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[H. Mazal]

I have the dates of the visits down pretty well now. The one
Mattogno refers to is the one of September, 1942. This fully
coincides with Kremer's diary:

_The Good Old Days_
   Ernst Klee et al.
   c. 1988, The Free Press
   ISBN 0 02 917425-2

pp. 260-261

                               "23 September 1942

         Tonight  sixth and seventh Sonderaktion. In the morning
         Obergruppenfuhrer Pohl and party arrived at the Waffen-SS
         quarters. A guard was standing outside the door and was
         the first to stand to attention before me. In the evening,
         at 20:00 hours, dinner with Obergruppenfuhrer Pohl in
         the officer's mess, a real feast. There was baked pike, as
         much as you wanted, real ground coffee, excellent beer
         and open sandwiches."

This is close to what Mattogno's translation from the German says.

As an aside, it is odd that Mattogno should jump all over Pressac
and totally ignore the first sentence in the above entry. Leave it
to deniers to focus on the inconsequential and ignore the substance
of a statement.

Pohl's visits of 1943 and 1944 might be more telling. I will try and
give some details  as I have so far have documented  some (all?) of
Pohl's visits to Auschwitz on: September 23, 1942  June (?) 1943 
and June 16, 1944. The 1942 and 1944 visits are registered
in _Auschwitz Chronicle_, but not so the 1943 one which is
described in detail in the testimony of Jerzy Bielski in:

NMT 04  pp. 650-655
Case 4, The Pohl Case

"Mr. Robbins: Was there a time in 1943 when some prominent 
visitors came to Auschwitz?

Witness Bielski: Yes, that was in June 1943. [...]  We already
had heard  from the day before that inspection of the
camp [Birkenau - HWM]  was to take place by Obergruppen-
fuhrer Pohl [...] They were located approximately from 60
to 80 meters away from the gas chambers. Behind the gas
chambers was crematorium number three. [...] Pohl ... left
his car and then they walked over to the crematorium ... and
then they again went outside and they went to the gas ...
chamber and entered the gas chamber. They stayed there
for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. [...]"

(A long description of the unloading of prisoners destined
for the gas chambers follows.)

"The SS men stood by the windows but they did not, as yet,
throw the tins of gas inside and then Pohl would come,
escorted by five SS officers, and all the guests who had
come from Berlin over to the window [...]  and observed
the prisoners in the gas chambers before the tins were 
thrown in..." 

Pohl, however has this to say in his interrogation in:

NMT 04  pp.664-669
Case 4, The Pohl Case

"[...] I have visited Auschwitz only once in 1944 and
perhaps twice in 1943. At that time I did not see that
Jews were being exterminated. I therefore do not know
how long this project was underway." 

and,

"I knew that Jews were being exterminated and that the
gas chambers were being used for that purpose." 

and,

"These gas chambers were only at Auschwitz. I did not
see any other extermination facilities."

and,

"The extermination of the Jews  and the gas chamber was
not part of my field of tasks, therefore I had no reason
whatsoever to examine these installations. I saw them while 
walking but I did not look at them closer..." 

All of which are irrelevant, perhaps, to the subject at hand
but are offered as background information. The dates of
Pohl's visits are important to the discussion, however, and
they are not fully resolved to my satisfaction. I do find it
curious that someone at such a high level should have had
to act on the shipments of Zyklon.

One set of documents that we ought to consult which reside
in the United Nations is _Law Reports of War Criminals_. It 
is in these that the famous "Zyklon-B Trial" is covered. The
documents are very hard to see. The original rules required 
that the State Department or Foreign Ministry of the historian
who wished to consult these papers issue an official request.
I wonder if this has changed?  I am certain that documents 
crucial to this (and other) arguments are included in these
archives:

NMT06 pp. 309-310
United States vs. Carl Krauch et. al.
Case 6, "I.G. Farben Case"

"A British Military Court conducted a trial which involved the
distribution of Zyklon-B gas to concentration camps for the 
purpose of exterminating human beings.  This trial, 'The Zyklon-B
case,'   is reported in _Law Reports of Trial of War Criminals,
Selected and Prepared by the United Nations War Crimes
Commission_."

NMT 04 "Pohl Case"
pp 1152-1156 

"The control of WVHA over concentration camps is evidenced
to the last detail. A document dated 7/30/1943, authorized 
permit for a truck from Auschwitz to Dessau and back for the
purpose of obtaining "zyklon". This authorization is signed
by Gluecks, chief of department D, WVHA." 


NCA04 pp. 155-158
Document 1643-PS [synopsis & translation]

"Synopsis of a letter written 11/7/1942 by SS General Pohl to
the Reich Minister of Finance for the enlargement of the 
concentration camp at Auschwitz." 


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