Dear Nick,
We (that is me) are glad to hear that you have expressed your commitment for free speech and against "arresting people for their beliefs”, and trust that this is not limited to your own beliefs but meant universally, also applying to, say for example, denial of crimes committed against Germans.
We entirely support the concern that spreading historical claims should not be punished in an open society – and would like to add – also when these are utterly absurd, offensive to members of the society and mainly a vehicle of political extremism (such as Holocaust denial).
We (that is me) are glad to hear that you have expressed your commitment for free speech and against "arresting people for their beliefs”, and trust that this is not limited to your own beliefs but meant universally, also applying to, say for example, denial of crimes committed against Germans.
We entirely support the concern that spreading historical claims should not be punished in an open society – and would like to add – also when these are utterly absurd, offensive to members of the society and mainly a vehicle of political extremism (such as Holocaust denial).
But let’s switch gears and address your remarks on the Auschwitz death books expressed in that letter to Vladimir Putin.
In summary, the death books do not allow any conclusion on the total number of Jews ceased in Auschwitz concentration camp complex nor that Jews were not murdered there.
- The Auschwitz death books are incomplete and no record exists for 1944 and 1945. Your statement that the Soviets “seized all of its ‘death books’ with the records of all persons who had died there” is misleading/incorrect.
- It can be shown by documentary evidence (corroborated by numerous testimonial evidence) that causes of death in the certificates have been falsified by the SS, namely that unnatural deaths have been camouflaged as natural one's. But then any cause of natural death given in these records (at least since 1942) is a priori doubtful and requires external corroboration to be taken for granted.
Hence, your statement that the death record “does not record them [the Jews] as having been murdered” is not questioning, let aside rebutting that any Jews have been murdered in Auschwitz.
- The unrealistic decline of Jewish deaths in 1943 compared to the non-Jewish indicates that most of the former were not entered into the records anymore after February 1943 and that the death records for this year have to be considered unreliable with respect to the number of deaths among registered Jewish prisoners, and you are well aware of this argument.
- Jewish people killed directly after their arrival without prior registration in the camp books were not entered into the death records. This can be shown again by documentary evidence.
On 21 and 24 January 1943, 3.383 Jews considered unfit for work were “specially lodged” in Auschwitz. The term was a variant of “special treatment” (see telex from Heinrich Schwarz to SS-WVHA of 5 March 1943), which in turn was an euphemism at the concentration camp administrations for unnatural deaths without judicial decision.
However, the death books contain only 2.841 Jewish deaths for the entire months January 1943. Therefore, it is clear that Jews selected as unfit for work at the ramp and killed after their arrival without registration in the camp books were not registered in the death books either, even when this was still practiced for the deaths among registered Jews.
In summary, the death books do not allow any conclusion on the total number of Jews ceased in Auschwitz concentration camp complex nor that Jews were not murdered there.