A case in London's High Court where scientific examination of evidence clearly documents the horrors of Auschwitz.
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00:00During the following program, look for NOVA's webmarkers, which lead you to more information
00:24at our website.
00:30The final solution, and the slaughter of millions of Jews during World War II, is
01:00the defining tragedy of the 20th century.
01:07But there are those who claim that the Holocaust is a myth.
01:12That the millions who died are mere phantoms.
01:15That the few who survived are liars.
01:22Today, more than 50 years after those terrible events, the very reality of the Holocaust is
01:30being challenged.
01:37In the first days of the new millennium, an extraordinary trial opens at the High Court
01:42in London.
01:44At stake is the historical truth of the Holocaust.
01:55The plaintiff is David Irving, hailed by his supporters as the pre-eminent historian of
02:00the Third Reich, reviled by his critics as an apologist for the Nazis' greatest crime.
02:09Irving is fighting a one-man libel action against American scholar Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher,
02:15Penguin Books, over her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust.
02:21She has branded Irving a dangerous revisionist, claiming he bends historical evidence to match
02:27his own ideological agenda.
02:31Irving counters that Lipstadt has conspired to ruin his reputation and threaten his livelihood.
02:40In a US court, Irving would have to prove Lipstadt's accusation is not only false, but made
02:46with reckless disregard for the truth.
02:50In Britain, the burden of proof is the other way round.
02:54The law sides with Irving, unless Lipstadt can prove that her statements are true.
03:01So the outcome of the case is by no means certain.
03:07No cameras are allowed in court.
03:09So this program will reconstruct with actors key exchanges from the trial.
03:16We will also explore the evidence presented by David Irving and by his opponents to trace
03:21the tragic record of the Holocaust.
03:27David Irving will represent himself in the trial, mounting his case alone and without legal
03:32support.
03:35Amongst him, the defense, headed by Richard Rampton, has marshaled a team of historians
03:39and experts who have worked for more than a year to assemble a mass of documents and evidence.
03:47Defendant Deborah Lipstadt will exercise her right not to speak during the trial, since
03:51she refuses to debate with people she considers to be Holocaust deniers.
03:57Over the course of three months, the trial will raise fundamental issues about the responsibility
04:02of historians in recording and interpreting an unimaginable human tragedy.
04:08It will also put on trial the historical truth of the Holocaust itself.
04:13Court rise!
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05:23And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
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05:37What began as a libel case will become a trial of the Holocaust itself.
05:51I have never held myself out to be a Holocaust expert,
05:55nor have I written books about what is now called the Holocaust.
06:00If I am an expert in anything at all,
06:03I may be so immodest to submit
06:05that it is in the role that Adolf Hitler played in propagating World War II
06:10and in the decisions he made
06:12and the knowledge on which he based those decisions.
06:16Since then I have been obliged willy-nilly
06:18to become something of a Holocaust expert
06:20through no desire of my own.
06:23To my utmost distaste
06:26it has become evident
06:28that it is no longer possible
06:31to write pure history
06:32untrammeled and uninfluenced by politics
06:35once one enters into this unpleasant field.
06:39The word denier
06:41is particularly evil
06:42because no one
06:44who is in full command of his mental faculties
06:47and with the slightest knowledge of what happened in World War II
06:49can deny that the tragedy actually happened.
06:52However much we dissident historians may wish to quibble
06:55over the scale, the means, the dates, and other minutiae,
07:00it is like being called
07:01a wife-beater, a paedophile.
07:06It is a verbal yellow star.
07:10Irving insists that he is not a denier of the Holocaust
07:22but simply an historian
07:24who has asked awkward questions.
07:29He challenges three key aspects of the Holocaust.
07:32Irving has argued that there was no systematic plan to exterminate the Jews,
07:40that there is no proof that Hitler ordered a policy of extermination,
07:46and that no Jews were killed in gas chambers at Auschwitz.
07:53To win the case, the defence must prove that Irving has knowingly distorted the historical record.
08:10My lord, Mr. Irving calls himself an historian.
08:18The truth is, however, he is not a historian at all, but a falsifier of history.
08:23To put it bluntly, he is a liar.
08:29Mr. Irving has used many different means to falsify history.
08:33Invention, misquotation, suppression, distortion, manipulation,
08:40not least, mistranslation.
08:43But all these techniques have the same ultimate effect.
08:46Falsification of the truth.
08:50Mr. Irving is nowadays a Holocaust denier.
09:07David Irving has become a hero of far-right groups around the world.
09:12As this footage played in the court shows,
09:14he has spoken to neo-Nazi rallies,
09:17where he has challenged the historical record of the Third Reich and the final solution.
09:34In his 30-year journey from controversial historian to alleged Holocaust denier,
09:41Irving has cast himself at the centre of a bitter drama marked by fines, arrests, and deportations.
09:48Fight! Fight! Fight!
09:50From the 1960s, David Irving established his reputation as a formidable researcher
10:00into the documentation of the Third Reich
10:02in a series of books about World War II and the Nazi leadership.
10:08Armed with an outstanding command of the German language,
10:11he repeatedly unearthed important new evidence,
10:14which he regularly shared with other scholars.
10:17He has been praised by reputable historians for, at that time,
10:23not accepting, as some historians did,
10:28that everything was known already
10:30and simply regurgitating what had been said already.
10:35In 1977, Irving published Hitler's War,
10:41which established his reputation with a wide popular audience.
10:45In the book, he accepted the historic reality of the Holocaust,
10:50but he argued that there was no documentary proof
10:53that Adolf Hitler had ordered the final solution.
10:55Irving's reputation was further enhanced
11:00when he successfully challenged the authenticity
11:03of the so-called Hitler diaries in 1983.
