Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Supplement 5: Vergasungskeller
is more plausible than any earlier offered by me or anybody else. Before I do that,
I should remark that the problem here is what the Vergasungskeller was, not
whether it was a homicidal gas chamber. Those who claim it was a homicidal gas
chamber focus their attention entirely on that one word in the document. If they
would instead focus on what the document says, they would realize that it is impossible
to make that interpretation work. The document shows that in January
1943 the Germans were in a great rush to use the building as an ordinary crematorium.
As Faurisson discussed earlier, 685 during World War II the combatants paid
great heed that new structures be considered, if possible, as air raid shelters. There
were two principal dangers that such shelters were to provide protection against:
bombs and gas attacks. On account of World War I experiences, the possibilities
of the latter were taken very seriously. Indeed, many simply assumed that gas
would be used, despite treaties outlawing its use. Typically, a gas shelter was conceived
of as a bomb shelter, preferably underground and very strong structurally,
with some features added to make it secure against gas; a gas shelter had to be gas
tight but allow people to breathe. Since in many cases it was not economic to provide
such structures for at most only occasional use, it was recognized that such
shelters could exist in the form of embellishments to structures that exist for other
purposes. However, the number of suitable such structures was limited. For example,
the typical underground cellar belongs to a building with several stories;
the collapse of these in an air raid could prevent people from leaving the cellar. 686
Germany started its air raid gas shelter program early with a 10 October 1933
decree of the Ministry of Finance providing financial incentives for the construction
of shelters. The decree was followed by the Luftschutzgesetz (Air Defense
Law) of 26 June 1935. Three German decrees in May 1937, in application of the
Luftschutzgesetz, alarmed the British Chargé d’Affaires in Berlin, who compared
the earnest German attitudes on air defenses to British apathy. The provision of
shelters advanced far in Germany before the war, and of course was accelerated
with the outbreak of war. On defense against gas, Germany was deeply committed
to the shelter approach in its civil defense program, in contrast to the British, who
put more emphasis on distribution of gas masks. However, it should be stressed
that in World War II thinking, bomb and gas defenses went together, and provision
of the one was unlikely without the other. 687
Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Israel has had a law requiring that every
newly constructed domicile have a room equipped as a gas shelter. 688
My proposal is that the Vergasungskeller was a gas shelter. It need not have
been located within Crematorium II, but I believe it most likely was, on account
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686
687
688
Faurisson, op. cit., pp. 52f.
A.M. Prentiss, Chemicals in War, Mc-Graw-Hill, NY, 1937. G. Woker, Der kommende Gift- und
Brandkrieg, Oldenburg, Leipzig, 1932.
Alden H. Watt, Gas Warfare, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, NY, 1942, p. 252. Terence H. O’Brien,
Civil Defence, H.M. Stationery Office and Longmans, London, 1955, pp. 102ff, 329. Stephen E.
Ambrose, ed., Handbook On German Military Forces, Louisiana State Univ. Press, Baton Rouge,
1990, p. 518. The last is a reproduction of a book issued in March 1945 by the U.S. Army.
Chicago Tribune, 7 Sept. 1996, sec. 1, p. 2.
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