Remarkable nonsense

The Auschwitz tattooist

LOU Sokolov wears a permanent reminder of the three years he spent in Birkenau. Although it is faded, the number 32407 is still clearly legible on his left forearm. The tattoo which indelibly scars his tanned skin bears witness to his encounter with hell on earth.

Indeed, thousands of Holocaust survivors worldwide, as well as at least 10 in Melbourne — including his late wife Gita — bare the same reminder, not just of the horrors they endured at Auschwitz/Birkenau, but of Sokolov’s presence at the Nazi death camp.

Small with pale blue, haunting eyes which large glasses fail to hide, Sokolov was the Auschwitz/Birkenau tetovierer (tattooist). From August 1942 to late 1944 he, along with assistants, tattooed the arms of 200,000 Jews from Holland, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Norway, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Austria, and Hungary.

A piece of wood attached to two needles and a pot of ink were the tools of his trade. Each tattoo, he says, took 30 seconds. […]

[…]

“I witnessed things, killings, torture, beatings. […] I saw it with my own eyes.”

[…]

“I saw one-and-a-half million people die. One-and-a-half million people go through the chimney. Some people can’t take it, but one good thing is that I helped a lot of people.”

Sokolov even came face to face with the notorious “Angel of Death”, Dr Josef Mengele, whose infamous medical experiments have been well documented. Dr Mengele also acted as an Auschwitz selector, sending new arrivals either to the gas chambers or the camp. After witnessing these selections on numerous occasions, Dr Mengele approached Sokolov, though the encounter is one he would rather forget.

[…]

During his time as the camp tattooist, he used his privileged position to save lives.

[…]

Sokolov witnessed many of the events at Auschwitz and Birkenau which fill the pages of history books and memoirs. He recalls the daily suicides by people who threw themselves against the electric fence, the public hangings, the day the entire gypsy camp of 4,000 inmates was gassed, the building of the three crematoria in 1943 and the uprising by the SonderKommando — Jewish men who worked in the crematoria and revolted by throwing SS officers into the flames. He also recalls the day, in 1944, that Crematorium Three was blown up by the SonderKommando.

[…]

Sokolov narrates his epic story with relative calm, becoming emotional only when talking about Gita, who died two months ago.

But when asked about Holocaust denier [sic] David Irving, he becomes enraged. “I would kick him in the pants and say ‘I was there. I saw it.‘”

Source:

by ANGIE FOX, Australian Jewish News

www.ajn.com.au/

December 19, 2003

FEATURE

Webmaster note: Once scarcely knows where to begin with accounts such as this. The most obvious cause of wonderment is that this story claims that 200,000 were tattooed in an extermination camp, and yet 60+ years later, there are still thousands alive all over the world. That’s a pretty amazing survival rate for inmates of a so-called extermination camp.

And then there are those tattoos. If each of Sokolov’s tattooists was able to tattoo one person every 30 seconds, and work without stop 12 hours a day, seven days a week, year in and year out, It would have taken roughly 2.28 man-years to tattoo 200,000 persons, so there is a surface plausibility to that part of the story. However, Sokolov claims to have been working with a crude tatooing device, which would almost certainly have been slower than today’s electric tattooing machines. Today, it would take 10 to 12 minutes to do a similar tattoo, in part because the area would first be shaved and disinfected, a new disinfected needle would be fitted to the machine, and the area would be disinfected afterwards.

For the tattooing to have taken place, Auschwitz/Birkenau would either have required tons of tattooing needles, and/or an autoclave, to prevent each inmate in the camp from contracting a blood-borne disease, such as hepatitis B or C, or even syphillis. It is worth noting that hepatitis B and C can both be fatal, and hepatitis C can even cause cancer of the liver.

Even if Sokolov and his crew were able to match today’s time of 10 minutes — using their crude tattooing equipment — this works out 45.66 of tattooing man-years. This implies there would have to almost two dozen assistants, each of which was able to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. One admires their diligence in working for the Nazis.