11:07But by the time of publication of the second edition of Hitler's War in 1991,
11:13all trace of the Holocaust had disappeared.
11:15Auschwitz was no longer a monstrous killing machine,
11:20but merely a slave labour camp.
11:22Why are you being criticised then?
11:23Because pressure groups are under the mind,
11:25they say in the speech.
11:26Irving was deported from Canada,
11:29refused entry to Australia,
11:30and threatened with arrest in Germany.
11:32But as a skilled publicist for his views,
11:36he has become the most notorious historian of the Third Reich
11:39and the most effective spokesman for the revision of the Nazi record.
11:44According to the evidence that I have seen,
11:46there was no gas chambers anywhere.
11:48David Irving was the kind of Holocaust denier
11:51who could get into people's living rooms,
11:53through books, through articles,
11:55through television appearances.
11:58I think he was probably the only one
11:59who could have made a real dent
12:02on public opinion.
12:07Today, a determined campaign in Europe and America
12:10echoes Irving's belief
12:12that the historical record of the final solution
12:14is a lie,
12:16orchestrated by the international Jewish lobby.
12:24The communications between Holocaust deniers
12:28have become more sophisticated.
12:29But their methods are well established.
12:35Exploiting public ignorance
12:37and fading memories of the details
12:39surrounding the extermination of Europe's Jews,
12:43the deniers distort documents
12:44and misquote records,
12:46challenging legitimate historians
12:48to validate the established record
12:50of the final solution.
12:51The defense insists that Irving's work as a scholar
13:10has been warped by his politics.
13:12Central to their case
13:14is their attempt to portray him
13:16as a racist.
13:18In preparation for the trial,
13:20the defense has had access
13:22to all of Irving's private diaries,
13:24compiled over a 40-year period.
13:26They are able to make use of some of this material
13:29in their cross-examination.
13:30A quiet evening at home, etc., etc., etc.
13:34Jessica.
13:34Who is Jessica?
13:36My little infant child.
13:38Yes?
13:38When she was nine months old at this time.
13:44Nine months old in September 1994.
13:46Jessica is turning into a fine little lady.
13:50She sits very upright on an ordinary chair.
13:52Her strong back muscles,
13:53a product of our regular walks
13:55and my arms to the bank, etc., etc.
13:57On those walks,
13:58we sing the binkety-bankety-bong song.
14:03And, more scurrilously,
14:06when half-breed children are wheeled past
14:08and then you go into italics,
14:11I am a baby Aryan,
14:13not Jewish or sectarian.
14:16I have no plans to marry an ape
14:19or a Rastafarian.
14:22Yes?
14:23Racist, Mr Irving.
14:25Anti-Semitic, Mr Irving, yes?
14:29I do not think so.
14:32Teaching your little child
14:34this kind of poison.
14:35Do you think a nine-month-old
14:37can understand words
14:39spoken in English or any other language?
14:46And is it a historian's job to be liked?
14:49To emphasise Irving's right-wing connections,
14:52the defence show a video
14:53of a speech he gave
14:55to the National Alliance,
14:56an American right-wing political group.
15:00He's recounting his response
15:02to a Jewish questioner
15:03at one of his meetings.
15:06You are disliked,
15:07you people.
15:08You have been disliked
15:09for 3,000 years.
15:11You have been disliked so much
15:13that you have been hounded
15:13from country to country,
15:15from pogrom to purge,
15:17from purge back to pogrom,
15:18and yet you never ask yourselves
15:20why you're disliked.
15:21That's the difference
15:21between you and me.
15:23It never occurs to you
15:24to look in the mirror
15:24and say,
15:25why am I disliked?
15:26What is it that the rest of humanity
15:28doesn't like about the Jewish people
15:30to such an extent
15:31that they repeatedly
15:32put us through the grinder?
15:35And he went berserk.
15:37He said,
15:37are you trying to say
15:38that we are responsible
15:39for Auschwitz ourselves?
15:44I said,
15:45well,
15:45the short answer is yes.
15:47The short answer
15:48I have to say is yes.
15:54Irving has never sought
15:56to deny
15:56that anti-Semitism
15:57was at the heart
15:58of Hitler's ideology.
16:02In standing guard
16:04against the Jew,
16:05Hitler wrote,
16:06I am defending
16:07the handiwork of the Lord.
16:09Erving has also
16:17never hidden
16:17his admiration for Hitler.
16:21He seems to want
16:22to exculpate Hitler.
16:23That seems to be
16:24a key element
16:25of his agenda.
16:27He has himself said,
16:29I believe,
16:29that Hitler
16:32had said
16:33to his doctor,
16:35I think it was,
16:36that at some point
16:38a historian
16:39would come along
16:40and it would be
16:41an English historian
16:42who would write
16:43a true account
16:45of these events
16:47and he seems to think
16:49that he is that historian.
16:54One of Irving's
16:55central challenges
16:56to the generally
16:56accepted view
16:57of the Holocaust
16:58is that there is
16:59no documentary evidence
17:01that Hitler planned
17:02or ordered it.
17:04For years,
17:05Irving has been offering
17:06a thousand dollars
17:07to anyone
17:08who can produce
17:09a document.
17:09Irving claims
17:13that the absence
17:14of an early order
17:15from Hitler
17:16demolishes the vision
17:17of the Holocaust
17:18being planned
17:19and organized
17:20at the highest levels
17:21of the Reich.
17:24But most historians
17:26insist that in fact
17:27Hitler's plans
17:28for the final solution
17:29evolved over time
17:31and were not
17:32the result
17:33of a single decision.
17:34I would suggest
17:37now after 50 years
17:40of research
17:40that Hitler's decision
17:42was made in stages.
