Deceit & Misrepresentation The Soap Allegations Smith's first claim:
The Encyclopedia Judaica (New York City, 1971) contains
a photograph of the inside of a German soap factory. Titled "A
German soap factory near Danzig," the photo accompanies the
Encyclopedia's article on Poland. ...The photograph is not
sourced, but who would want to doubt the intellectual integrity of the
publishers of the Encyclopedia Judaica?
[20]
Indeed, the integrity of the publishers is beyond question; the
sources are readily available. Actually, there are two photographs of
the interior of the Danzig Institute on those pages of the
Encyclopedia (vol. 13, pp. 761-762). The two photographs
were first published (along with a third) in Zaglada zydostwa
polskiego: album zdjec, ed. Gerszon Taffet (Lodz: Centralna
Zydowska Komisja Historyczna w Polsce, 1945), p. 96. According to that
book's Introduction:
The photographs contained in this album are only a part of the
photographic documents in possession of the Central Jewish Historical
Committee in Poland.
The photographs also appeared in Mydlo z ludzkiego tluszczu: alfa
i omega niemieckich zbrodni w Polsce, by Stanislaw Strabski (Poznan:
Wydawnictwo Zachodniej Agencji Prasowez, 1946). There are other
photographs of the interior and exterior of the Danzig Institute in
Polish Monthly Review, no. 1 (Aug. 1945): 22-23; and in Het
boek der kampen, by Ludo van Eck (Leuven: Kritak, 1979), pp.
247-252.
Smith's second claim:
At Nuremberg the human-soap indictment against the Germans was upheld.
Smith is half-correct. As quoted
above
in the section on
Mark Weber's
first claim, the Judgment of the IMT actually says that "attempts
were made."
Smith's third and fourth claims deal with Yehuda Bauer. His
third claim:
Yehuda Bauer has told a Holocaust memorial meeting for "Yom
Hashoah," the yearly Jewish celebration of German bestiality, that
the Jewish soap story isn't true after all.... He says that the
"technical possibilities" for rendering soap from the cadavers of
murdered Jews were not yet understood during World War II. Do you
suppose it's been worked out since?
What, exactly, are Professor Bauer's views regarding the soap
allegations? After he was quoted in several newspapers (including the
Jerusalem Post, May 5, 1990; Chicago Tribune,
Apr. 25, 1990; and Northern California Jewish Bulletin,
Apr. 27, 1990) that the "technical possibilities for transforming
human fat into soap were not known at that time," Bauer later
explained that he was discussing the industrial production of
human soap. In a follow-up letter to the editor of the Jerusalem
Post (included as an
Appendix
to this document), Bauer wrote regarding the Danzig experiment:
It emerges very clearly that this was a first and unique
experiment and that it was in its experimental stages. The bodies
used may have been those of prisoners of war and forced labourers
from the immediate vicinity. It is also clear that had the war
continued, the Nazis were certainly capable of turning this into
another mass horror.
There was no industrial production....
Thus, Bauer is convinced that there was a preliminary experiment
performed by Spanner at Danzig.
Smith's fourth claim:
Why did Yehuda Bauer choose to deny the Jewish soap hoax this
year rather than last year or the year before? Or ten or even
twenty years ago.
As mentioned above in the Mark Weber section, most Holocaust
historians have never believed the allegations concerning mass production of human soap, especially as
they have been "presented" by revisionists, who confuse the
Danzig experiment with the R.I.F. soap rumors. As Smith pointed out
earlier in his chapter, Deborah Lipstadt did write a letter to
the editor of the Los Angeles Times on this topic.
[21]
And Yehuda Bauer has been quoted on this topic. The rational
explanation as to why historians periodically mention this issue in
public is because members of the public continue to bring it up. During
1995 alone, there were at least two attempts to sell "human
soap," once in Israel and once in Poland.
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
The Techniques of Holocaust Denial
Part 3 of 6
Claims by
Bradley R. Smith