Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
well informed sources, delivered to the Pope on 15 July 1943, which described
Auschwitz as essentially a work camp and spoke of Jews who had been deported
from France sending letters back to their families. 474
These impressions were so strong that I believed it necessary to contact Graham
directly. In early 1977, I wrote to him in Rome, thus starting a very satisfactory
and years long correspondence, although the request for copies of documents
that I made to him at the time could not be filled, for reasons beyond his control.
475
In summer 1977, I was in Rome and visited him. Our conversation confirmed
to me what I had read between the lines in Actes et documents: the editor was
puzzled by the evidence he had examined, because much of it seemed impossible
to reconcile with the “extermination” legend. He showed me a pamphlet I had not
seen, published in 1943 by the “Polish Labor Group,” which was New York based
but in touch with the Polish underground. Its title was appropriate: Oswiecim –
Camp of Death (“Owicim” is Polish for “Auschwitz”). The pamphlet presented
the truth with some embellishment, but what was important to Graham was that it
did not speak of “exterminations” in any way reconcilable with the legend. He let
me borrow the pamphlet to photocopy.
Vol. 10 of Actes et documents was long delayed, and I wrote to Graham several
times in my eagerness to see it. Publication finally came in 1980, and Graham
was thoughtful enough to alert me personally. I got a copy and found references to
more interesting but unpublished documents. Again I wrote to Graham and happily,
this time, my request was filled. 476
At the IHR Convention in 1982, I compared the Holocaust legend to the Donation
of Constantine and sent Graham a copy of the paper (see Supplement 2, p.
379). In the paper, I had noted that the Jewish historian Walter Laqueur understood
as I did “that the far-flung nature of the operations of the Catholic Church
guaranteed that the Vatican would have known what was happening to the
Jews”. 477 Graham acknowledged receipt of the copy of my paper with a very kind,
respectful and encouraging letter, referring to and not disputing the remark about
the Vatican:
474
475
476
477
362
Actes et documents, vol. 9, pp. 42, 393. The footnote on p. 42 should refer to “Nr. 264”, not 164.
More examples are given toward the end of “Appendix E” of my book.
I wanted copies of the documents about deportations of Jews from France that Actes et documents
had quoted but not reproduced. Graham told me to send my “request through channels”,
i.e. to Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, Secretary of the Council for the Public Affairs of the
Church. I did so, but Casaroli replied that since the reports in question “were provided by Jewish
authorities in France” then I should address myself to them. I wrote to the Centre de documentation
juive contemporaine in Paris, but received no answer. I also visited the Centre in July 1977,
but I could not find the documents.
The most interesting document was a letter from Alexandru Safran, Grand Rabbi of Romania, to
Msgr. Andrea Cassulo, Papal Nuncio in Bucharest, dated 30 June 1944. It expressed concern that
the Jews of Hungary were “exposed to great privations and sufferings”, at a time when the legend
would have us believe they were mostly dead. The Jews of Hungary and Romania remained in
close contact throughout this period.
The paper appears as a Supplement in recent printings of The Hoax of the Twentieth Century.
“IHR” means “Institute for Historical Review”, my publisher at the time.