17:45That his thinking
17:46evolved
17:47and that his pronouncements
17:49became
17:50ever more drastic
17:52and ever more specific
17:53with this evolution.
17:56The trial will follow
17:58in detail
17:59the developing stages
18:00of the final solution.
18:03Seven months
18:03before the outbreak
18:04of World War II
18:05Hitler spelled out
18:06the nightmare
18:07awaiting the Jews.
18:08Wenn es dem
18:14internationalen
18:15Finanzjudentum
18:16in und außerhalb
18:18Europas
18:18gelingen sollte
18:19die Völker
18:21noch einmal
18:21in einen Weltkrieg
18:22zu stürzen
18:22dann wird das
18:24Ergebnis
18:25nicht der Sieg
18:26des Judentums
18:27sein
18:27sondern die
18:28Vernichtung
18:28der jüdischen
18:29Rache
18:29in Europa.
18:30With the German
18:43invasion of Poland
18:44and the beginning
18:45of the Second World War
18:47the ominous threat
18:48delivered by Hitler
18:49against the Jews
18:51was to become real.
18:52Up until the end
18:57of 1939
18:587,000 Jews
19:00had been killed
19:01in six years
19:02of Nazi rule.
19:04With the rapid
19:05Nazi advances
19:06and with millions
19:07of Jews
19:08in Eastern Europe
19:09now falling
19:10under Nazi control
19:11the leadership
19:12debated
19:13how to resolve
19:14what they called
19:15the Jewish question.
19:17Suddenly they found
19:20themselves with
19:21several million
19:22more Jews
19:23and what's more
19:23Jews who felt
19:25to be dangerous
19:26in the sense
19:27that they were
19:27associated with
19:28Bolshevism
19:29and they were
19:30Orthodox Jews
19:31many of them
19:32and that created
19:33a kind of
19:34other-ness
19:35which to some
19:36extent
19:37fuelled
19:38and made it easier
19:39fuelled the kind
19:40of hostility
19:41and the feeling
19:42that the Jews
19:43were somehow
19:45not like us
19:46they're subhuman
19:47if you like.
19:51The Nazi invasion
19:52of the Soviet Union
19:53in June 1941
19:55signaled the launch
19:56of a new
19:57and more savage
19:58stage of the
19:59final solution.
20:13The German army
20:14high command
20:15had been instructed
20:16to prepare
20:16for a brutal
20:17conflict
20:18of ideology
20:19and racial
20:19opposition.
20:22Hitler insisted
20:22that the struggle
20:23would have to be
20:24conducted
20:25with unprecedented,
20:27unmerciful
20:28and unrelenting
20:29harshness.
20:36Four motorized
20:38task forces
20:38known as the
20:39Einsatzgruppen
20:40were set up
20:41to follow
20:41to follow the
20:41German
20:42blitzkrieg.
20:42Their highest
20:46priority was
20:47the massacre
20:48of Soviet
20:49commissars
20:49and Jews.
20:52The Holocaust
20:52had begun.
20:54There was a
21:00prescribed method
21:01for carrying out
21:03mass shootings
21:03of Jews.
21:05Often pits
21:06were dug
21:07ahead of time,
21:09sometimes days
21:10in advance.
21:15Jews were
21:16marched to these
21:17usually isolated
21:19locations where
21:20they were either
21:21placed in the pits
21:23and shot there
21:23or shot into
21:25the pits.
21:28The whole process
21:30was so similar
21:32in different places
21:34at different times
21:35that it suggests
21:37a considerable degree
21:39of forethought
21:40and planning.
21:41It is
21:44inconceivable
21:45that the
21:46Einsatzgruppen
21:47could have
21:48set out
21:49on their
21:49missions
21:50without
21:50preparation,
21:52briefing,
21:54organization
21:54and agreement
21:55at the highest
21:56level.
21:58The
21:59Einsatzgruppen
22:00and the army
22:00were tasked
22:01with
22:02Führer orders,
22:03orders issued
22:04in the name
22:05of the
22:06Führer.
22:06They sent
22:07back reports
22:08to Himmler,
22:10routine
22:11weekly reports
22:12on the scale
22:13of the killing
22:14of Jews,
22:16commissars
22:16and other groups
22:17that they
22:18targeted.
22:22Irving claims
22:23the Einsatzgruppen
22:24massacres of up
22:25to 1.5 million
22:27victims
22:27were arbitrary
22:29actions by
22:30criminal individuals.
22:33To challenge
22:34Irving's claim,
22:35the defense
22:36presents in evidence
22:37a report from
22:38the chief of
22:38Einsatzkommando
22:393, SS
22:40colonel
22:41Carl Jäger.
22:43Dispatched to
22:44Berlin in
22:45December 1941,
22:46it listed the
22:47numbers of
22:48executions carried
22:49out by his
22:49squad since
22:50July of that
22:51year.
22:52Of 137,000
22:54people executed,
22:56about 98.5%
22:58are identified
22:59as having been
23:00Jews.
23:01Men,
23:02women and
23:02children.
23:03That is
23:04correct, yes.
23:05And this
23:06report goes
23:06back to
23:06Berlin?
23:07Yes.
23:08What
23:09happened to
23:09Herr Jäger,
23:10the head of
23:11this Einsatzgruppen
23:12squad?
23:12Was he
23:12sacked?
23:15That I do
23:15not know.
23:16Imprisoned?
23:18That I do
23:19not know.
23:21This is
23:21completely at
23:22random, really,
23:22because one can
23:23take any number
23:24of examples.
23:24The massacre of
23:2533,000 Jews
23:27from Kiev in
23:27one go in
23:28two days,
23:2829th, 30th,
23:29September 1941
23:31one at
23:31Babi Yar.
23:32I do not
23:33know in
23:33detail about
23:34it.