And of course, he met with Mengele. And of course, he personally saw 1.5 million people cremated. But perhaps a man who can use a crude implement to perform a 10-minute tattoo in 30 seconds is able personally to watch 1.5 million people being cremated at 90 minutes per person (along with the killings, torture, and beatings he personally claims to have witnessed, and saving the lives of others), while he’s tattooing, of course, because otherwise, he himself would go “up the chimney,” right?

Last but almost certainly not least, it has long been noted that there are no reliable eye-witnesses who can verify Holocaust extermination claims. Yet, here is a man who — if he’s not lying — could put paid to huge portions of the position of Holocaust revisionists. Why are they hiding this man’s light under a basket?

Scholars want apology, release of ‘cheerful’ article on Hitler’s chalet

A British magazine that published a 1938 article cheerfully describing Adolf Hitler’s summer home with no mention of his atrocities is being called to account for its part in paving the way for the Holocaust.

More than 60 scholars have signed a petition urging Homes & Gardens, a popular decorating magazine, to stop suppressing the article and allow it to be used as an educational example of the failure of the press at that time to accurately portray the Nazi regime, according to the New York-based Jewish weekly magazine the Forward.

“You can obviously write a soft feature about how an important public figure decorates his home, but in 1938 there was no doubt about concentration camps, and therefore he shouldn’t be treated like any other public figure,” Laurel Leff, a petition signer and journalism professor at Northeastern University told Forward. “Historically, a lot of the Western press didn’t treat Hitler like a pariah.”

The Forward said the controversy erupted in September when Homes & Gardens demanded a British journalist remove a copy of the article from his website. The magazine argued it infringed on their copyright, but the group of scholars organized their petition, insisting the magazine make the article available, accompanied by a formal apology.

Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, the group spearheading the petition, said he wants the magazine’s leadership “to face up to their ugly past, as various banks and government institutions have done in the past.”

The article, “At Home With Hitler,” featured the dictator’s “bright, airy chalet,” known as Haus Wachenfeld, which contained “the fairest view in all of Europe.”

No reference was made to his plans for world domination or extermination of the Jews, the scholars say.

The petition reads, “A crucial part of Holocaust education involves studying the failure of the Western media to fully and accurately report about the Nazi menace in the 1930s. The attempted suppression 65 years later of articles such as the 1938 feature in Homes & Gardens undermines efforts to teach about the Holocaust and its lessons.” […]

In August, Waldman, director of digital publishing for Guardian Newspapers Ltd., posted the article on his weblog then sent an e-mail about it to Homes & Gardens Editor Isobel McKenzie-Price.

Price demand Waldman remove the article, citing copyright infringement.

“I told her I was happy to remove it, but that they should know it had already probably been copied by others,” Waldman told the Forward. “And that the article should have a permanent home because of its historical interest.”

The Jewish weekly said McKenzie-Price did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesman said the magazine would maintain its copyright on the article.

Medoff insisted the case is not a mere copyright matter.

“I don’t know if there is anything else in their other magazines that is of historical value,” he told the Forward. “The Hitler article is unique because it played a role in shaping western attitudes toward the Nazis at a critical moment.”

The article’s photographs do not belong to Homes & Gardens, Waldman maintains, because, as he later learned, they were propaganda pictures taken by Heinrich Hoffman, Hitler’s press secretary.

The campaign’s organizer Paul Miller said the scholars are not seeking to put Homes & Gardens out of business but simply want the magazine to admit its small role in the Western indifference to the genocide, the Forward reported.

