History Forum / General / General Topics / July 2008

Archive-name: holocaust/usa/leuchter/part02
Last-modified: 1999/12/23

             The Leuchter Report: A Layman's Guide
           Holocaust Denial & The Big Lie (Part Two)

2.06   Doors of Gas Chambers Too Weak to Prevent Escape.....11
2.07   They Would Not Have Used Zyklon-B for Gassing........11
2.08   The gas chambers were never sealed, or...............12
2.09   The gas would have killed everyone outside when
       ventilated...........................................14
2.10   Where did all the ashes from the cremations go.......14
2.11   People who dropped the gas into the gas chamber would
       have been killed by it...............................15
2.12   The Auschwitz death list doesn't show all those
       people were killed...................................15
2.13   Why would there be a swimming pool at a death camp...15
2.14   The high water table made it impossible to burn
       bodies in ditches....................................15
2.15   How did witnesses to the gassings survive............16
2.16   Toxicity of fumes from a diesel engine...............18
2.17   There were not enough Jews in Europe to account for    
       six million victims..................................18
2.18   The "myth" of the Holocaust was created solely for
       the financial benefit of Israel......................20
3.00 Leuchter's credibility.................................21
3.10 Leuchter's perjury in Canadian court...................21
3.20 Leuchter's credibility among American prison admins....24
4.00 Research Sources & Other Useful Appendices.............24
4.10   Recommended Reading..................................25
4.20   Abbreviations Used in Citations......................25
4.30   Glossary.............................................25
4.40   Works Cited..........................................25


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 11]

2.06 Doors of Gas Chambers Too Weak to Prevent Escape

  Holocaust denial asserts that the doors of the "alleged" gas chambers
  were much too weak to withstand the pressure of people trying to
  escape death from inside the chambers.

  Since none of the Kremas remained in their original state (Bunker I &
  II and Kremas II,III,IV and V destroyed, and Krema I modified) there
  is no physical evidence as to what the doors of the extermination gas
  chambers looked like.  However, a door which probably belonged to an
  extermination gas chamber was discovered in the camp's building yard;
  it is massive, and reinforced with iron bars.  Furthermore, the small
  peephole is protected from the inside with a strong metal grid,
  probably installed so the victims would not break the glass in the
  peephole.

  Those making this claim present pictures of doors for the delousing
  chambers, which were not fortified, presumably on the assumption that
  viewers are too inept to notice the switch.  For a photograph of a
  door probably used in an extermination gas chamber, see Pressac
  (486).  (Get pub/holocaust/gifs/aukdoor.gif)

2.07 They would not have used Zyklon-B for gassing

  Holocaust denial often claims that if the Nazis had intended to kill
  people by lethal gassing, they would have used something other than
  Zyklon B.

  Zyklon-B was in use at Auschwitz as a delousing agent, and was thus
  readily available.  The Nazis had experience in its safe use as well,
  which made it even more attractive.

     In addition, Zyklon B was easy to ship and to store, which also
     made it attractive to the SS, who ordered enough of it, as Ho"ss
     pointed out in his testimony, to kill two million people.
     Yitzhak Arad mentions Christian Wirth's rejection of Zyklon-B
     for use in exterminations: Wirth developed his own ideas on the
     basis of the experiences he had gained in the Euthanasia
     program.  Thus, in Belzec he decided to supply the fixed gas
     chamber with gas produced by the internal-combustion engine of a
     motorcar.  [He] rejected Cyanide B which was later used at
     Auschwitz.  This gas was produced by private firms and its
     extensive use in Belzec might have aroused suspicion and led to
     problems of supply.  He therefore preferred a system of
     extermination based on ordinary, universally available gasoline
     and diesel fuel.  (YVS XVI, 211)

  In a letter requesting for a truck to bring Zyklon-B to Auschwitz,
  the standard camouflage term "resettlement of Jews" is used to refer
  to extermination.  Another such document asks for "material for
  special treatment" - another term used to disguise extermination
  (Get ~/gifs/resett.gif; also Pressac, 557.  For more examples of
  the camouflage terms noted, see file of original Nazi documents).


[Leuchter]                                                    [Page 12]

     Radio message 13 SS Garrison Radio Station Auschwitz Origin WVHA
     [SS economic administration head office]

     Received 2nd October 1942 in the Kommandantur of Auschwitz
     Concentration camp

     The movement authorization for one 5 Ton truck with trailer to
     Dessau and back in order to pick up material for the
     resettlement of the Jews, is hereby accorded.

     The authorization is to be given to the driver.