23:34Do not
23:34these things
23:35jump out at
23:35you, Mr.
23:36Irving?
23:37These vast
23:37numbers of
23:38recorded deaths
23:39is being shipped
23:39back, laboriously
23:40and carefully
23:41typewritten reports
23:42by the murderers
23:43to the head of
23:44the security
23:44service.
23:45I accept that,
23:46but this is of
23:47great interest to
23:48a Holocaust
23:48historian, not
23:49a Hitler
23:49historian.
23:50I am a
23:52Hitler historian,
23:53if you appreciate
23:53the difference.
23:54I do not think
23:55there is a
23:56difference.
23:57We are not
23:57so much concerned
23:58with Hitler at
23:59the moment, but
24:00Berlin.
24:01Berlin must
24:02have known
24:02that the
24:03shootings were
24:03continuing on
24:04air, as you
24:05would accept
24:05a massive
24:06scale.
24:07I accept
24:08this, my
24:08lord, yes.
24:09Do I now
24:10have a clear
24:11concession that
24:12what the SS
24:13did in the
24:14east to
24:15the Russian
24:16Jews and
24:17the Baltic
24:17Jews to a
24:18total of
24:18perhaps 1.5
24:20million was
24:20done on the
24:21authority and
24:22with the
24:23knowledge of
24:24Berlin?
24:27Yes, quite
24:27clearly.
24:31in October
24:361941, the
24:37first deportations
24:39of German
24:39Jews to
24:40the east
24:40took place.
24:45Although the
24:46Nazis were
24:47murdering
24:47thousands of
24:48Soviet Jews,
24:49it was not
24:50yet a matter
24:51of policy to
24:52kill Jews
24:52from their
24:53own country.
24:53with America,
24:59which was
24:59seen by
25:00Hitler as a
25:01Jewish-controlled
25:01nation, still
25:02not in the
25:03war, the
25:04Nazis had a
25:05powerful reason
25:06to preserve
25:06the German
25:07Jews.
25:10Hitler had a
25:11specific interest
25:13in the Jews
25:13from Germany
25:15because he
25:16wanted to keep
25:16them as
25:16hostages to
25:17keep America
25:18out of the
25:19war.
25:19and because
25:21there was a
25:21certain amount
25:22of unease
25:23amongst the
25:23killers and
25:24the SS and
25:26their aides in
25:27the east when
25:29it came to
25:29killing Jews
25:30from their
25:31own cultural
25:32circle.
25:33Killing
25:33East European
25:34Jews is one
25:34thing, Bolshevik
25:35Jews as they
25:36understood them
25:37to be, or
25:38religiously
25:38orthodox Jews
25:39who they
25:40despised.
25:41That they
25:42did without
25:42any qualms.
25:43But Jews
25:44who spoke
25:45German, who
25:46came from
25:46Berlin, that
25:47caused a
25:48certain amount
25:48of unease.
25:49and Hitler
25:49didn't want
25:50to unsettle
25:51his men
25:51at the
25:52front line.
26:03A mansion
26:04near a lake
26:04south of
26:05Berlin is
26:06accepted by
26:07most historians
26:08to be the
26:08place where
26:09the organisation
26:10of the final
26:11solution was
26:11planned.
26:14It's a very
26:15moody,
26:17atmospheric
26:17sort of
26:18place.
26:20Something has
26:20seeped into
26:21the soil
26:22or into
26:23the brick
26:23work there.
26:27It's quite
26:28easy to
26:28imagine this
26:29conference in
26:31the winter
26:31with the
26:32big black
26:33Mercedes
26:33waiting outside
26:35and the
26:35chauffeurs
26:37waiting and
26:37the civil
26:38servants and
26:38the uniformed
26:39Gestapo and
26:40SS men
26:41coming out
26:41having had
26:42lunch, I
26:43believe.
26:44And you
26:45could see
26:45then the
26:46way in
26:46which a
26:47modern
26:47European
26:48sophisticated
26:49state could
26:51descend into
26:53this kind of
26:53Al Capone
26:54style gangsterism.
26:57It's a very
26:58haunting place.
26:59The significance
27:02of the
27:03Vansay
27:03conference was
27:04really, that
27:05was the point
27:06at which everyone
27:06was painted
27:07with the same
27:08brush.
27:09They all
27:09dipped their
27:10hands in
27:10the blood.
27:14On January
27:15the 20th,
27:161942,
27:17Reinhard
27:18Heydrich,
27:19chief of the
27:19Nazi security
27:20service,
27:21summoned a
27:21meeting of
27:2215 Nazi
27:23functionaries,
27:24including Adolf
27:25Eichmann,
27:25to gather
27:26here.
27:26The entry
27:32of America
27:33into the
27:33war in
27:34December 1941
27:35meant that
27:36the bureaucrats
27:37were gathering
27:38to discuss
27:38how best to
27:39fulfil Hitler's
27:40prophecy of
27:42the extermination
27:43of all 11
27:44million Jews
27:45in Europe.
27:48I think
27:49Vansay was
27:50a conference
27:50which came
27:51at a point
27:52where Himmler
27:53and the
27:54racist apparatus
27:55had already
27:56begun a
27:57programme of
27:58what one
27:58might call
27:59the rationalisation
28:00of racism.
28:02I think that
28:03Himmler and
28:04others were
28:04shocked in
28:05the end by
28:06the brutality
28:08and violence
28:09of the wild
28:10killings across
28:11the summer.
28:11They were keen
28:12to bring the
28:12whole thing
28:13under control.
28:14It was very
28:14much Himmler's
28:15habit, of course.
28:15He liked order.
28:16He liked to
28:17have rational
28:18structures for
28:19carrying things
28:19out.
28:20He was very
28:21keen to do
28:21things the
28:21German way.
