Α)Frederick «Fred» A. Leuchter, Jr. (born c. 1943) is an author of forensic Holocaust denial material. In the past, he had been contracted by governmental authorities of several states of the United States to improve the design of instruments for capital punishment, but no longer does so, primarily because of his lack of any formal engineering experience, but also because of charges of running a «death row shakedown» in which Leuchter threatened to testify for the defense in capital cases if he was not given contracts for his services by the state.[1][2][3]
The Leuchter report is a pseudoscientific[4] document authored by American execution technician Fred A. Leuchter, who was commissioned by Ernst Zündel to defend him at his trial in Canada for distributing false news, namely Holocaust denial material. Leuchter compiled the report in 1988 with the intention of investigating the feasibility of mass homicidal gassings at Nazi extermination camps, specifically at Auschwitz. He travelled to the camp, collected multiple pieces of brick from the remains of the crematoria and gas chambers (without the camp’s permission), brought them back to the United States, and submitted them for chemical analysis. At the trial, Leuchter was required to defend the report in his capacity as expert witness; however he was dismissed because during the proceedings it became apparent that he had neither the qualifications nor experience to act in such a position.
Leuchter chiefly cited the absence of Prussian blue in the homicidal gas chambers in support of his view that they could not have functioned that way. However, residual iron-based cyanide compounds are not a categorical consequence of cyanide exposure. By not discriminating against that, Leuchter introduced an unreliable factor into his experiment, and the outcome was seriously flawed as a result. In contrast, scientifically respectable tests conducted by Polish forensic scientists (who discriminated against iron-based compounds) confirmed the presence of cyanide in the locations and manner in accordance with where and how it was used in the Holocaust. In addition, the report also showed that Leuchter overlooked critical evidence, such as documents in the SS architectural office which directly contradicted him, indicating the mechanical operation of the gas chambers, and verifying the rate at which the Nazis could burn the bodies of those gassed.
Repetition of Leuchter’s examination
In February 1990, Professor Jan Markiewicz, Director of the Forensic Institute of Cracow, redid the analysis.[5][6] Markiewicz decided that the Prussian blue test was unreliable because it depended on the acidity of the environment, which was low in the gas chambers. Markiewicz and his team used microdiffusion techniques to test for cyanide in samples from the gas chambers, from delousing chambers, and from living areas elsewhere within Auschwitz. The living quarter samples (negative controls) tested negative, while cyanide residue was found in both the delousing chambers and the gas chambers. The amount of cyanide found had a great variability, possibly due to 50 years of exposure to the elements to varying degrees,[36] but even so, the categorical results were that cyanide was found where expected in both the gas chambers and the delousing facilities, and not found in the living quarters, supporting the hypothesis that the gas chambers were exposed to high levels of cyanide like the delousing facilities, and not low levels for routine fumigation, like the living quarters.
Β) David Irving’s case:
α) Christopher Browning: “Not one of [Irving’s] books, speeches or articles, not one paragraph, not one sentence in any of them, can be taken on trust as an accurate representation of its historical subject. All of them are completely worthless as history, because Irving cannot be trusted anywhere, in any of them, to give a reliable account of what he is talking or writing about. … if we mean by historian someone who is concerned to discover the truth about the past, and to give as accurate a representation of it as possible, then Irving is not a historian”[7]
b) Richard J. Evans “Irving, (…) had deliberately distorted and wilfully mistranslated documents, consciously used discredited testimony and falsified historical statistics. (…) Irving has fallen so far short of the standards of scholarship customary amongst historians that he does not deserve to be called a historian at all»[8]
References
- «Fred A. Leuchter, Jr: An ADL Backgrounder». Anti-Defamation League. 2001. Retrieved2008-03-11.
- Associated Press, October 24, 1990
- Lipstadt, Deborah E., History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving. Ecco, 2005«Leuchter and Rudolf have published pseudoscientific reports purporting to show that chemical residues present in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau are incompatible with homicidal gassings.» Green, Richard J. «Leuchter, Rudolf, and the Iron Blues». Retrieved on 2008-09-11.
- «The Leuchter Report, a pseudo-scientific document which allegedly proves that Zyklon B was not used to exterminate human beings, was translated into Arabic and sold at the International Book Fair in Cairo in January 2001.» Roth, Stephen. Stephen Roth Institute.Antisemitism Worldwide, 2000/1, University of Nebraska Press, 2002, p. 228.«The turning point came in 1989, when Irving launched Fred Leuchter’s pseudo-scientific Leuchter Report, which made the spurious claim that the absence of cyanide residues in the walls of the gas chambers at Auschwitz and other camps proved that they could not have functioned as mass extermination centres.» Brinks, Jan Herman. Timms, Edward. Rock, Stella. Nationalist Myths and Modern Media, I.B. Tauris, 2006, p. 72.«The Leuchter report, was, indeed, an amateurish report produced by a man with no expertise, either historical or forensic.» Hirsh, David. Law Against Genocide. Routledge Cavendish, 2003, p. 134.«Another common tactic of the deniers is to engage in historical inquiries that on the surface appear legitimate but upon close examination prove to be based on pseudo-science. One prominent example was the investigation of the Auschwitz gas chambers by Fred Leuchter […]. Detailed study of the «Leuchter Report» revealed that it was based on erroneous assumptions (cyanide does not penetrate deeply into concrete). It also emerged that Leuchter had falsified his credentials and overstated his expertise. Despite this, his report is still cited by deniers.» Cull, Nicholas John. Culbert, David Holbrook. Welch, David. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present, ABC-CLIO, 2003, p. 168.«…the institute relied primary on the talents of a California-based publicist named Bradley Smith who packaged and promoted Leuchter’s discredited material as if it were the very essence of «scientific research» or at least a tenable «point of view,» intrinsically worthy of inclusion in the academic agenda…» Churchill, Ward. A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present. City Lights Books, 1997, p. 24.«After the trial, both Irving and Zündel published the results of Leuchter’s trial research as The Leuchter Report: The End of a Myth, despite the fact that the court rejected both the report and Leuchter’s testimony. […] The discredited report is popular in the Holocaust denial movement, and one edition features a foreword by Irving.» Gerstenfeld, Phyllis B.GRANT
, Diana R. Crimes of Hate: Selected Readings, SAGE Publications, 2003, p. 201.«Leuchter’s report contained a considerable amount of scientific, or, as it turned out, pseudo-scientific analysis of chemical residues on the gas chamber walls, and similar matters. It was quickly discredited, not least on the basis of Leuchter’s failure adequately to defend his findings on the witness stand.» Evans, Richard J. David Irving, Hitler and Holocaust Denial: Electronic Edition, Section 3.3c, The 1991 Edition ofHitler’s War, Paragraph 13. Retrieved on 2008-09-12. - Morris, Errol (2006). «Mr. Death: Transcript». ErrolMorris.com. Retrieved2007-03-04.
- Markiewicz (1994-03-08). «A Study of the Cyanide Compounds Content in the Walls of the Gas Chambers in the Former Auschwitz & Birkenau Concentration Camps». Nizkor Project. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- Evans, Richard J.. “Chapter 6. General Conclusion”. Holocaust Denial On Trial: Expert Witness Report. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- Irving defiant over libel defeat”. BBC News. 12 April 2000. Retrieved 12 January 201
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