Thies Christophersen
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Thies Christophersen by Mark Weber
[Thies Christophersen] The 'False News' Trial of Ernst Zündel -- 1988
[1986] Reflections on Auschwitz and West German Justice by Thies Christophersen
Book
The Auschwitz Lie by Thies Christopherson
Quotes
He never saw a prisoner die at Auschwitz-Birkenau, nor did he believe the
Jews were treated any differently from the rest of the prisoners.......Christophersen
attended concerts in Auschwitz on Sundays where there was a weekly concert held
under the camp gate by internees who were professional musicians. Anyone could
listen to the concert who was walking around. (20-4960) ....Christophersen
was never under any prohibition not to discuss things at Birkenau with anyone in
civilian life. (20-4965) Although he lived 500 metres from the railroad to
Auschwitz- Birkenau, he never noticed anything with regard to the transports
which struck him. (20-4964) His wife visited him frequently in Auschwitz and
that his mother also came. (20-4941)
....Christophersen knew Birkenau had crematories and
had seen them from the outside. (20- 4947) But he never saw smoke or flames
shooting out of the chimneys nor did he ever smell the alleged stench of human
bodies. (20-4948) He did not know the number of crematories. (21-5005) He only
heard about the gas chamber allegation after the war. (20-4949)
[Thies Christophersen] The 'False News' Trial of Ernst
Zündel -- 1988
In a memoir first published in Germany in 1973, he related his wartime
experiences as a German army officer in the Auschwitz camp complex. "During the
time I was in Auschwitz, I did not notice the slightest evidence of mass
gassings," he wrote in Die Auschwitz-Lüge ("The Auschwitz Lie"). As one
of the first important works squarely to confront the Auschwitz extermination
legend, Christophersen's first-hand account was a major factor in the growth and
development of Holocaust revisionism.
....Driven from his homeland, he was forced to live in
exile in Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland. While Danish police stood by,
hundreds of "anti-fascist" thugs attacked his modest home in the small town of
Kollund, pelting it with stones and defacing it with spray paint. They also
severely damaged his book warehouse and, using corrosive acid, ravaged his car
and expensive copy equipment. After months of such abuse, in 1995 Christophersen
was forced to leave Denmark. Ill with cancer, he sought treatment in
Switzerland, but in December 1995 was forced to leave that country. He next
found temporary refuge in Spain. Meanwhile, the German printer of his
Bauernschaft magazine was fined 50,000 marks.
....During his final months, German officials treated
him as a virtual "enemy of the state." His bank account in Germany was closed
down, and in early 1996 a German court rejected his application to return to his
homeland for a brief visit to attend the burial of a son who had died in a car
crash. On the grounds that he had no permanent place of residence, in 1996
German authorities cancelled his state medical insurance coverage and stopped
payment of his modest state retirement pension (into which he had paid for 45
years), as well as his military service pension.
Thies
Christopherson
When I wrote my ["Auschwitz Lie"] report, I was criticized on the grounds
that, although I was in the camp and saw nothing of mass gassings, that fact did
not necessarily mean that there were none ...
I have received thousands of
letters and calls. Many of those who contacted me can confirm my statements, but
are afraid to do so publicly. Some of those are SS men who were brutally
mistreated and even tortured in Allied captivity.
I also immediately contacted those who claimed to know more about mass gassings.
My experiences were precisely the same as those of French Professor Paul
Rassinier. I have not found any eyewitnesses. Instead, people would tell me that
they knew someone who knew someone else, who talked about it. In most cases the
alleged eyewitnesses had died. Other supposed eyewitnesses would quickly begin
to stammer and stutter when I asked a few precise questions.
... Our writings may be banned. We may be thrown into prison. Our mail may be
inspected. We may be attacked with fire and bombs. Our homes may be searched. We
may be kept from obtaining employment or fired from our jobs. We may be
slandered, ridiculed and persecuted like the early Christians. But we will
suffer and endure it all, and our enemies will thus achieve precisely the
opposite of what they intend. Their actions make others interested in what we
do. I believe in truth and justice, and I know that one day they will prevail.
Thies Christophersen by Mark Weber
Thies Christopherson, who was sent to the Bunawerk plant laboratories at
Auschwitz to research into the production of synthetic rubber for the Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute. In May 1973, not long after the appearance of this account,
the veteran Jewish "Nazi-hunter" Simon Wiesenthal wrote to the Frankfurt Chamber
of Lawyers, demanding that the publisher and author of the Forward, Dr. Roeder,
a member of the Chamber, should be brought before its disciplinary commission.
Sure enough, proceedings began in July, but not without harsh criticism even
from the Press, who asked "Is Simon Wiesenthal the new Gauleiter of Germany?"
(Deutsche Wochenzeitung, July 27th, 1973).