28:22building up
28:23factures of
28:25death,
28:25extermination
28:26camps,
28:26liquidating
28:27Jews
28:27systematically,
28:29using
28:30bureaucrats
28:31as much
28:31as soldiers.
28:36Irving
28:37disputes what
28:38happened at
28:38Vansay.
28:39The transcript
28:40of the meeting,
28:41he insists,
28:42contains no
28:42reference to
28:43liquidation or
28:44to Hitler's
28:45approval.
28:46It was,
28:47he says,
28:47a low-level
28:49conference
28:49concerned with
28:50a shift in
28:50Nazi policy
28:51towards the
28:52Jews from
28:53deportation
28:54overseas to
28:55evacuation to
28:56the east.
29:02But as one
29:03of the principal
29:03architects of
29:04the final
29:05solution,
29:06Adolf Eichmann
29:06confirmed at
29:08his trial in
29:081961,
29:10the talk at
29:11Vansay had
29:12all been of
29:12killing and
29:13liquidation,
29:14disguised in
29:15the minutes,
29:16written by
29:16Eichmann himself
29:17but checked
29:18over and
29:19amended by
29:20Heydrich.
29:31Moreover,
29:32Eichmann said,
29:33the Vansay
29:34conference was
29:35in fact a
29:35high-level
29:36meeting of
29:36a wide range
29:37of senior
29:38officials to
29:39plan the
29:40implementation of
29:41the final
29:42solution of
29:42the Jewish
29:43question in
29:44Europe.
29:47early in 1942,
29:57the final
29:58solution of
29:59the Jewish
29:59question entered
30:00a new and
30:01more lethal
30:01phase with the
30:03introduction of a
30:04technology of
30:04mass slaughter.
30:05Himmler visited
30:10Minsk and
30:12witnessed a
30:13mass execution
30:15and was
30:16very shocked.
30:19Allegedly,
30:20some brains
30:21spattered onto
30:22his coat and
30:23he realized that
30:24this was imposing
30:26quite a burden on
30:27the people who
30:28are doing it.
30:28and he decided
30:30that attempts
30:31should be made
30:32to produce a
30:33killing process
30:33that was easier
30:35for those carrying
30:36it out.
30:41Gassing technology
30:42had been developed
30:43as part of the
30:44Nazi program of
30:45euthanasia,
30:46directed against
30:47mentally and
30:47physically handicapped
30:48people and
30:49claiming 70,000
30:50lives.
30:53Now, it was to
30:55be used against
30:55the Jews.
30:58Mobile gas
31:03vans first
31:04appeared on the
31:05Eastern Front
31:05early in 1942.
31:09Carbon monoxide
31:09was pumped from
31:10the van's engines
31:11to suffocate the
31:12victims locked
31:13inside.
31:16Irving has
31:17previously conceded
31:18the existence of
31:19these gas vans,
31:21acknowledging an
31:22eyewitness account
31:22from the SS
31:23colonel responsible
31:24for Jewish
31:25affairs, Adolf
31:26Eichmann.
31:28But he continues
31:30to claim that
31:30they were used
31:31only on an
31:32experimental basis.
31:34The defence
31:36enters into
31:36evidence an
31:37SS document of
31:38June 1942.
31:41Since December
31:421941, for
31:43example, 97,000
31:45were processed
31:45by three trucks
31:46in action without
31:47any defects in
31:49the vehicles being
31:49encountered.
31:50Shall we go
31:51straight to the
31:52bottom line and
31:52say, yes, I fully
31:53accept the innuendo
31:54you're placing on
31:55that document?
31:56Innuendo?
31:57It is not stated
31:58clearly, but quite
31:59clearly 97,000
32:01people were
32:01liquidated in
32:02these trucks.
32:03In three trucks?
32:05Over the months
32:06concerned?
32:07No, actually it
32:08was just about a
32:09month and a week.
32:1197,000 people in
32:14three trucks during
32:16the course of five
32:17weeks.
32:18That is a very
32:19substantial achievement
32:20if you work it out
32:21with a pocket
32:22calculator.
32:22clever SS.
32:28Is it very
32:29experimental?
32:31My lord, I did
32:31not have this
32:32document at the
32:33time I said that.
32:34I had this
32:34document five or
32:35six months ago.
32:36To answer the
32:36question, even so,
32:37would you describe
32:38it as very limited
32:39and experimental?
32:41Not on this scale.
32:42This is systematic.
32:43It is systematic.
32:45Huge scale.
32:47Using gas trucks
32:48to murder Jews.
32:49Yes, no question
32:52at all, but you
32:54have failed to
32:54establish the link
32:56upwards to Hitler.
33:00I do not imagine
33:01that Himmler, at
33:02that stage, could
33:04have even thought
33:06of acting
33:07independently of
33:08the Fuhrer.
33:10As he himself
33:11said, his whole
33:12life had been, his
33:16whole program had
33:17been based on
33:18loyalty to the
33:18Fuhrer.
33:19The idea that
33:20Himmler had an
33:21independent policy, I
33:22think, is absurd.
33:24There's no question
33:25in my mind that the
33:26policy came from
33:27Hitler.
33:30I think only the
33:31most amateurish of
33:32researchers could
33:34believe that in a
33:35political setup like
33:36the Third Reich,
33:38every action that
33:40took place was
33:41authorised from
33:43above by a written
33:45order.
33:45Hitler, this was a
33:47criminal regime that
33:49was aware it was
33:50engaging in criminal
33:51acts.
33:52It played fast and
33:53loose with the law.
33:55And there are a
33:56series of other
33:57orders given by
33:59Hitler that we know
34:03about which were
34:04never actually put on
34:06paper.
34:07These were known as
34:08Fuhrer wishes.