To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35368

Posted: October 31, 2003

1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Holocaust survivor recalls tale of Kristallnacht
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BILL NUMBER: AB 2003	AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 13, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2002
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Koretz and Wyland
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Cohn and Robert Pacheco)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Bates, Calderon,
Cardenas, Cedillo, Chavez, Chu, Correa, Corbett, Diaz, Firebaugh,
Frommer, Goldberg, Havice, Hertzberg, Horton, Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe,
Kelley, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Migden, Oropeza,
Pavley, Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Salinas, Shelley, Simitian,
Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Vargas, Wesson, and Wyman)
(Coauthors: Senators Alarcon,  Karnette, Kuehl, Ortiz,
Romero, and Scott)
FEBRUARY 15, 2002
An act to amend Section 51226.3 of, and to add and repeal Chapter
3.64 (commencing with Section 44775.10) of Part 25 of, the Education
Code, relating to public schools.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2003, as amended, Koretz. The Holocaust and genocide.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to
incorporate into prescribed materials, frameworks on history and
social science that deal with civil rights, human rights violations,
genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and encourages all state and
local professional development activities to provide teachers with
content background and resources to assist in teaching about civil
rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the
Holocaust.
This bill would recommend that survivor testimony be more central
to the teaching about slavery, genocide, and the Holocaust. The bill
would also require the Model Curriculum for Human Rights and
Genocide to be made available to schools in grades 7 to 12 as soon as
funding is available.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
designate nonprofit agencies to serve as regional social tolerance
resource centers and provides one-time funding for support of the
centers. Existing law requires that the agencies selected have
demonstrated success in prescribed activities, including, but not
limited to, providing teacher training activities and curricular
materials.
This bill would, in addition, until January 1, 2008, establish the
Holocaust/Genocide Commission and would require that the commission
establish the Center for Excellence on the Study of the Holocaust and
Genocide to promote education regarding the Holocaust and genocide,
including, but not limited to, providing teachers with the knowledge
and training to effectively teach pupils about the Holocaust,
genocide, slavery, and human rights.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the
Holocaust and Genocide Education Act of 2003.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) There is a known link between violence, vandalism, and ethnic
and racial intolerance. However, national studies indicate that
fewer than 25 percent of pupils have an understanding of the
organized attempts throughout history at the elimination of various
ethnic groups through a systematic program of mass killings or
genocide.
(b) The importance of teaching respect and tolerance in the
schools is hereby reaffirmed. Pupils must develop a respect for each
person as a unique individual, and understand the importance of a
universal concern for ethics, human rights, tolerance, and democracy.
(c) In order to create an awareness of the enormity of the crimes
of prejudice, bigotry, inhumanity, and intolerance, and to foster
responsibility by future generations to confront these crimes, it is
crucial that we teach the lessons of the Holocaust and genocide.
(d) As the lack of response to the Armenian Genocide ultimately
led to the Holocaust and Hitler's chilling words "Who today remembers
the extermination of the Armenians," examples of man's inhumanity to
man must be taught to ensure that this violent cycle of tragedy will
end. It is, therefore, desirable to educate pupils on all the
events leading up to the Holocaust, beginning with the Armenian
Genocide, recognized as the first genocide of the 20th century, as
well as those that followed, including, but not limited to,  the
Rape of Nanking, and the Ukrainian, Polish, Cambodian, Rwandan,
and Bosnian-Kosovar Genocides. Any curriculum developed as a result
of this act should include these historical events.
(e) The story of human rights and democracy can best be conveyed
to pupils by the personal stories of survivors, rescuers, and
liberators. The testimony of survivors, rescuers, and liberators
should become more central to the teaching about slavery, genocide,
and the Holocaust.
(f) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by
the State Board of Education, pursuant to Section 51226 of the
Education Code, is an important resource for teaching our youth the
historical lesson of human rights violations, genocide, slavery, the
Holocaust, and the significance of the defense of human rights and
democracy. In addition, the revised 2001 edition of the
History-Social Science Framework and Standards for California Public
Schools K-12 provides the guidelines for teaching in this area.
(g) It should be the goal of the State Board of Education to
ensure that the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide,  the Rape of
Nanking, the Ukrainian Genocide, the Polish Genocide, and the