                       Liebehenschel
                   SS Lieutenant Colonel
             Permanent representative of the head
             of the service with the rank of Waffen SS
             Lieutenant General

     For file

     Head of the radio station

  When camp adjutant R.  Mulka was asked by Judge Hofmeyer what
  "material for the resettlement of the Jews" meant, he answered "well,
  sure.  Zyklon-B" (The Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, 11 Sep.  1964).

2.08 The gas chambers were never sealed... or there was no provision
     to exhaust the gas from them... or there was no way for the
     guards to release the pellets into them, or....

  As stated earlier, the extermination chambers were dynamited by the
  SS when they deserted the camp.  There is therefore no direct
  evidence of what they looked like when they were in operation other
  than a few photographs taken by the Allies and the SS during the war
  (See Brugioni; Get ~/gifs/krema3.gif for view of Krema III taken
  during the war, from the air).  The construction plans do include the
  air extraction systems, as one readily sees (in krema3.gif and
  others) and the air extraction system is mentioned in many documents.
  Some of the ventilation openings are still visible in the ruins of
  the gas chambers.  The plans even include the shower heads that were
  placed in the gas chamber to mislead the victims (Get ~/gifs/ auplan.gif).

  It is a sad reflection on Leuchter's integrity and ability to use
  logic to see that he admits the Kremas were demolished, yet continues
  to claim he can deduce from their current state how they looked in
  1944, before they were blown up!  The following is a verbatim excerpt
  from his cross-examination by Mr.  Pearson, in the Zundel trial:


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 13]

     Q. Crematoria III has been demolished.

     A. Um, there are still parts of Crematoruim III there, but for
        the most part, the roof of the alleged gas chamber has crumbled
        and is all lying in bits and pieces in the basement of what would
        have been the alleged gas chamber.

     Q. So, it's no longer subterranean?

     A. That's correct. There's a hole in the ground.

     Q. With respect to the gas chambers at Crematorium IV and V,
        those are totally demolished.

     A. With the exception of the foundation, yes.

     Q. So, all that was there for you to examine was the foundation
        of the building.  Is that right?

     A. That is correct.
     
  Leuchter admits that the roof of the gas chamber of Krema III was all
  blown up and collapsed, and that Krema IV and V are gone except for
  the foundation!  As for Krema II, his testimony is also intriguing:

     Q. So, the gas chamber facility itself is presently underground?

     A. Parts of it are and parts aren't.

     Q. All right.  And the parts that are underground, I take it that
        the roof is no longer whole; is that right?

     A. Um, one of the roofs is broken into several pieces but it's
        essentially whole.

     Q. It's broken in several pieces but it's essentially whole?

     A. I mean it's not fragmented.

     Q. How many pieces?

     A. Three, I believe. I say that only to indicate that it's not
        fragmented. There are large slabs left of the roof.

     Q. Right. And it's collapsed.

     A. It's dropped several feet. It's partially collapsed.

     Q. Is there dirt over it? Is it subterranean?

     A. In some places there are dirt over it and some places there's
        no dirt.

[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 14]

     Q. All right. And that's with respect to Crematorium II?

     A. That's correct.

  Even more incredible is to see what Leuchter writes in his report:

     "Evidence as to Krema function is non-existent since Krema's I
     oven has been completely rebuilt, Kremas II and III are partially
     destroyed with components missing, and Kremas IV and V are gone".

  "Are gone"!  Yet, he can still conjecture about how they functioned
  before being destroyed...

  The pictures of the gas chambers in their current state appear in
  Pressac.  They are totally demolished and there is no way a
  reasonable person would claim to be able to conclude anything about
  how they functioned before they were destroyed.

  Leuchter further ridicules himself by stating that the gas chambers
  were never sealed and that using cyanide gas inside them would be
  dangerous. But, he admits that the gas was used in them (for delousing
  purposes, as he claims). This is absurd, of course; if they were not
  sealed, introducing the gas into them would be dangerous no matter what
  the purpose was. This obvious contradiction alone is reason enough to
  discard the "Leuchter report".

2.09 If the gas chambers were ventilated, the gas would kill people
     outside.

  Nonsense; it is all a question of concentration.  Once the gas is
  released into the atmosphere, its concentration drops and it is no
  longer dangerous.  Also, HCN dissipates quickly.  The execution gas
  chambers in US prisons are also ventilated directly into the
  atmosphere.  Furthermore, if this argument would hold for the
  extermination chambers, it would hold for the delousing chambers as
  well, and one would have to conclude that no delousing chambers
  existed either.

2.10 If so many people were actually killed and cremated, where is
     all the ash?

  After a person is cremated, quite a small amount of ash remains - it
  fits in a small urn, or a box.  This means that ashes of thousands of
  people fit into one truck.  The ash was either scattered around in
  fields, buried, or - in Auschwitz, for instance - dumped into a
  river.