34:09His underlings would
34:11turn up at a place and
34:12say it is the will of
34:13the Fuhrer that
34:14something should happen.
34:15And everybody knew
34:16exactly what that
34:17meant.
34:17There was an order
34:18from on high.
34:19It was not to be
34:20written down.
34:22What we would call
34:22today complete
34:24deniability was to
34:25be preserved.
34:27There are no orders.
34:30They have not been
34:31found.
34:32We have been in the
34:32archives, in and out
34:34of the archives of
34:35the world for the
34:35last 50 years, since
34:37the end of World War
34:37II.
34:38The case is not that
34:40there is a piece of
34:40paper from Himmler to
34:42Hitler saying, here
34:43Adolf are the
34:44statistics.
34:46The case is simply
34:47this.
34:48The scale of the
34:49operation is vast.
34:52It must have
34:52involved what must
34:53have been very
34:54considerable disruption
34:55to military operations
34:56amongst other things.
34:58It involved a lot of
34:58economic and manpower
35:00resources.
35:01In the light of what
35:03we do know that
35:04Hitler did know.
35:05In the light of all
35:07the information we
35:08have about Hitler's
35:09anti-Semitism.
35:11And as one of the
35:13foundations of Nazi
35:14ideology, it would be
35:16amazing if Hitler did
35:18not know, in broad
35:19terms.
35:20I'm not saying he was
35:21interested in numbers or
35:22anything like that.
35:23What was going on?
35:26The European-wide genocide
35:32against the Jews reaches its
35:47climax in 1942.
35:48The ghettos of Poland are
35:53systematically emptied out.
35:55The great centres of
35:55population, Lublin, Lodz,
35:59Warsaw.
35:59It's also during this year that
36:14the round-ups begin in France,
36:17the Netherlands, Belgium.
36:18All over Europe, during 1942,
36:27Jews are being counted,
36:29listed, marked with the
36:31yellow star, rounded up,
36:34then loaded on trains and
36:35sent eastwards, most of them
36:37murdered on arrival.
36:38In the summer of 1942, the
36:51ultimate stage of the final
36:52solution began to unfold.
36:55The use of hydrogen cyanide,
36:58cyclone B, in the gas chambers
37:00of the Polish extermination
37:02centres.
37:02Some camps, like Auschwitz, were
37:13large complexes, part slave
37:15labour camp.
37:17Others, like Treblinka,
37:19Sobibor and Belzec, were
37:21designed purely as factories of
37:23death.
37:23But, whatever their destination,
37:30Jews who were sent to the
37:31camps were not expected to
37:32survive.
37:36The trial moves on to
37:38Auschwitz, the largest and
37:40most notorious of all Nazi
37:42death camps, where at least a
37:45million Jews were murdered.
37:46On the ramp at Birkenau, selections
37:55were made from the thousands
37:56arriving daily.
37:59Those who could be worked to
38:00death were separated from those,
38:02the old, the very young, the
38:04sick, who were to be marched to
38:06the crematoria and gassed soon
38:09after arrival.
38:13In the case of Jews, they sent to
38:16Auschwitz the whole generations,
38:18grandparents and grandchildren.
38:24And among them, the Nazis carried
38:26out selections because they didn't
38:28want to have so many people in the
38:30camp who were not able for work.
38:34Central to Irving's revisionist
38:36claims about the Holocaust is his
38:39belief that there were no
38:40homicidal gas chambers in Auschwitz.
38:42He claims that the gas chambers were
38:46a piece of atrocity propaganda
38:48invented by the British political
38:50warfare executive.
38:52And he insists that all eyewitnesses
38:55are liars.
38:57The reason for his rejection of the
38:59gas chambers at Auschwitz can be
39:01described in one word.
39:03Leuchter.
39:04Good morning.
39:06My name is Fred Leuchter.
39:08I'm an engineer from Boston in the
39:09United States.
39:11And I'm here this snowy morning
39:13here at Auschwitz in Poland.
39:15And I'm here to examine this
39:17alleged gas chamber.
39:19Self-styled gas chamber expert
39:21Fred Leuchter shot to notoriety in
39:241988 at the trial in Canada of
39:27Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel.
39:29I'm standing in a fumigate.
39:33At Zundel's request Leuchter went to
39:36Auschwitz to test for hydrogen
39:38cyanide deposits both in a chamber
39:41used to delouse clothing and in
39:44crematorium 2, the largest of the
39:47four main gas chambers at Auschwitz-
39:49Birkenau.
39:53Leuchter concluded that crematorium 2
39:56could not have been used as a
39:57homicidal gas chamber.
40:00For Irving, it was a decisive moment.
40:04He pronounced himself entirely
40:06converted by Leuchter and even
40:08published a glossy version of the
40:09report in June 1989.
40:15But the defendants say that Leuchter's
40:18methodology was fatally flawed.
40:21He had chiseled into the walls to take
40:23his samples when hydrogen cyanide only
40:26reacts on the surface of the brickwork.
40:30Leuchter also made a fundamental mistake
40:32in the analysis of his own results.
40:35He took the fact that there were far
40:37greater quantities of cyanide in the
40:38delousing chamber than in the gas chamber
40:41to mean that there had been no gassing
40:42of humans.
40:43In fact, a far greater quantity of cyanide is
40:49necessary to kill lice than to kill humans and so the
40:52results were entirely consistent with the
40:54presence both of delousing chambers and of
40:57homicidal gas chambers.
40:59Leuchter's methods and his conclusions have been
41:05totally discredited.
41:08Irving accepts this but continues to use the
41:12report to back his denials of the gas chambers.
41:15The SS abandoned Auschwitz in January 1945, shortly
41:39before the advancing Red Army reached the camp.