Christopherson's account is
certainly one of the most important documents for a re-appraisal of Auschwitz.
He spent the whole of 1944 there, during which time he visited all of the
separate camps comprising the large Auschwitz complex, including
Auschwitz-Birkenau where it is alleged that wholesale massacres of Jews took
place. Christopherson, however, is in no doubt that this is totally untrue. He
writes: "I was in Auschwitz from January 1944 until December 1944. After the war
I heard about the mass murders which were supposedly perpetrated by the S.S.
against the Jewish prisoners, and I was perfectly astonished. Despite all the
evidence of witnesses, all the newspaper reports and radio broadcasts I still do
not believe today in these horrible deeds. I have said this many times and in
many places, but to no purpose. One is never believed" (p. 16).
Space forbids a detailed summary
here of the author's experiences at Auschwitz, which include facts about camp
routine and the daily life of prisoners totally at variance with the allegations
of propaganda (pp. 22-7). More important are his revelations about the supposed
existence of an extermination camp. "During the whole of my time at Auschwitz, l
never observed the slightest evidence of mass gassings. Moreover, the odour of
burning flesh that is often said to have hung over the camp is a downright
falsehood. In the vicinity of the main camp (Auschwitz I) was a large farrier's
works, from which the smell of molten iron was naturally not pleasant" (p.
33-4). Reitlinger confirms that there were five blast furnaces and five
collieries at Auschwitz, which together with the Bunawerk factories comprised
Auschwitz III (ibid. p. 452). The author agrees that a crematorium would
certainly have existed at Auschwitz, "since 200,000 people lived there, and in
every city with 200,000 inhabitants there would be a crematorium. Naturally
people died there -- but not only prisoners. In fact the wife of
Obersturmbannführer A. (Christopherson's superior) also died there" (p. 33).
The author explains: "There were no
secrets at Auschwitz. In September 1944 a commission of the International Red
Cross came to the camp for an inspection. They were particularly interested in
the camp at Birkenau, though we also had many inspections at Raisko" (Bunawerk
section, p. 35). Christopherson points out that the constant visits to Auschwitz
by outsiders cannot be reconciled with allegations of mass extermination. When
describing the visit of his wife to the camp in May, he observes: "The fact that
it was possible to receive visits from our relatives at any time demonstrates
the openness of the camp administration. Had Auschwitz been a great
extermination camp, we would certainly not have been able to receive such
visits" (p. 27).
After the war, Christopherson came
to hear of the alleged existence of a building with gigantic chimneys in the
vicinity of the main camp. "This was supposed to be the crematorium. However, I
must record the fact that when I left the camp at Auschwitz in December 1944, I
had not seen this building there" (p. 37). Does this mysterious building exist
today? Apparently not; Reitlinger claims it was demolished and "completely burnt
out in full view of the camp" in October, though Christopherson never saw this
public demolition. Although it is said to have taken place "in full view of the
camp", it was allegedly seen by only one Jewish witness, a certain Dr. Bendel,
and his is the only testimony to the occurrence (Reitlinger, ibid, p. 457).
This situation is generally
typical. When it comes down to hard evidence, it is strangely elusive; the
building was "demolished", the document is "lost", the order was "verbal". At
Auschwitz today, visitors are shown a small furnace and here they are told that
millions of people were exterminated. The Soviet State Commission which
"investigated" the camp announced on May 12th, 1945, that "Using rectified
coefficients . . . the technical expert commission has ascertained that during
the time that the Auschwitz camp existed, the German butchers exterminated in
this camp not less than four million citizens ..." Reitlinger's surprisingly
frank comment on this is perfectly adequate: "The world has grown mistrustful of
'rectified coefficients' and the figure of four millions has become ridiculous"
(ibid, p. 460). Finally, the account of Mr. Christopherson draws attention to a
very curious circumstance. The only defendant who did not appear at the
Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial in 1963 was Richard Baer, the successor of Rudolf Höss
as commandant of Auschwitz. Though in perfect health, he died suddenly in prison
before the trial had begun, "in a highly mysterious way" according to the
newspaper; Deutsche Wochenzeitung (July 27th, 1973). Baer's sudden demise before
giving evidence is especially strange, since the Paris newspaper Rivarol
recorded his insistence that "during the whole time in which he governed
Auschwitz, he never saw any gas chambers nor believed that such things existed,"
and from this statement nothing would dissuade him. In short, the Christopherson
account adds to a mounting collection of evidence demonstrating that the giant
industrial complex of Auschwitz (comprising thirty separate installations and
divided by the main Vienna-Cracow railway line) was nothing but a vast war
production centre, which, while admittedly employing the compulsory labour of
detainees, was certainly not a place of "mass extermination". Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Harwood