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 15]

2.11 The people who dropped the Zyklon-B into the chambers would have
     died from the gas themselves.

  Utter nonsense.  Like those who used the Zyklon-B in the delousing
  chambers, the SS men who carried out the gassings utilized gas masks.
  (The mind boggles at the realization that a "gas chamber expert" could
  not figure this out.)

2.12 The death lists from Auschwitz do not show that any people were
     gassed, and point to a smaller number of victims.

  This is because those lists refer only to those who where assigned
  serial numbers.  The majority of people transferred to the camp were
  classified as "unfit for work" and gassed immediately.  This fact is
  noted, for instance, in a report written by top SS officer
  Franke-Gricksch to Himmler (Get pub/camps/auschwitz/gricksch.rpt;
  & ~/auschwitz.faq1, which discusses the registration process).  These
  people were not registered anywhere, and no one recorded their names.
  (Testimony of Polish prisoner Aloiz Oskar Kleta, Shelly, p.  284;
  Fertig, 12; Fleming, 174.  Also, see testimony of Henryk Tauber,
  Pressac, page 488, as to how the SS routinely burned documents
  regarding the number of victims.

2.13 There was a swimming pool in Auschwitz, hence it could not have
     been an extermination camp.

  Indeed, a water reservoir in Auschwitz I (the main camp) was
  converted to a swimming pool which was used by the camp's staff.
  Other means of entertainment for the SS personnel existed - a band
  composed of prisoners, and a brothel (which some prisoners were
  permitted to use).  How this "proves" that Auschwitz was not an
  extermination center is beyond the author of this text.

2.14 Much of the area of Auschwitz has a high water table, therefore
     corpses could not be burned in ditches.

  There are pictures of these ditches with corpses burning in them
  (See pub/holocaust/gifs for available photographs) . During
  the period in which Auschwitz was active, the SS had the area
  drained; as can be seen today, the drainage, which has not been
  maintained since 1945, has deteriorated and the water level had
  risen.  Furthermore, the ditches were not used all the time, but only
  when there were not enough furnaces to cremate the victims or during
  the extermination of the Hungarian Jews, when so many people were
  murdered daily that the furnaces could not handle the amount of
  corpses.  The "incineration ditches" are known to have been active in
  October-November 1942 and the summer of 1944, which do not coincide
  with the period the snow melts and the water level rises.


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 16]

2.15: How come eye witnesses to the gassings survived? Why didn't
      the Nazis kill them?

  The answer is rather simple - the SS did kill almost all of them.
  After the war, for instance, there were about 70 survivors from
  Treblinka (more than 700,000 victims, see also file with excerpts
  from ruling of German courts - get pub/camps/aktion.reinhard/reinhard.faq1
  and ~/reinhard.faq2).  These survivors escaped from the camp,
  mostly during the rebellion they carried out.  Same for Auschwitz:
  nearly all the members of the "Special Commando" who saw the gassings
  and had to carry out and cremate the victims, were killed by the SS,
  but a small number of them escaped, mostly during the rebellion of
  October 1944.  Another factor is the fact that in the end of the war
  Auschwitz was in total chaos - the Soviets were approaching fast, and
  they even bombed the camp.  Thus there was no time to kill all the
  occupants, and some were transferred to camps within Germany.  Many
  of them died in those forced "death marches".

2.16: Fumes from a diesel engine are not toxic enough to kill
      people.  (This claim is made with regard to the death camp of
      Treblinka - see file with ruling of German courts on this.  In
      other death camps, gasoline engines were used. The method of
      killing was simple - people were crammed into the gas chambers,
      and the exhaust of powerful engines was pumped into them).

  Nonsense.  In a closed chamber, of course diesel fumes will kill.
  There was actually a study on this, and its results are reported in
  "The Toxicity of Fumes from a diesel Engine Under Four Different
  Running Conditions", by Pattle et al., British Journal of Industrial
  Medicine, 1957, Vol 14, p.  47-55.  These researchers ran a few
  experiments in which various animals were exposed to diesel fumes,
  and studied the results.

  In the experiments, the exhaust of a small diesel engine (568 cc, 6
  BHP) was connected to a chamber 10 cubic meters (340 cubic feet) in
  volume, and the animals were put inside it.  In all cases, the
  animals died.  Death was swifter when the intake of air to the engine
  was restricted, as this causes a large increase in the amount of
  carbon monoxide (CO) that is emitted.  (See, for instance, "diesel
  Engine Reference Book", by Lilly, 1985, p.  18/8, where it is stated
  that at a high air/fuel ratio the concentration of CO is only a few
  parts per million but for lower ratios (25:1) the concentration of CO
  can rise up to 3,000 ppm.  It is very easy to restrict the air intake
  - the British researchers did so by partially covering the air intake
  opening with a piece of metal.)

