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June 1, 1999 Special Dispatch No. 33

Gas Chamber Denial in the Palestinian Media

June 1, 1999
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 33

Following are excerpts from an article, about the 1988 trial of a Holocaust denier in Canada, entitled "The Legend and the Truth: An American Expert Discusses the Details" which appeared in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Manar, May 3, 1999:

"Nobody in the West dares to stand up, when the subject is the fictitious Nazi Holocaust against the Jews of Europe. Since the end of WWII, the victors have imposed their hegemony over history, and forged the legend of the Holocaust to extort the entire world, using the face of the ugly Nazi. They planted a thorn in the side of defeated Germany to extort it forever.

Whenever the truth reached the tongues of western intellectuals, the democratic regimes abandoned their liberalism and treated these scientists of History the same way the Catholic Church treated the Italian scientist Galileo when he tried to prove the world is round. His fate was to be executed.

Because history does not acknowledge legends, no matter what lies they include… the Holocaust legend faced the mighty winds of truth that tore it up by its feeble roots. Dozens of intellectuals and politicians in the West… refuted the false claims of this legend… ending with the renown French intellectual Rojer Garaudi… who exposed the legends that served as the foundations of the state of Israel, and first and foremost, the legend of the Holocaust.

Despite the importance of all these… efforts, the knockout… came from an American expert, a specialist in building gas chambers in American jails. This expert, Fred Leutcher, prepared a scientific field report about the Nazi execution camps… [proving] that even if all of the Nazi camps had been operating at full capacity, the total number of victims would not have exceeded a hundred thousand, and certainly could not have reached the one million mark.

Leutcher's report was prepared in 1988 to save an American intellectual from imprisonment for challenging this mendacious legend. French intellectual Roger Garaudi… referred to this report in his book that enraged international Zionism and revealed the ugly face of western democracies.

The Al-Ahram Al-Arabi newspaper [an Egyptian weekly] published this scientific report which serves as an unprecedented historical document and a death sentence to the bogus execution legends.

Leutcher's report… uses forensic evidence to refute the superstition of gas chambers for Jews in the Nazi era. The story of this report begins in January 1988, when internationally renowned lawyer Dr. Robert Faurisson, was in Toronto, Canada, assisting in the defense of Ernst Zuendel. A Canadian citizen of German origin, Mr. Zuendel was accused of distributing fake information after publishing a book titled Were Six Million Really Killed? Zuendel discussed the widespread claim that the Nazis killed six million Jews during WWII, in gas chambers with, Hydrogen Cyanide the 'Zyklon B Gas...'

Faurisson says, 'I started talking to Fred Leutcher, an expert in the design of execution devices... He amazed me with the proficiency of his answers and his skill in explaining all the details of the process of executing by gas. He explained the extreme danger of using Hydrogen Cyanide in executions. This gas was first used in executions in the US in 1942, but there were still many problems in designing gas chambers… in 1988, including problems of gas leakage. I noticed Leutcher did not doubt the traditional claim regarding the Jewish Holocaust.'

Faurisson added: '…Zuendel decided to ask Leutcher to prepare a scientific perspective regarding the claims of gas chambers in Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek.'

Leutcher accepted the assignment… On February 25, 1988, Fred Leutcher and his wife Caroline, along with the draftsman Howard Miller, cinematographer Jurgen Neumann, and Polish interpreter Theodor Rudolph flew to Poland and returned 8 days later.

On his return, Leutcher began writing a report that consisted of 192 pages, including appendices. His conclusions were clear: there is strong evidence that there were no gas chambers for executions in Auschwitz, Birkenau or Majdanek. The places that were claimed to be execution chambers could not have been used back then, cannot be used in the present, and cannot even conceivably be used as chambers for executions by gas."

Faurisson says that on April 20-21, 1988, Fred Leutcher took the witness stand at the Toronto court and began by answering the questions of the defense... Afterwards, the prosecutor John Pearson, questioned Leutcher. Another prosecutor assisted him and the two of them consulted constantly with Jewish advisors sitting behind them...

All present, regardless of their personal view on the subject, knew [that] they were participating in a historic event - the end of the legend of gas chambers….

Faurisson says: "I think I was the first to point out that any research of the German gas chambers using Zyklon B, should start with the study of American gas chambers…. The theory of executions can only be proven true or false by investigating the claim that Auschwitz was a death-factory… the investigations held by the 'Correction Movement' proved those places claimed to have been gas chambers, could not have been used for that purpose... Those rooms… claimed to be gas chambers, were in reality, warehouses for corpses...

It was imperative to find an expert of American gas chambers…. Fred Leutcher was that expert. He… conducted the investigation, wrote the report, and signed it in Canadian court. When I asked him if he was afraid of dangerous consequences, he answered: 'the truth is the truth.' After reading his report, the British historian David Irving, said that this document would become an obligatory source for any historian writing about WWII...'

It is possible that Ernst Zuendel will again be jailed for his research and beliefs or that they will threaten to deport him. Anything can happen when there is a cultural crisis and re-arrangement of historical notions to that extent. His Correction Movement is the greatest cultural adventure of the end of this century. Whatever happens, Ernst Zuendel is the victor. He is a peaceful warrior who achieved his victory using his brains and convictions.

The strange thing is that on May 11, 1988, the jury decided to convict Zuendel of publishing wrong information about the Holocaust. He was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, but was bailed out after signing an obligation not to write or talk about the Holocaust until the end of the appeals process. Thus, Zuendel joined Galileo as one of the victims of truth facing the powers of ignorance… and lies…"

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