Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Supplement 3: A Response to a Major Critique of Holocaust Revisionism
On page 184 of his book, Pressac readily interprets the summer 1942 decision
to provide 46 cremation muffles in Birkenau as a phase of an extermination program.
In doing so, however, he ignores the figures of ordinary or recorded deaths
(given here), which contradict his interpretation. The decision to shut down Crematory
I with its six muffles in the Auschwitz main camp (Stammlager) is, therefore,
inexplicable from Pressac’s point of view.
Actually, the entire story was unraveled at its beginning by Heinrich Himmler
who stated on April 21, 1945: 585
“In order to put a stop to the epidemics, we were forced to burn the bodies
of incalculable numbers of people who had been destroyed by disease. We
were therefore forced to build crematoria, and on this account they are knotting
a noose for us.”
Unfortunately, Himmler did not live to say this at the Nuremberg trials. It is
scandalous that it still has to be said today.
With regard to Pressac’s exertions to find a homicidal gas chamber in (Birkenau)
Crematory II, I refer the reader to Faurisson’s critique. In his effort to prove
a thesis, the falsehood of which is (or should be) obvious at the outset, Pressac in
fact plays down or simply ignores the decisive facts. Nevertheless, he claims that
it is we who are “maniacs who spend their lives trying to demonstrate that something
never existed.” 586
The “Vergasungskeller” (gassing cellar)
Earlier, I considered a widely-cited document dated January 29, 1943, in
which Karl Bischoff, head of the Auschwitz construction department, reported to
Hans Kammler, head of the SS engineering office in Berlin, on the operational
status of Crematory II: 587
“The Crematorium II has been completed – save for some minor constructional
work – by the use of all the forces available, in spite of unspeakable difficulties,
the severe cold, and in 24 hour shifts. The fires were started in the
ovens in the presence of Senior Engineer Prüfer, representative of the contractors
of the firm of Topf and Sons, Erfurt, and they are working most satisfactorily.
The formwork for the reinforced concrete ceiling of the mortuary cellar
[Leichenkeller] could not yet be removed on account of the frost. This is, however,
unimportant, as the gassing cellar [Vergasungskeller] can be used for
this purpose […]”
In his book, Pressac wrote that my interpretation of the term Vergasungskeller
“though perfect in its literary form, was technically worthless.” 588 He interprets
the term Vergasungskeller in this 1943 document to mean a homicidal gas cham-
585
586
587
588
See p. 287; see also Moment (Jewish monthly published in Boston), Vol. 11, No. 1, (Dec. 1985),
p. 51.
Pressac, p. 216.
See p. 148; see also Pressac, p. 211. This 1943 communication is Nuremberg document NO-
4473. Original German-language text is given in: E. Kogon, et al., Nationalsozialistische Massentötungen
durch Giftgas (Frankfurt/M.: Fischer, 1986), p. 220.
Pressac, p. 548.
417