41:48By destroying the physical evidence of the gas
41:51chambers, the SS may have believed they were erasing
41:54all traces of their crimes.
41:56In fact, a large body of documentary evidence
42:02survived in the form of official correspondence,
42:05architects' blueprints and plans.
42:12As ever, the true nature of what was being done was
42:16obscured by the use of euphemistic phrases and
42:19coded language.
42:21The whole process of extermination together with
42:24the other aspects of life in a concentration camp
42:27were top secret and official documents dealing with
42:31the matter were full of code words.
42:35For example, the Nazis never wrote people killed by
42:38means of cyclone B.
42:40They used special terminology.
42:44A document of October the 2nd, 1942 requests a supply
42:48from the manufacturers of cyclone B gas, calling it
42:51material for resettlement of Jews.
42:54In the blueprints for crematorium 2, the gas chamber was always
43:02referred to as Lichen Keller 1, the underground mortuary.
43:09But there are a few gaps in the Nazi camouflage.
43:13The defense refers Erving to a document from the Auschwitz
43:16archive dated January the 29th, 1943.
43:21The letter is one of the few surviving documents that refers to gassing.
43:27The crucial word in this case is for Gassungskeller, literally,
43:31gassing cellar.
43:32The expert witness for the defense is Professor Robert Jan van Pelt,
43:39the world's leading authority on the history and architecture of Auschwitz.
43:46Van Pelt has presented blueprints and documents showing that four new crematoria were built during
43:51the summer of 1942, increasing the camp's incineration capacity for the following year by over 2,000
43:59and providing confirmation, the defense insists, of the development of Auschwitz
44:04from a slave labor camp to a death camp.
44:07Irving claims that the crematoria were built in response to a typhus epidemic,
44:14which ravaged the camp that year.
44:17Professor Van Pelt, what figures do we have here?
44:22How many people?
44:25It is 120,000.
44:28Projected incineration capacity for 120,000 people per month.
44:34Approximately, sir, we get an idea of what we're talking about here.
44:38That is four times Wembley Stadium.
44:40That is 12,000 tons of people.
44:4512,000 tons of cadavers that you're going to have to cremate
44:49using these very limited installations.
44:52I do not want to speculate on how many tons
44:55and how many at Wembley Stadium.
44:58You do the calculation yourself.
44:59What does the human body weigh?
45:01100 kilograms?
45:03Say, 10 people per tonne?
45:06I do not think you have been in Auschwitz very long
45:08if you weigh 100 kilograms.
45:11Say, 12 people per tonne if you want to cavil.
45:14You're still going to end up with
45:1510,000 tons of bodies to dispose of.
45:19If you take it from me,
45:21it takes 30 kilograms of coke
45:24to incinerate one body.
45:26Can you work out how many tons of coke
45:28we're going to put into these tiny coal bunkers
45:31you see on the aerial photograph here
45:33to destroy, to incinerate, to cremate
45:36120,000 bodies?
45:39We're talking about trainloads, if not shiploads of coke
45:45that are going to have to go into Auschwitz.
45:48And there's no sign of the mountains of coke on the photograph.
45:53Do you agree?
45:53First of all, we do not know how much coke was delivered to Auschwitz in 1944.
46:00We do know how much coke was delivered to Auschwitz in 1943.
46:04We have two documents.
46:07One which talks about incineration capacity
46:09and one which talks about the coke use.
46:13On the basis of that, we can calculate
46:15the amount of coke which is going to be used per corpse
46:19which is not a happy calculation, I must say.
46:23But the bottom line is
46:24three and a half kilos of coke per corpse.
46:28Do you really sincerely believe
46:31you can burn one corpse with enough coke
46:34you could fit into one of these water bottles here?
46:38In re-examination for the defence,
46:41Richard Rampton produces the patent application
46:43for the top ovens supplied to Auschwitz
46:46for incineration purposes.
46:49The case sought to be made
46:51is that this explains
46:53how they were able to incinerate
46:56as many corpses as they could
46:58and also how they managed
46:59to use as little fuel as they did.
47:03Yes, this is what it says here
47:05at page 540.
47:07It says,
47:09Preheating of such an oven
47:11should take at least two days.
47:13After this preheating,
47:15the oven will not need any more fuel
47:17due to the heat produced by the corpses.
47:21A read on, will you?
47:22It will be able to maintain
47:26its necessary high temperature
47:27through self-heating.
47:30Carry on.
47:32But to allow it
47:34to maintain a constant temperature,
47:36it would have become necessary
47:38to introduce at the same time
47:40so-called well-fed
47:42and so-called emaciated corpses.
47:44Because one can only guarantee
47:46continuous high temperatures
47:48through the emission of human fat.
47:51The ruins of crematorium 2
47:59at Auschwitz
48:00are the ultimate focus
48:01of the struggle in the courtroom.
48:06It is at this place
48:07that Irving's denials
48:09must confront the evidence
48:10that half a million people
48:12were systematically exterminated here.
48:14Before the liquidation of the camp
48:21and before removing the camp,
48:24the Nazis ordered to obliterate
48:26all traces of the crimes.
48:28So they ordered to dismantle
48:30the gas chambers,
48:32the ovens,
48:33in November and in December in 1944.
48:37And one week before the liberation,
48:39they destroyed the buildings,
48:43they dynamited them.
48:44That's why we can see
48:45only the ruins now.
48:46The complex of buildings
48:53which made up crematorium 2
48:55has been meticulously studied
48:58by defence witness
48:59Professor Van Pelt.
49:02Based on his research,
49:04it is possible to reconstruct
49:05the horrifying details
49:07of a factory of death.
49:15The victims were herded
49:16more than a thousand at a time
49:18into the undressing room
49:20where they were told
49:21to prepare for a mass shower.
