Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Chapter 1: Trials, Jews and Nazis
Soviet Union and if, during 1941-1944, the Germans had concentrated Polish
Jews eastwards, with the Soviet Union ultimately absorbing many of these Jews
into its territory, with those who did not wish to remain in the Soviet Union emigrating,
mainly to Palestine and the U.S., but also to some extent to the new Poland
and other lands. This, in fact, is what happened to the Jews who had resided
in Poland before the war.
Whatever may be said about Soviet Jewish policy after, say, 1950, it is clear
that the earlier policies had not been anti-Jewish and had encouraged the absorption
of Jews into the Soviet Union. It is known that many Polish Jews were absorbed
during and immediately after the war, but of course numbers are difficult
to arrive at. Reitlinger considers this problem and settles on a figure of 700,000,
without giving reasons why the correct figure might not be much higher. He then
notes that the evidence that he employs of extermination of Jews in Russia
(documents alleged to be German) indicates about the same number of Soviet
Jews exterminated, from which he correctly infers that, in the period 1939-1946,
the Soviet Jewish population may have actually increased. 26 This important concession,
coming from the author of The Final Solution, shows that our unwillingness
to accept the Communist figures need not be regarded as motivated merely
by the necessities of our thesis. The figures are inarguably untrustworthy. It is
claimed by the Soviets that their Jewish population declined by 38%, despite the
acquisition of territory containing many Jews. Since the USSR is one of the lands
where “Jew” is a legally recognized nationality, the Soviets do indeed possess accurate
figures on the number of Jews they have but have chosen (in Reitlinger’s
opinion, if you choose not to accept this author’s) to claim an utterly mythical
Jewish population loss of 38%.
Likewise with the value to be attached to the remainder of the figures offered.
The most relevant research by a demographer appears to be that of Leszek A.
Kosinski of the University of Alberta (Geographical Review, Vol. 59, 1969, pp.
308-402 and Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 11, 1969, pp. 357-373), who has
studied the changes in the entire ethnic structure of East Central Europe (i.e. excluding
Germany and Russia) over the period 1930-1960. He explains the extreme
difficulties with basic statistics:
“The criteria used in compilation differ from country to country and are
not always precise. In principle, two types are used: objective criteria, such as
language, cultural affiliation, and religious denomination, and subjective criteria,
based on the declaration of the persons themselves. Each type has virtues
and deficiencies. Objective criteria define nationality only indirectly and
are difficult to apply in marginal cases (for example, bilingual persons).
The same criticism applies even more to subjective criteria. External pressure
and opportunism can influence the results, especially where national consciousness
is not fully developed or where an honest answer can bring undesirable
consequences. Official data are not always reliable, then, even when
they are not forged, as has also occurred. However, criticism of the official
26
Reitlinger, 534, 542-544.
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