  Even in cases where the CO output was low, the animals still died
  from other toxic components - mainly irritants and nitrogen dioxide.

  Now, the diesel engines used in Treblinka were much larger - they
  belonged to captured Soviet T-34 tanks.  These tanks weighed 26-31
  tons (depending on the model) and had a 500 BHP engine (compared to a

[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 17]

  mere 6 BHP in the British experiments).  The volume of the
  extermination chambers in Treblinka is, of course, a factor.  But the
  chambers' volume was about 60 cubic meters (2040 cubic feet); this is
  6 times more than those in the British experiments, but the
  difference in the size of the engines is much larger than a factor of
  6.

  It should be remembered that what matters in CO poisoning is not the
  concentration of CO, but the ratio of CO to oxygen.  In a small,
  gas-tight room, crammed full of people, oxygen levels drop quickly,
  thus making death by CO poisoning faster.  As noted, other toxic
  components in the fumes further accelerate mortality.

  The SS was aware of the fact that cramming as many people as possible
  into the gas chamber, thus leaving no empty spaces, would accelerate
  mortality.  This is evident, for instance, from a letter regarding
  "gassing vans" (used in the Chelmno extermination camp and other
  locations) sent to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Walter Rauff, 5 June 1942.
  The letter is quite long (more of it is reproduced in the file of
  original Nazi documents), but here is the relevant part (Nazism,
  document 913).

  "2) The vans are normally loaded with 9-10 people per square meter.
  With the large Saurer special vans this is not possible because
  although they do not become overloaded their maneuverability is much
  impaired.  A reduction in the load area appears desirable.  It can be
  achieved by reducing the size of the van by c.  1 meter.  The
  difficulty referred to cannot be overcome by reducing the size of the
  load.  For a reduction in the numbers will necessitate longer period
  of operation because the free spaces will have to be filled with CO.
  By contrast, a smaller load area which is completely full requires a
  much shorter period of operation since there are no free spaces."

  Another gruesome testimony to the "science of gassing" developed by
  the SS is the letter from Dr August Becker to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer
  Rauff, 16 May 1942 (Nazi Conspiracy, 418)

     The application of the gas is not undertaken correctly.  In
     order to come to an end as fast as possible, the driver presses
     the accelerator to the fullest extent.  By doing that the
     persons to be executed suffer death from suffocation and not
     death by dozing off as was planned.  My directions have now
     proved that by correct adjustment of the levers death comes
     faster and the prisoners fall asleep peacefully.  Distorted
     faces and excretions, such as could be seen before, are no
     longer noticed.

[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 18]

  Additional information was published to several UseNet newsgroups in
  November of 1993, in which smullins@ecn.purdue.edu quotes Holtz (see
  Recommended Reading section) and Elliot.  A quick scan of the data
  clearly shows the difference in oxygen and carbon monoxide levels
  found in diesel exhaust under different fuel-air mixture conditions:

     Exhaust gas composition of a diesel engine, running at the correct
     fuel-air ratios (% by volume):

     O2: 1.5%
     CO2: 13.5%
     CO: 0.5%

     Exhaust gas composition of a diesel engine running at a fuel-air
     ratio of 0.094 (% by volume):

     O2:    0.3%
     CO2:    10.2%
     CO:    6.0%

  The data clearly demonstrates that simply restricting the air intake
  of the engine, any diesel engine will produce sufficient CO to be
  clearly and rapidly fatal (6% CO represents roughly 60,000 ppm). This
  data (Holtz & Elliot) appeared in "Transactions of the ASME" in early
  1941, and was probably known to the Nazis.

  Mr. Mullins has also published an article to UseNet which deals with
  Berg's "The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth Within a Myth," (Get pub/
  orgs/american/ihr/jhr/jhr.v5n1), and which demonstrates not only how
  diesel engines can quickly produce highly toxic levels of gasses,
  but which uses Berg's own references to do so. (Get
  pub/orgs/american/ihr/diesel.001 for the full article.)

2.17 There were not enough Jews in Europe to account for the number
     of 6 million victims

  This claim is ridiculous, as attested to by all population statistics
  of that time, including the numbers of Jews appearing in many
  original Nazi documents...  for instance:

  Extracts from the minutes of the Wannsee conference, January 20 1942,
  regarding the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" [Trials of War
  Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S
  Govt.  Print.  Off., 1949-1953., Vol.  XIII, p.  210]
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  [...]

