Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYparatory measures. Numerous documents of Central Construction officeof Auschwitz clearly show, however, that there was not just oneSonderkommando but rather a multiplicity of special prisoner details.Yet not a single one of them was involved in any way with any sort ofhomicidal activities. And of all the many prisoner details, the one groupthat had to bring the bodies from the morgues, prepare them for cremation,and finally incinerate them, were simply called Heizer (stokers),but never Sonderkommando. Thus the origin of this designation for theseprisoner work details clearly lies not in reality, but rather in the propagandisticdistortions of the postwar period.As my last example I may point out to you that the terms Sonderbehandlung(special treatment) and Sondermaßnahme (special measure),which are claimed to be synonyms for mass murder when referring toAuschwitz, are connected in all cases of their appearance in the 80,000pages of documents of the Auschwitz Central Construction Office withmeasures of highest priority – therefore “special” – to improve the hygienicconditions in the camp in order to halt the typhus epidemic,which had gotten out of control, and to prevent future mass deathsamong the forced laborers urgently needed in the armaments industry.These measures therefore served the exact opposite of what is officiallyalleged, namely preserving lives rather than mass murder.The suppression of these and other well-documented research resultsby established historiography adds to the immunization of their theoriesby arbitrary definitions of terms the immunization by arbitrary eliminationof data.4. Ad hominem attacksThe last main tactic for immunizing theories consists of attackingpersons rather than criticizing arguments, which is typically the last resortof those who have run out of arguments. Concerning these illegitimatetactics Popper simply states: 114“[...] that the argument counts, rather than the person arguing.”This ought to be self-evident, but the entire persecution of revisionistsis ultimately based on nothing other than personal insinuations andis nothing else but an attack on the arguing person rather than on hisarguments.114 Karl Popper, The Open…, op. cit. (note 70), vol. 2, p. 225.87