Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Arthur R. Butz, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century
Clay’s commutation of her sentence was based on a conclusion that she was not
guilty of the major charges against her, which had to do with lampshades and the
like, irrespective of the nationality of the alleged victims.
Clay did not change his position throughout the long public controversy concerning
efforts to try Frau Koch a second time on essentially the same charges, a
controversy which, according to the New York Times, “rocked the United States
and Europe.” Clay was firm on his decision in the Ilse Koch case and explained
that
“examination of the record, based upon reports which I received from the
lawyers, indicated that the most serious charges were based on hearsay and
not on factual evidence. For that reason the sentence was commuted.
I hold no sympathy for Ilse Koch. She was a woman of depraved character
and ill repute. She had done many things reprehensible and punishable, undoubtedly,
under German law. We were not trying her for those things. We
were trying her as a war criminal on specific charges.”
Despite this empathic stand of the American military governor, pressures from
the U.S. induced the German authorities to move against Frau Koch after she was
released from American detention in October 1949. She was again tried on the
familiar “lampshade” charges. Although the defense was able to show that the testimonies
of two of the prosecution witnesses contradicted declarations that they
had made in connection with earlier proceedings, thus forcing the German court to
strike their testimonies from the record, Ilse Koch was found guilty and sentenced
to life imprisonment. She hanged herself in her cell in 1967. 75
Burney reports some Belsen-like scenes at Buchenwald, but mainly among incoming
prisoners evacuated from more eastern locations during the final chaotic
weeks. So much for Buchenwald. 76
Dachau
Dachau was one of the oldest Nazi concentration camps, with an emphasis on
Austrian political prisoners, Roman Catholic priests (detained for reasons that
need not be examined here), and old and semi-employable people of all categories.
The camp also had its group of ordinary criminals. Work was mainly at outside
factories, but a herb plantation was being built up at the camp, and some
prisoners worked at draining swamps. 77
It is useful here to go into some detail on how, at the end of and immediately
after the war, Dachau was misrepresented as an extermination camp with gas
chambers. In showing that such events never took place at Dachau we are not, of
course, contradicting the present story put forward by the bearers of the extermination
legend, who do not claim Dachau in this connection, and build their story
around the camps in Poland, with Auschwitz occupying the central position in this
75
76
77
New York Times (Sep. 24, 1948), 3; (Oct. 1, 1948), 11; (Oct. 8, 1948), 10; (Oct. 22, 1948), 5;
(Dec. 27, 1948), 1, 12; (Dec. 20, 1950), 15; Jan. 16, 1951), 1; (Sep. 3, 1967), 1.
Burney, 106-109.
Lenz, 32, 42, 78; 1063-PS.
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