     II.  At the beginning of the meeting the Chief of the Security
     Police and the SD, SS Lieutenant General Heydrich, reported his
     appointment by the Reich Marshal [Goering] to service as
     Commissioner for the preparation of the Final Solution of the
     European Jewish Problem....


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 19]

     In the course of this final solution of the European Jewish
     Problem, approximately 11 million Jews are involved.  They are
     distributed among individual countries as follows:

     A. Original Reich Territory [Altreich]         131,800
        Austria                                      43,700
        Eastern territories                         420,000
        Government General [Nazi occupied Poland] 2,284,000
        ..
        ..
        ..
        The Netherlands                             160,800
        ..
        ..
        Rumania, including Bessarabia               342,000
        ..
        ..
        Hungary                                     742,800
        USSR                                      5,000,000
        ..
        ..
        White Russia, excluding Bialystok           446,484
        [Many countries deleted for brevity]

                                      TOTAL over 11,000,000

     Under proper direction the Jews should now in the course of the
     Final Solution be brought to the East in a suitable way for use as
     labor.  In big labor gangs, with separation of the sexes, the Jews
     capable of work are brought to these areas and employed in road
     building, in which task undoubtedly a great part will fall out
     through natural diminution.

     The remnant that finally is able to survive all this - since this
     is undoubtedly the part with the strongest resistance - must be
     treated accordingly since these people, representing a natural
     selection, are to be regarded as the germ cell of a new Jewish
     development.  (See the experience of history).

     In the program of the practical execution of the Final Solution,
     Europe is combed through from the West to the East.

  The claims often made by Holocaust deniers about emigration of Jews
  after the war are preposterous.  For instance, there were 370,000
  Jews in Palestine in 1937, and 600,000 in 1948.  The numbers arrived
  at by the Anglo-American committee for studying the Holocaust are the
  following:


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 20]

  (Conclusions of the Anglo-American committee for studying the Nazi
  genocide inflicted on the Jews of Europe, with exact breakdown,
  country by country.)
 
     Numbers of missing Jews (post-war minus pre-war):

     Germany -          195,000
     Austria -           53,000
     Czechoslovakia -   255,000
     Denmark -            1,500
     France -           140,000
     Belgium -           57,000
     Luxemburg -          3,000
     Norway -             1,000
     Holland -          120,000
     Italy -             20,000
     Jugoslavia -        64,000
     Greece -            64,000
     Bulgaria -           5,000
     Rumania -          530,000
     Hungary -          200,000
     Poland -         3,271,000
     USSR -           1,050,000

     Less dispersed refugees (308,000)

     Total number of Jews that were exterminated = 5,721,500
     -------------------------------------------------------

  Some estimates are lower, and some are higher, but these are the
  magnitudes in question.  Recent evidence shows that the number of
  ex-USSR victims was actually underestimated.

  About 6 million non-Jewish civilians were killed by the Nazis -
  mostly in Poland and Yugoslavia.

2.18   The "myth" of the Holocaust was created solely for
       the financial benefit of Israel

  Holocaust denial often asserts that the sole reason that the
  "Holocaust hoax" has been promulgated was that it created a financial
  windfall for the State of Israel. Deborah Lipstadt provides this
  information in "Denying the Holocaust":

  "Israeli officials detailed their claims against Germany in their
  communique of March 1951 to the Four Powers, and this document became
  the official basis for the reparations agreement. It contained an
  explanation of Israel's means of calculating the size of the
  reparations claim. In the communique Israeli officials explained that
  Nazi persecution had stimulated 'a second Jewish exodus' of close to
  five hundred thousand. Based on the size of this exodus, Israel
  determined the amount of the reparations it would request:


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 21]

     The government of Israel is not in a position to obtain and
     present a complete statement of all Jewish property taken or
     looted by the Germans, and said to total more than $6 thousand
     million.  It can only compute its claim on the basis of total
     expenditures already made and the expenditure still needed for
     the integration of Jewish immigrants from Nazi-dominated
     countries.  The number of these immigrants is estimated at some
     500,000, which means a total expenditure of $1.5 thousand
     million.

  It seems hardly necessary to point out that since the money the state
  received by based on the cost of resettling _survivors_, had Israel
  wanted to increase the amount of reparations it obtained from Germany
  it would have been in its interest to argue that fewer than six
  million had been killed and that more had managed to flee to Israel."
  (Lipstadt, 57)

3.00 Leuchter's "credibility," or rather, his lack of same.

3.10 Leuchter's claims during his Zundel testimony, and the reality
     of his perjury, Leuchter's admission that he is not an engineer
     (in American court), court order to quit publishing "reports"
     which claim engineering expertise.. (For an extensive examination
     of Leuchter's reception as an "expert witness" in a Canadian
     court, get pub/people/l/lipstadt.deborah/lipstadt.005. For the
     Washington Post article discussing the Leuchter Consent Decree,
     in which he admitted that he was not an engineer, and agreed to stop
     disseminating 'reports' which identified him as such, get
     pub/people/l/leuchter.fred/washington-post.0691.)

