Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Supplement 3: A Response to a Major Critique of Holocaust Revisionism
route this last section of the report fell into the hands of the Jewish leadership in
Geneva.” 620 In his 1981 book Auschwitz and the Allies, Martin Gilbert mentions
that the report of the “Polish major” was appended in June 1944 to the reports of
the Jews by Richard Lichtheim of the Geneva office of the Jewish Agency. 621
Oddly, in a television documentary based on Gilbert’s book that was made a few
years after its publication, we see the Polish major’s face but do not learn his
name. In a 1985 article mainly about Rosenberg and Wetzler, Kulka mentioned
Tabeau only as an escapee from the gypsy (sic) camp at Auschwitz 622 and then, in
a 1986 article very similar to the 1985 one, Kulka identified the Polish major as
Wesolowski-Tabeau. 623
The WRB report contains a major contradiction of Pressac’s version of the extermination
thesis. Not surprisingly, Pressac ignores this contradiction. According
to the Report, there were no gassings at the Stammlager (main camp, identified as
“Auschwitz,” as distinct from “Birkenau”). This is not stated explicitly in the
WRB report, but it is clearly implicit. 624 Gassings are portrayed as taking place
only at Birkenau or in the birchwood (“Brezinsky”) or the “bunkers” near Birkenau.
Wetzler’s part of the WRB report says he was sent to Birkenau immediately on
arrival on April 13, 1944. 625 However, Vrba and the part of the WRB report attributed
to him say he was quartered at the Stammlager from arrival on June 30,
1942, even while working at the Buna plant (Monowitz or Auschwitz III), until he
was transferred to Birkenau in December 1942. 626 In his postwar book, Vrba presents
himself as being deeply involved in resistance activity and says that
Wetzler’s “knowledge of the camp was deep and wide,” on account of his great
popularity. 627 Although I would be the last to believe Vrba, the point here is that
the authors of the Report had extensive and detailed information about the camp.
There is much in the Report that confirms this, such as the mention of the quarantine
order of July 23, 1942, 628 the general layout of the camp, and a rough correspondence
of the listed transports and registration numbers with the presumed
correct ones. 629 As I wrote on p. 121 (Chapter 3):
“One must assume that much of the material in the report is true. […]
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J. S. Conway, “Frühe Augenzeugenberichte aus Auschwitz. Glaubwürdigkeit und Wirkungsgeschichte,”
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, vol. 27, No. 2 (April 1979), p. 269.
M. Gilbert, p. 234.
E. Kulka, “Attempts by Jewish escapees to stop mass extermination,” Jewish Social Studies, Vol.
47, Fall 1985, p. 296.
E. Kulka, “Kampf der jüdischen Häftlinge gegen die Endlösung in Auschwitz,” Zeitgeschichte,
vol. 13, 1986, pp. 381-396 (note 53).
US-WRB, esp. pp. 8ff, 12, 14, 29-32, 40, and pp. 11ff, 17ff from the story of the “Polish major,”
who does speak of “mass executions” at the Stammlager, but only by shooting. He also states explicitly
that Crematory I was not employed to dispose of the bodies of gassed Jews.
US-WRB report, pp. 1, 6.
US-WRB report, pp. 29, 32; R. Vrba and A. Bestic (1964), pp. 77, 106ff, 113, 167fff.
R. Vrba and A. Bestic (1964), p. 218.
US-WRB report, p. 30.
Compare with: D. Czech, “Kalendarium der Ereignisse im Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-
Birkenau,” Hefte von Auschwitz, No. 3 (1960), No. 4 (1961), and No. 7 (1964).
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