Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
lished in the Fifties. 544
The only really important data that we have from an intelligence source are the
Auschwitz aerial reconnaissance photographs that were published by two CIA
photo interpreters in 1979. Many of the photographs examined were taken in the
spring of 1944 when, according to the legend, about 10,000 Hungarian Jews entered
the camp every day to be killed. Because it must be conceded that the crematories
at Auschwitz did not have such a massive capacity, the legend claims
that “corpses were burned day and night” out-of-doors. 545 No evidence of this is to
be found in the photographs, and the photo interpreters remark that even the crematory
chimneys appear inactive. 546
Thus, the Allies also did not take the extermination claims seriously enough to
give them more than occasional lip service.
The Vatican
The Vatican did not believe the extermination claims.
It is agreed 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. 547 Nevertheless, no unequivocal condemnation of exterminations of Jews
ever came from the Vatican even after the Germans had been driven out of Rome
or even after Germany’s defeat. This is despite strong pressures put on the Vatican
by the Allies to issue such a declaration.
There was an equivocal statement in the Pope’s Christmas message of 1942,
but it was issued only after the British had strongly suggested that the issuance of
such a statement might help to dissuade the Allies from bombing Rome. However,
the Pope made it clear to the Allies, even as his declaration was issued, that
he did not believe the stories: “he felt that there had been some exaggeration for
the purposes of propaganda.” 548 That Vatican spokesmen of today support the legend
in their public statements is irrelevant to the historical point.
The International Red Cross (IRC)
The actions and reports of the International Red Cross do not harmonize
with the extermination claims.
As with the Vatican, the statements of IRC spokesmen of today do support the
legend, but that is irrelevant to the historical point. Also, general editorial remarks
in books of documents published by the IRC right after the war do harmonize
with the legend. However, all the historians should be interested in are the actual
content of the reports and activities of the IRC during the war.
That the actions and reports of the IRC do not harmonize with the legend was
544
545
546
547
548
400
Beaty, pp. 134-135.
See p. 186; M. Gilbert, p. 231f.
Brugioni and Poirier.
Laqueur, pp. 55-58.
See p. 400 (Appendix E); see also M. Gilbert, pp. 104f.