Cambodian Genocide, as well as other significant events of human
rights violations, such as the Apartheid  and slavery ,
continue to be included prominently in any current or future adopted
Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide, as well as any future
edition of the History-Social Science Framework and Standards for
California Public Schools K-12.
(h) Other historical events of genocide and human rights
violations should also be considered in the next cycle in which the
Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide and the History-Social
Science Framework and Standards for California Public Schools K-12
is adopted.
SEC. 3. Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:
51226.3. (a) The State Department of Education shall incorporate,
into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for
teacher use, those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction,
trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private
organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with the
subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with civil
rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the
Holocaust.
(b) (1) The Legislature encourages all state and local
professional development activities to provide teachers with content
background and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights,
human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(2) It is in the personal stories of survivors, rescuers, and
liberators that the story of the defense of human rights and
democracy can best be conveyed to pupils. The Legislature,
therefore, recommends that survivor, rescuer, and liberator testimony
become more central to the teaching about slavery, genocide, and the
Holocaust.
(3) The Center for Excellence on the Study of the Holocaust and
Genocide is established pursuant to Chapter 3.64 (commencing with
Section 44775.10) of Part 25, to enable teachers to gain the
knowledge and training to effectively teach pupils about the
Holocaust and genocide within the guidelines established in the most
current edition of the History-Social Science Framework and Standards
for California Public Schools K-12.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional
development activities to provide teachers with content background
and resources to assist in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of
1845-50.
(d) The Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 shall be considered in the
next cycle in which the history/social science curriculum framework
and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
(e) The Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide adopted by
the State Board of Education, pursuant to Section 51226, shall be
made available to schools in grades 7 to 12 as soon as funding is
available.
SEC. 4. Chapter 3.64 (commencing with Section 44775.10) is added
to Part 25 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER 3.64. THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE
Article 1. General
44775.10. As used in this chapter, the following words have the
following meanings:
(a) "Commission" means the Holocaust/Genocide Commission
established pursuant to this chapter.
(b) "Center" means the Center for Excellence on the Study of the
Holocaust and Genocide established pursuant to this chapter.
(c) "Genocide" includes, but is not limited to, the Armenian
 Genocide, Bosnian-Kosovar Genocide, Cambodian Genocide,
Rwandan Genocide, and Ukrainian Genocide.   Genocide,
the Bosnian-Kosovar Genocide, the Cambodian Genocide, the Polish
Genocide, the Rape of Nanking, the Rwandan Genocide, and the
Ukrainian Genocide.
(d) "Holocaust" means the mass extermination of Jewish persons,
Roma (also known as Gypsies), homosexuals, and the disabled, by the
Nazis.
Article 2. The Holocaust/Genocide Commission
44775.20. (a) The Holocaust/Genocide Commission is hereby
established.
(b) (1) The commission shall be composed of 12 members appointed
as follows:
(A) The Secretary for Education, or his or her designee.
(B) The Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his or her
designee.
(C) The Chancellor of the California State University, or his or
her designee.
(D) Three public members appointed by the Governor.
(E) Three public members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(F) Three public members appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules.
(2) The Secretary for Education, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and the Chancellor of the California State University,
or their designee designees, shall
serve as ex officio commission members.
(3) The public members of the commission shall be residents of the
state and shall be appointed with due regard to, but not limited to,
the following:
(A) Persons who have served prominently as spokespersons for or as
leaders of organizations serving members of religious, ethnic,
national heritage or social groups, which were subjected to genocide,
torture, wrongful deprivation of liberty or property, officially
imposed or sanctioned violence, or other forms of human rights
violations and persecution.
(B) Persons who are survivors of the Holocaust or genocide, or are
experts in oral history on the Holocaust or genocide.
(C) Persons who are experienced in the field of genocide or
Holocaust education, have a demonstrated interest or involvement in
genocide or Holocaust studies, or represent liberators of victims of
genocide or the Holocaust.
(c) The term of each member of the commission shall be two years.
Any vacancy shall be filled within 60 days of its occurrence by the
appointing authority.
