Holocaust Denial on Trial
Were there eyewitnesses who testified that the Nazis used gas vans to murder Jews at Chelmno and along the Eastern Front? Were these testimonies reliable? Holocaust deniers claim: The eyewitness testimony about the use of gas vans, whether at Chelmno or by Einsatzgruppen units, is nothing but a “wild conglomeration of conflicting claims” and is of “no evidentiary value.” Therefore,…
read moreHow do we know the “Becker-Rauff Letter,” about the existence and use of gas vans, is authentic? Holocaust deniers claim: The Becker-Rauff letter, a key primary document on the construction of the gas vans, is “not credible” and of “dubious origin.”[1] For example, Ingrid Weckert, a German Holocaust denier, claims that such a detailed letter about the existence and use…
read moreHow do we know the gas vans existed and the Nazis used them to murder Jews? Holocaust deniers claim: If the Nazis used gas vans, we should expect some documents about them. There are no primary documents proving that gas vans were built or that the Nazis used them. Thus, the existence and use of the gas vans is mere “hearsay,”…
read moreWhat were the gas vans? How did they work? Gas vans were regular cargo trucks specially equipped with an air-tight metal cargo compartment. The exhaust system was designed so exhaust gases could be re-directed into the sealed cargo compartment, instead of flowing out the tailpipe and into the air. When the engine ran, the people locked in the back of the…
read moreAn analysis of David Irving’s use of historical sources. Professor Richard J. Evans tracks David Irving’s footnotes and concludes he does not deserve to be called a historian.
read moreDid the Nazis employ producer gas engines to create the poisonous exhaust used in the death camps of Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor? Holocaust deniers claim: “Producer gas engines” generate much more carbon monoxide in their exhaust than do diesel engines. There is no evidence that the Nazis used producer gas engines to murder the Jews in the gas chambers and…
read moreDr. Peter Longerich is re-called and examined by David Irving regarding Hitler’s knowledge of the Final Solution, and the systematic nature of the Final Solution. Other topics include the expansion of the Final Solution from the mass murders in the East to the use of gas vans at Chelmno, the Wannsee Conference, the establishment of death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, and the fate of French Jews.
read moreDavid Irving examines Professor Christopher Browning on the systematic nature of the Final Solution, specifically its extension to the use of gas vans at Chelmno; the Wannsee Conference in January, 1942; the establishment of the death camps at Sobibor, Treblinka, and Belzec (Operation Reinhard); the scale of the murders; and the perpetrators eyewitness testimony to events in those places. Richard Rampton examines Professor Browning as well on his report.
read moreDavid Irving is examined by Richard Rampton on his interpretation of the evidence for the systematic nature of the Holocaust and the true meaning of words such as “deportation,” “evacuation,” “extirpation,” “liquidation,” and others as they applied to the fate of the Jews of Europe. Irving is questioned on whether he agrees that some 97,000 Jews were murdered at Chelmno using gas vans. Irving is also questioned about the matter of whether Hitler ever committed an order for the Holocaust to paper and about the Schlegelberger note.
read moreDavid Irving is examined by Richard Rampton about Irving’s so-called ‘Chain of Documents’ on which Irving bases his views of the Holocaust. The documents relate to Hitler’s knowledge of the Final Solution and the systematic nature of the Final Solution. These include Himmler’s interaction with Hitler and Irving’s uncritical use of Hitler’s adjutant’s testimony and memoirs after the war. The documentation of the systematic nature of the Final Solution is traced through the beginning of the use of gas vans at Chelmno, to Operation Reinhard (Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka) and thence to Auschwitz.
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