49:29They were then ordered
49:31to go towards the gas chamber.
49:33With the victims packed
49:43inside the gas chamber,
49:46SS guards dropped
49:47Cyclone B capsules
49:48down through four wire mesh columns
49:51from holes in the roof.
49:53The body heat of the victims
49:55released the deadly
49:56hydrogen cyanide gas
49:57into the room.
49:58After a few minutes,
50:04the corpses were taken up
50:06in a lift
50:06to the cremation room
50:08where a gallery
50:09of five ovens
50:11worked ceaselessly.
50:19For Irving,
50:20the roof of crematorium 2
50:22provides the linchpin
50:23of his case
50:24against the gas chambers.
50:26Eyewitness accounts
50:28speak of gas pellets
50:29being poured
50:30into the gas chambers
50:31through holes in the roof.
50:33But according to Irving,
50:35there is no sign
50:36of these holes.
50:38Professor Van Pelt,
50:40we're wasting our time,
50:41really, are we not?
50:42There were never
50:42any holes in that roof.
50:44There are no holes
50:45in that roof today.
50:46There were never
50:47four holes through that roof.
50:49They cannot have poured
50:51cyanide capsules
50:52through that roof.
50:53The concrete evidence
50:54is still there.
50:55You yourself
50:56have stood on that roof
50:57and looked for those holes
50:58and not found them.
50:59Our experts have stood
51:00on that roof
51:01and not found them.
51:03The holes
51:04were never there.
51:07What do you have
51:08to say to that?
51:10I would just say,
51:12why don't we put up
51:13a picture of the roof
51:15and look at the roof
51:16in the present condition?
51:17The roof is a mess.
51:19The roof is absolutely a mess.
51:21A large part of the roof
51:22is in fragments.
51:23The concrete has
51:24many different colours.
51:26You pretend
51:27that you are talking
51:28about a piece
51:29which is intact.
51:31It is not.
51:33You do accept,
51:35do you not,
51:36Professor Van Pelt,
51:37that if you were
51:38to go to Auschwitz
51:39the day after tomorrow
51:40with a trowel
51:41and clean away the gravel
51:42and find a reinforced
51:43concrete hole
51:45where we anticipate
51:46it would be
51:47on your drawings,
51:48then this would make
51:50an open and shut case
51:52and I would happily
51:54abandon my action
51:55immediately.
51:57I think I cannot
51:59comment on this.
52:00I am an expert
52:01on Auschwitz
52:02and not on the way
52:03you run your case.
52:04After 31 days,
52:13David Irving
52:13lost his libel action.
52:16Deborah Lippstadt's
52:17defence had cost
52:18three million dollars.
52:21In his verdict,
52:22the Honourable
52:22Mr Justice Gray
52:23said,
52:25Irving has,
52:27for his own
52:28ideological reasons,
52:29persistently
52:30and deliberately
52:31misrepresented
52:32and manipulated
52:33historical evidence.
52:36For the same reasons,
52:39he has portrayed
52:40Hitler in an
52:41unwarrantedly
52:42favourable light,
52:44principally in his
52:45relation towards
52:46and responsibility
52:47for the treatment
52:48of the Jews.
52:50He is an active
52:52Holocaust denier.
52:54He is anti-Semitic
52:56and racist
52:57and he associates
52:59with right-wing
52:59extremists
53:00who promote
53:01neo-Nazism.
53:03I think it's
53:12taken David Irving
53:14and his ilk
53:14out of the equation.
53:17We can now see
53:18that Holocaust denial
53:19is on a separate planet.
53:20It has nothing to do
53:22with genuine
53:23scholarly research.
53:27Amongst genuine scholars
53:29and researchers,
53:30arguments are going
53:30going to go on.
53:32One of the best
53:33memorials
53:34to the Holocaust
53:35and to the fate
53:37of the Jews
53:37under Nazi rule
53:38is to argue
53:40about what happened,
53:42to do the research,
53:43to write the books,
53:45to have scholarly
53:46conferences.
53:47Because this history
53:48is not cut and dried.
53:50New documents
53:50are appearing,
53:52new interpretations
53:53are being put forward,
53:55respectable interpretations
53:56by good young scholars.
53:59Relating those events
54:00to the abuse
54:01of human rights
54:02that's happening
54:02in the world today,
54:04atrocities and mass murders
54:05that are being committed
54:06even in Europe,
54:08is a very good way
54:09of remembering
54:11the Jews
54:11who suffered
54:11at the hands
54:12of the Nazis.
54:12visit Nova's website
54:32for an extensive timeline
54:33covering Nazi abuses
54:35from 1933
54:36to the end
54:37of World War II
54:39at pbs.org
54:41or America Online
54:42keyword,
54:43PBS.
55:02Educators can order this
55:03or any other Nova program
55:05for $19.95
55:06plus shipping and handling.
55:08Call WGBH Boston Video
55:10at 1-800-255-9424.
55:26Nova is a production
55:28of WGBH Boston.
55:34Major funding for Nova
55:36is provided by
55:37the Park Foundation
55:39dedicated to education
55:41and quality television.
55:48Scientific achievement
55:49is fueled
55:51by the simple desire
55:52to make things
55:53clear.
55:56Sprint PCS
55:57is proud
55:58to support Nova.
56:00This program
56:01is funded in part
56:02by the Northwestern Mutual Foundation.
56:04Some people already know
56:06Northwestern Mutual
56:08can help plan
56:08for your children's educations.
56:10Are you there yet?
56:12Northwestern Mutual
56:13Financial Network.
56:15And by
56:15the Corporation
56:16for Public Broadcasting
56:17and by contributions
56:19to your PBS station
56:20from viewers like you.
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56:58This is PBS.