44775.23. (a) No person shall continue as a member of the
commission if  she or he   he or she
ceases to hold the office or be a member of an association or
organization that qualifies that person for appointment to the
commission.
(b) The commission shall appoint an executive officer and other
necessary staff to perform functions that cannot be provided by
others on a contract basis, or by volunteers.
(c) Members of the commission, who are not full-time public
employees, shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed
for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of
their duty. Any member may waive compensation.
(d) A quorum shall consist of a majority of the members of the
commission. All meetings of the board shall be held in accordance
with the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act (Article 9 (commencing with
Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code).
44775.26. The duties of the commission shall include, but are not
limited to, all of the following:
(a) Monitoring the development of curriculum relating to the
Holocaust and genocide.
(b) Ensuring that the curriculum meets minimum standards for the
Holocaust and genocide education.
(c) Promoting the implementation of Holocaust and genocide
education.
(d) Surveying the extent of Holocaust and genocide education
presently being incorporated into the curricula and taught in the
educational system in the state.
(e) Developing awareness programs throughout the state of
Holocaust and genocide education.
(f) Compiling a roster of volunteers who are willing to share
their verifiable knowledge and experiences in classrooms, seminars,
and workshops on the subject of  the Holocaust, genocide,
or slavery  education  .
(g) Coordinating activities that will appropriately memorialize
the Holocaust and genocide education throughout the state.
(h) Providing oversight of the center.
(i) Applying for funding, on behalf of the center, to the
Legislature to carry out the requirements of this chapter.
(j) Submitting annual reports to the Legislature on the progress
and status of the program.
Article 3. The Center for Excellence on the Study of the
Holocaust and Genocide
44775.30. (a) The Center for Excellence on the Study of the
Holocaust and Genocide shall be established by the commission
pursuant to this chapter. The center shall work in cooperation with
community-based Holocaust and genocide organizations.
(b) The center shall be established no later than December 1,
2003.
(c) This chapter shall be implemented to the extent funding is
appropriated in the annual Budget Act for fiscal years 2003-04,
2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08.
44775.33. (a) The center shall operate to provide teachers with
the knowledge and training to effectively teach pupils in the public
schools about the Holocaust, genocide, slavery, and human rights.
(b) The center shall work cooperatively with the California State
University to offer advanced degree programs in Holocaust and
genocide studies.
(c) The center shall also affiliate with recognized institutions
and community-based organizations that serve as a valuable
educational resource on issues relating to the Holocaust, genocide,
or slavery.
44775.36. The center shall do all of the following:
(a) Support and facilitate teachers' use of certificate programs
in Holocaust and genocide studies developed through the California
State University.
(b) Support and facilitate educational opportunities for educators
to pursue postgraduate doctoral degrees in Holocaust and genocide
studies developed through the California State University and the
University of California.
(c) Coordinate educational activities with appropriate education
officials at the state and local level, including, but not limited
to, curriculum consulting programs, and teacher training programs.
(d) Act as a clearinghouse for teacher training materials,
including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Serve as a repository for curriculum, academic, library, and
archival materials concerning the Holocaust and genocide.
(2) Provide reference and research services in support of the
center's activities.
(3) Create a centralized Holocaust and Genocide Internet Web
site.
(e) Provide specialized training for teachers and school
districts.
(f) Provide teacher scholarships for staff development regarding
classroom instruction on the Holocaust and genocide.
(g) Provide support funds to enable teachers and school districts
to use the already existing institutions in the state that are
focused on the Holocaust and genocide.
(h) Assess and monitor the effectiveness of teacher training
programs and classroom instruction.
(i) Promote Holocaust and genocide awareness and curriculum for
all grade levels, as appropriate.
(j) Partner with institutions or community-based organizations, or
both, located in the state that provide teacher training or
certification, or both, in Holocaust, genocide, slavery, or human
rights. The materials and training provided by these institutions or
community-based organizations should reflect the History-Social
Science Framework and Standards for California Public Schools K-12
and historical integrity.
(k) Enable approved institutions and community-based organizations
to offer continuing education credits to teachers receiving training
in  the Holocaust, genocide, or slavery.
(l) Solicit support from both the public and private sectors.
(m) Promote activities to memorialize the Holocaust and genocide.
44775.38. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2008, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, which is enacted before January 1, 2008, deletes or extends
that date.

