THE RUDOLF REPORT

GERMAR RUDOLF · THE RUDOLF REPORTin question may reveal it to be a forgery, on the evidence that the paperon which it is written was manufactured by a technique not available atthe time to which it allegedly dates. The refractive index of even smallparticles of glass may be measured to show that a given item or fragmentof glass was part of a particular batch manufactured at a particular timeand place.”Hence, forensic research is exactly what revisionists, starting withRobert Faurisson, have called the search for material evidence. Therevisionists’ demand for such material evidence is entirely consistentwith the normal practice of modern law enforcement. Also, as is generallyacknowledged, forensic evidence is more conclusive than eyewitnesstestimony or documentary evidence.Even though forensic methods have hardly been applied with regardsto Auschwitz, there are a few examples which I shall discussbriefly in the following chapter.4.4. Forensic Science and Auschwitz4.4.1. Forensics in the Courts4.4.1.1. The 1946 Cracow Auschwitz TrialThe 1946 Cracow Auschwitz Trial. In 1945, the Jan Sehn Institutefor Forensic Research (Instytut Ekspertyz Sadowych) prepared a reporton a forensic investigation of Auschwitz that was submitted in evidencein the 1946 Auschwitz trial in Cracow, Poland. 74 This expertreport should be treated with caution, because forensic examinationsand judicial procedures under the Communists have been anything buttrustworthy, and in 1945, Poland was a Stalinist satellite. One needonly point to the example of Katyn, the Soviet account of which wasfully endorsed by Poland’s Communist regime. 73The Cracow forensic investigators took hair, presumably cut frominmates, and hair clasps from bags found by the Soviets in Auschwitz.Tested for cyanide residues, both hair and clasps showed positive results.Additionally, a zinc-plated metal cover was tested for cyanideand found to have a positive result as well. The Cracow Instituteclaims that this metal cover once shielded the exhaust duct of a sup-74Published in German, op. cit. (note 52), pp. 36-40; the original is in the Auschwitz State Museum.42