  In his article of January 11, (Spotlight, "Major Historical Fact
  Uncovered," January 11, 1993), Foner discusses the Canadian trial of
  Ernst Zundel, and tells us...

  Zundel went looking for an expert on executions, particularly
  gassings.  He found Leuchter, who specializes in the design and
  fabrication of execution hardware used in prisons throughout the
  United States.  (Foner, 3)

  Although Leuchter is touted by Neo-Nazi publications and Holocaust
  deniers as an "expert," Mr.  Leuchter's own testimony at the Zundel
  trial made it clear that he was neither an expert nor a credible
  witness.

  The following is taken from Leuchter's testimony at the Zundel trial
  (Douglas Christie, Zundel's attorney is the questioner) - following
  the testimony are verbatim quotes from two American prison officials,
  which were obtained after Leuchter's testimony at the trial.  We
  believe you will have no difficulty in determining the value of Mr.
  Leuchter's credentials after considering both:

     Q: And what is your relationship with the operation of those
        facilities [i.e.  gas chambers] in those two States [California
        and North Carolina]?

     A: We consulted with both States, California primarily on a heart
        monitoring system to replace the older type mechanical diagraph
        stethoscope that's presently in use.  We will be shipping to them
        shortly and installing a new heart monitor for both chairs in
        their gas chamber.


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 22]

     Q: You are consulted by the State, I understand?

     A: Yes, Juan Vasquez.

     Q: I see.  And in North Carolina?

     A: North Carolina.  My discussions and work was with one Nathan
        Reise, and he had some work done by their maintenance personnel on
        their gas chamber two years ago, and they had a problem with the
        gasket on a door leaking.  At which point, we discussed it with
        him and recommended remedial procedures to change the gas chamber.

     Q: And he consults you in regard to those matters?

     A: He does.

  What do those two facilities have to say about the matter?  First,
  the warden at San Quentin (California) responds:

     "I can inform you, however, that San Quentin has not contracted
     with Fred A.  Leuchter, Jr.  for the installation of a heart
     monitoring system or for any other work." Signed: DANIEL B.
     Vasquez, Warden (California)

  Next, we offer the comments from North Carolina prison officials:

     "I discussed your request with Mr.  Nathan A.  RICE, Former
     Warden, and he stated that he vaguely recalled a telephone
     conversation between him and a gentleman professing to be an
     expert on execution chambers.  Mr.  Rice further states that the
     gentleman called him for the purpose of selling a lethal injection
     machine...

     Also, our records do not support that Mr.  Leuchter performed
     either consulting or any service...I can attest that the planning
     and work was performed by the Department of Correction Engineering
     Section and our institution maintenance department." Signed: Gary
     T.  Dixon, Warden (North Carolina)

  We discover, then, that neither California nor North Carolina have
  consulted with Leuchter regarding their gas chambers.  Leuchter was
  incapable of even getting the names of the wardens right, and clearly
  lying about his "professional" relationships with them.

  The only other state with which Leuchter has alleged consulted
  regarding gas chambers is Missouri.  Yet, even thought Leuchter has
  allegedly "designed" a gas chamber for the state, we have to take his
  word for it since that gas chamber was never built nor installed and,
  in fact, Missouri does not have an operational gas chamber to this
  day even though Leuchter had allegedly designed one for them over 4
  years ago.  We would like to hear from anyone who has contacted
  authorities in the State of Missouri regarding this matter.


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 23]

  An article in the Washington Post sheds additional light upon
  Leuchter's legal problems, and his status as an engineer:

     BOSTON, June 17 - Fred A.  Leuchter Jr., a self-styled expert in
     the machinery of death who parlayed his reputation as a builder
     of killing equipment into a second career as a proponent of
     "Holocaust revisionism," has admitted that he is not an
     engineer.

     Made in a consent decree filed with a Massachusetts court last
     week, his admission should deal a blow to the movement holding
     that the Nazi extermination of 6 million Jews and others during
     World War II was a hoax or an exaggeration, according to experts
     in the field.

     Leuchter, 48, of suburban Malden, was to face trial later this
     month on charges of practicing engineering without a license, a
     violation of Massachusetts law.  But on June 11, he signed a
     consent agreement with the board that licenses engineers.

     In it, Leuchter acknowledged that, "I am not and have never been
     registered as a professional engineer" and that he nevertheless
     had represented himself as an engineer in dealings with various
     states that use the death penalty and to which he supplied
     equipment or advice.