The things that a little girl born after the Shoah knows are different from what other girls know. For example, she secretly reads a forbidden book entitled “Der gelbe Stern” — “The Yellow Star.”[…]

A girl like that knows that her grandfather Joseph, born in Baranov, Poland, his wife and four daughters, and my father’s beloved younger brother Moshe, were all burned alive with jets of boiling water at the Sobibor death camp (that’s how they did it there). The girl stares straight into Moshe’s pale eyes in his photos and sees that she looks a great deal like him. Innumerable uncles, aunts and other relatives disappeared with him.[…]

Fiamma Nirenstein

WorldNetDaily.com, January 31, 2002

Fiamma Nirenstein was born in Florence and lives in Jerusalem as a foreign correspondent and a columnist for La Stampa and Panorama in Italy. Holding a doctorate in modern history, she is the author of several books about the Middle East and other subjects.

Nazi Leader’s Grandson Fined Over Online Quotes

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) — A grandson of Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess was fined for public incitement on Thursday after putting remarks by Hess on the Internet.

Hess was quoted as saying there were no gas chambers in Dachau concentration camp near Munich during the Second World War and that the Americans installed them afterwards to scare tourists, Munich district court said.

Wolf Andreas Hess, a 23-year-old student, had only been trying to assemble historical documentation about his grandfather, the defense counsel said.

The counsel said Hess was not trying to incite anyone, adding that he had paid attention in his history lessons and knew there was a Holocaust.

Hess was fined $1,184.

Beyond his grave in his Bavarian home town of Wunsiedel, Rudolf Hess remains a source of fascination for Germany’s small band of neo-Nazis who regard him as a martyr and believe he was murdered by his British [sic. American] captors.

Hitler dictated his book “Mein Kampf” to Hess while in prison in 1923-24.

Hess fell into Allied hands in 1941 after parachuting into Scotland in an apparent personal bid to broker peace with Britain.

He was tried as a war criminal and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was found dead in Berlin’s Spandau prison in 1987 at the age of 93 after spending 46 years in jail.

German Jewish leader testifies in a Holocaust denial test case

By Toby Axelrod

BERLIN, Jan. 16 (JTA) — The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany has faced off in court against a German lawyer charged with denying the Holocaust.

Council president Paul Spiegel was called as a witness last Monday in the trial of Udo von B., an attorney from Dusseldorf. Von B. is accused of Holocaust denial, which is a crime in Germany.

At issue is whether the claim to “not have seen anything” in the period between August 1944 and January 1945 can legally be defined as “Holocaust denial.”

The incident in question took place at a November 2000 dinner for more than 70 German notables hosted by Deutsche Bank.

Following after-dinner remarks by Spiegel, von B. allegedly expressed doubt that there had been any murders committed at Auschwitz. He also suggested that discussion of the Holocaust contributes to anti-Semitism.

“Up to that point, the evening had been fine,” said Spiegel, who told the court that he had been asked to speak at the event about Jewish life in Germany.

In his talk, Spiegel said his sister had been deported to Auschwitz and gassed. Afterward, von B. cast doubt on the claims of atrocities at Auschwitz.

Von B. said he was 15 years old when he was stationed in an anti-aircraft factory near Auschwitz during World War II.

Factory workers were brought regularly to the concentration camp to be deloused, shower, and have a sauna, he said, but he never saw any evidence of cruelty being committed there against Jews.

Finally, he asked if Spiegel didn’t think that constant reminders of the Holocaust — such as Spiegel’s own speech — hindered good relations between Jews and Gentiles in Germany, especially considering the reparations Germany has paid.

According to Spiegel, none of the guests at the dinner reacted to von B.’s comments, which Spiegel called “a subtle form of Holocaust denial.”

For his part, von B. told the court that since the end of the war he had “never denied the Nazi crimes against the Jews,” and added that he had apologized to Spiegel with flowers and a note.

Spiegel confirmed that he had indeed received a bouquet, with a note in which von B. apologized for having “not been in control of his words.”

In the courtroom, von B. said that on his regular visits to Auschwitz he had seen only “large, strong employees” and “workers, criminals” of Hungarian and Russian background.

Spiegel said several things about the incident bothered him: It had been a long time since he had heard someone say, “I was in Auschwitz and didn’t notice that Jews were being murdered there;” because he had been “made responsible for anti-Semitism in Germany”; and because the other prominent guests at the dinner, including Duesseldorf Mayor Joachim Erwin, sat silently throughout the exchange.

“No one said anything like, ‘We don’t share this interpretation,'” Spiegel said.

After hearing Spiegel’s testimony, Judge Sabine Krugerke said she would hear other witnesses before deciding the matter.