holocaust” litany). As a defense
witness for the SS under seemingly hopeless circumstances, Morgen presented
a story that had an inevitable logic to it and, indeed, the logic of Morgen’s
308
309
310
216
NMT, vol. 1, 876.
NO-824 (Hitler order), NO-846 (Faulhaber letter), NO-844 (report on rumors).
New York Times (Dec. 7, 1941), 45.