Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
“We confirm receipt of your telegram specifying ‘Immediately send 10 gas
detectors as agreed, price quote to follow.’
We hereby inform you that two weeks ago we inquired, of five different
companies, concerning the residual HCN detection devices sought by you. We
have received negative responses from 3 companies and 2 have not yet answered.
If [Wenn] we receive information on this matter, we shall immediately contact
you, in order to put you in touch with a company that makes these devices.”
Faurisson’s reply was that Zyklon B was used for delousing operations
throughout the camp and of course in Crematorium II. Naturally HCN gas detectors
would have been required in such operations, in which they are standard
equipment. 657
A Problem
In both cases Faurisson gave the simple, obvious replies that I would have
given under the circumstances. However, I believe this interpretation is wrong, for
reasons that may be seen by examining the document. The main obstacle to interpreting
this letter in terms of Zyklon B is the roles of Topf and Prüfer.
Zyklon was a product of the DEGESCH company; Zyklon and associated
equipment such as gas detectors and gas mask filters were also manufactured by
other companies such as Tesch & Stabenow and Drägerwerke. At Auschwitz, delousing
operations with Zyklon were such major and continuous tasks that there
existed a special department, the Referat für Schädlingsbekämpfung (Pest Control
Office), that conducted them. This department on occasion even communicated
directly with DEGESCH. 658
Topf was a furnace maker with crematorium ovens as a sideline and was the
principal civilian contractor in the construction of crematoria at Auschwitz. Prüfer
was the main Topf contact of the Auschwitz construction department and of
course was not associated with the special SS delousing squads that regularly
worked with Zyklon B. Why should Prüfer have been searching, indeed with great
difficulty, for devices that were standard equipment for the delousing squads and
were readily available from the DEGESCH and other companies, which had developed
and supplied Zyklon The standard DEGESCH detector for HCN required
exposing a test paper and observing the color assumed. The Prüfer letter
even implies that he does not know whether the desired devices exist, was confronting
this specific need for the first time, and does not know very much about
it, inferences that are very important in interpreting the letter. I do not believe the
letter had anything to do with Zyklon.
There may however have been one connection between Topf and Zyklon.
657
658
434
R. Faurisson, “Jean-Claude Pressac’s New Auschwitz Book,” Journal of Historical Review, vol.
14, no. 1, Jan./Feb. 1994, p. 23.
Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, p. 571 in the 1961 Quadrangle edition; vol.
3, p. 892 in the 1985 Holmes & Meier edition. Hilberg cites a letter from the Referat to DE-
GESCH.