     The agreement also requires Leuchter to stop disseminating
     reports in which he purports to be an engineer, most
     significantly a document known as the "Leuchter Report."

     That report, widely circulated by revisionists, asserts that gas
     chambers at Nazi concentration camps in Auschwitz, Birkenau and
     Majdanek could not have been used for mass killings because they
     were not big enough nor well ventilated or sealed.  The
     assertion is based largely on chemical analysis of materials
     scraped surreptitiously from walls of those chambers by Leuchter
     during a visit to Poland in February 1988.

     Sally Greenberg, an attorney with the Anti-Defamation League of
     B'nai B'rith in Boston, which was instrumental in bringing
     Leuchter to the attention of Massachusetts authorities, welcomed
     the settlement.

     "It's a blow to Holocaust revisionism because he has been the
     guru of the revisionists," she said.  "Now, he has as much as
     admitted that he is not qualified as an engineer to comment on
     the 'myth' of the Holocaust.  It's essentially an admission that
     he's the charlatan and phony that we always knew he was."
     ("Holocaust Revisionist Admits He Is Not Engineer." The
     Washington Post. Get pub/people/l/leuchter.fred/leuchter.02 for
     the complete text.)


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 24]

3.20 Leuchter's "credibility," or rather, his lack of same, among
     American prison administrators

     On July 20,1990, Alabama Assistant Attorney General Ed Carnes
     sent a memo to all capital-punishment states questioning
     Leuchter's credentials and credibility.  Carnes stated that not
     only were Leuchter's views on the gas-chamber process
     'unorthodox' but that he was running a shakedown scheme.  If a
     state refused to use his services, Leuchter would testify at the
     last minute on behalf of the inmate, claiming that the state's
     gas chamber might malfunction.  <Memorandum from Ed Carnes,
     Alabama Assistant Attorney General, to all Capital Punishment
     States July 20,1990; Shapiro 'Truth Prevails' pp.  17 and 21;
     Newsweek, Oct.  22, 1990, p.  64; Swampscott Journal, Nov.  1,
     1990.> According to Carnes, Leuchter made 'money on both sides
     of the fence.' <Associated Press, October 24, 1990>.  Describing
     Leuchter's behavior in Virginia, Florida, and Alabama, Carnes
     observed that in less than thirty days Leuchter had testified in
     three states that their electric-chair technology was too old
     and unreliable to be used.  In Florida and Virginia the federal
     courts had rejected Leuchter's testimony as unreliable.  In
     Florida the court had found that Leuchter had 'misquoted the
     statements' contained in an important affidavit and had
     'inaccurately surmised' a crucial premise of his conclusion
     <Carnes, Op.Cit., 2>.  In Virginia, Leuchter provided a
     death-row inmate's attorney with an affidavit claiming the
     electric chair would fail.  The Virginia court decided the
     credibility of Leuchter's affidavit was limited because Leuchter
     was "the refused contractor who bid to replace the electrodes in
     the Virginia chair <Shapiro, "Truth Prevails, 22>." (Lipstadt,
     170)

4.0 Research Materials & Sources

  Vera Laska provided an extensive list of assets for those interested
  in Holocaust research, which was included in the Auschwitz FAQ.  I
  recommend it as an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to do
  serious research into the Reinhard camps.  (Get pub/camps/auschwitz
  /auschwitz.faq2)

  In addition, you may obtain our 25-part Holocaust bibliography by
  using the Nizkor Web, http://www.nizkor.org. You'll find them
  in http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/bibliographies and
  http://www.nizkor.org/bibliographics, which provides links to reviews
  and information about how to order books.

[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 25]

4.1 Recommended Reading

  A German language version of this FAQ is now available at
  URL http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/l/leuchter.fred/leuchter.faq.de.

  For those wishing to learn more about the extermination facilities at
  Auschwitz-Birkenau, we suggest that you begin with our two-part
  Guide, by reading AUSCHWITZ AUSCHWITZ.FAQ1 and AUSCHWITZ.FAQ2,
  which contains a comprehensive list of sources. The Auschwitz
  FAQs are available on the World Wide Web at URL
  http://www.nizkor.org/faqs/auschwitz/

  A wide range of educational material, including videotape, lesson
  plans, books and other teaching material is available via
  http://www.nizkor.org/bibliographies/ssss.shtml.

  "Cyanide Toxicity".  Agency for Toxic Substances and
  Disease Registry, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.  
  in _American Family Physician_, Vol. 48, no 1, July 1993.

  Elkins, Hervey B. The Chemistry of Toxicology.  New York: John
  Wiley and Sons Ltd. 2nd (c) 1959

  Two recent (September, 1995) articles in UseNet's
  alt.revisionism provide extensive documentation regarding
  spurious claims made by deniers. These articles, by
  Brian Harmon, may be retrieved as:

  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/camps/auschwitz/cyanide/hcn-spurious-claims

  Mr. Harmon's articles provide specific citations from the
  two references to cyanide toxicology noted above.

  Markiewicz, Jan, et. al. A Study of the Cyanide Compounds
  Content in the Walls of the Gas Chambers in the Former
  Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps. Cracow: Institute of
  Forensic Research, 1994.
  (http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/polish/institute-for-forensic-research/)

  Meeussen, Johannes C. et. al. "Dissolution Behavior of Iron Cyanide
  (Prussian Blue) in Contaminated Soils." Environmental Science and
  Technology. 1992, 26, pp 1832-1838

  Reitlinger, Gerald.  _The Final Solution:  The Attempt to
  Exterminate the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945_.  (South
  Brunswick, New Jersey) c 1961.

  Truth Prevails: Demolishing Holocaust Denial, published by the Beate
  Klarsfeld foundation and Holocaust Survivors and Friends.  ISBN
  1-879437-00-7.

  Denying the Holocaust. Deborah Lipstadt provides extensive discussion
  relating to Leuchter's lack of expertise or credentials - see Work
  Cited.        

  The Holocaust archives are available via anonymous ftp, from
  ftp.nizkor.org, and via the World Wide Web, at www.nizkor.org.
  Because of the ease with which Web browsers retrieve software,
  reaching the archives via the Web is the preferred means of
  access.

4.2 Abbreviations Used in Citations

  (For a list of abbreviations which may have been used in this
  document, Get pub/camps/auschwitz/reference.term.)

4.3 Glossary

  Krema: a unit containing a homicidal gas chamber and furnaces for
         disposing of the bodies.  Auschwitz had five such installations.
         See http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/camps/auschwitz for images.

4.4 Works Cited

  Borkin, Joseph. The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farbin. London &
  New York: Collier Macmillan Publishers (London) and The Free Press,
  a division of Macmillan Publishing, 1978.

  Brugioni, Dino A., and Robert G.  Poirier.  The Holocaust Revisited:
  A Retrospective Analysis of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination
  Complex.  (Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.) February
  1979.

     The paper includes aerial photographs of the Auschwitz-Birkenau
     complex in operation during WWII.  A summary of their analysis is
     included in the paper.  These photos corroborate eyewitness
     accounts/Nazi documentation on camp operations.


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 26]

     You can obtain a copy from the US gov't through the following
     sources:

        National Technical Information Service
        5285 Port Royal Road
        Springfield, VA 22161

     or:

        Photoduplication Service
        Library of Congress
        Washington, D.C. 20540

     Use the report number(#st 79-10001) and the document number
     (NTISUBE28002) to speed service along.  The document # is
     particularly important.

  Feig, Konnilyn G. Hitler's Death Camps. LOC D810.J4 F36, 1981

  Foner, Samuel P.  "Major Historical Fact Uncovered" SPOTLIGHT Vol.
  XIX, Number 2, January 11, 1993)

  Hilberg, Raul.  Commandant of Auschwitz (London: Weidenfeld and
  Nicholson, 1959)

  Klarsfeld, Serge.  The Holocaust and Neo-Nazi Mythomania, as quoted
  in Feig.

  Shelly, "Secretaries of Death", Edited and Translated by Lore Shelly,
  Shengold Publishers INC., NY 1986

  Fertig, Howard.  The History of KL-Auschwitz.  New York: 1982

  Fleming, Gerald.  Hitler and the Final Solution.  University of
  California Press, 1984

  Lipstadt, Deborah. Denying The Holocaust. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
  Toronto: Maxwell MacMillan Canada. ISBN: 0-02-919235-8

  Merck Index. Ninth Edition, 1976.

  Mueller, Filip.  "Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas
  Chambers", as cited by both Feig and Hilberg.  Museum w Oswiecimu.
  "KL Auschwitz seen by the SS Hoess, Broad, Kremer," 2nd.  ed., 1978

  Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. III. Washington,
  D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946

  Nazism: A History in Documents and Eye Witness Accounts, Vol.2

  Pressac, J.C.  Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas
  Chambers.  New York: Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1989


[Leuchter]                                                     [Page 27]

  "Holocaust Revisionist Admits He Is Not Engineer." The Washington Post,
  June 18, 1991, FINAL Edition. Christopher B. Daly
 
  YVS XVI. Yad Vashem Studies, XVI. "Operation Reinhard":
  Extermination Camps of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.
  Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1984
  (Online at http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/israeli/yad-vashem/)