Archive/File: people/i/irving.david/libel.suit/transcripts/day006.17 Last-Modified: 2000/08/02 Q. You say at the end of the first complete paragraph: "The fact remains that in his personal meetings with Hitler, the Reichsfuhrer (Himmler) continued to talk only of the expulsion (aussiedlung) of the Jews even as late as July 1944. When the same generals came to the Obsersalzberg", so it is the same audience, you see, Mr Irving. A. Yes, it is the same army course. Q. Yes. "... on May 26th Hitler spoke to them in terms that were both more philosophical and less ambiguous. He spoke of the intolerance of nature, he compared Man to the smallest bacillus on the planet Earth, he reminded them how by expelling the Jews from their privileged positions he had opened up those same positions..." S" etc.. Did you have the text of what Hitler said before you when you wrote that? A. I almost certainly had the original text, the whole text. In fact I still had the original text as a shorthand record. Q. Do you think expelling the Jews ---- A. From their positions as dentists, lawyers and doctors and so on? Q. Do you think from their positions as dentists is a fair translation in its context of these words: In den ich den juden entfernte (?) A. Well, it is an even harder use of the word. "Entfernte" . P-150 really means "to remove from". Q. That is how Dr Longerich, he has removed the Jewish bacillus from the German body, that is what he means, is it not? A. That is not the specific passage that I referred to. MR JUSTICE GRAY: It actually means placed at distance? A. Yes, but obviously Longerich is referring to a different passage. Mr Rampton was talking about expelling them from their jobs or their positions as doctors and lawyers and so on. MR RAMPTON: When you talk of expulsion in the previous paragraph, you put in brackets "aussiedlung"? A. Yes. Q. That was not a word Hitler used, was it? A. Ausseidlung? Q. Yes. Hitler used the word "entfernte". MR JUSTICE GRAY: That is Himmler who is using that word. MR RAMPTON: Yes, and for your readers you translated expulsion as ausseidlung. A. In the July 1944 note? Q. I am sorry, Mr Irving, it is not an enormous point, but do you see, if you use the word "expulsion" in one paragraph and then translate it into aussiedlung? A. Yes. Q. Then, in the next paragraph, when are you talking about what Hitler said and you use the same word in its present . P-151 participle, he is going to think it is the same word, is he not? A. Not necessarily. You can translate words backwards and forwards two or three times and end up with totally different words. "Aussiedlung" in the July 1944 note was the original word in the original handwriting of Himmler. Q. Nowhere do I find -- correct me if I am wrong -- in any of your published works at least one natural explanation of this passage in Hitler's speech on 26th May 1944, which is this: "I solved the matter simply in the most simple way I could which is by killing them. I am sorry that it was not more humane". You could of course have gone on to say, I am sure that is what he meant to say. You have to explain away what Himmler had said on the previous occasion as well. But I do not even find that explanation anywhere do I ? A. If you look on page 632, Mr Rampton, at the end of the Adolf Hitler speech, May 26th 1944. Q. Yes I see that. A. We have spirited applause at the end of the speech and then the two lines as follows. This is me, David Irving. "In Auschwitz"In Auschwitz, the defunct paraphernalia of death- idle since late 1943- began to clank again as the first trainloads from Hungary arrived." Does this not say everything to you? Q. No, it does not. That is exactly my point. . P-152 A. After we have listened to these two speeches set out at unusual length, if I may say so, almost the whole page of the book, I then say: For once, I give the reader a little hint as to what cause and effect is. Q. Why does the poor little reader -- in 91 they have just become slave labour at the I G Farben plant but that is a different point. We will come to that. A. I think this is quite an important point. This is the way do things when you write books. You give the document, you give the quote and, in case you think the reader is not going to get the point, you spell it out in one and a half lines. You say what you are going to say, you say what you say and then you say what you have said. Q. Mr Irving, surely, in a book like this, had you not been set on exculpating Adolf Hitler, you would have said, would you not, and evidence, evidence, of what Hitler was referring to by the simple means was killing, is that in July of 1944 or before, in consequence of the fact that the Hungarians had surrendered their 400,000 Jews, by order of the high hierarchy in Berlin, Auschwitz started up again? A. Well, how many lines is that? Q. So what? A. You say "so what" but ---- Q. You put in what, if I may say so, is a lot of Hitler's sludge which you did not need? . P-153 A. Well, I thought -- this is not Hitler sludge. This is a pure speech. I am the first person to find it and you will find that when I found something for the first time, I tended to put more than usual in so that other historians can have a bite at it too in case they cannot get hold of the original transcript. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Can I, if you are about to leave that, Mr Rampton, just ask ---- MR RAMPTON: I am, I am going to go away from that now. MR JUSTICE GRAY: --- Mr Irving what the defunct paraphernalia of death at Auschwitz actually were? A. I prefer to leave it like that at that point. Q. No, but I am asking you now, when you wrote that you must have had something in mind. A. When I wrote that, I assumed that they had gas chambers, the whole factory of death paraphernalia, yes, my Lord. You will find that when we get to the 1991 edition, that sentence has been changed. MR JUSTICE GRAY: No, I follow that. Thank you. MR RAMPTON: My Lord, I am going to leave that aspect of Hitler's knowledge in the spring of '44 and move backwards in time because it is dealt with as a separate topic in Professor Evans. That is what Mr Irving calls the Schlegelberger note. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Can we spell that for the benefit of the transcriber? . P-154 MR RAMPTON: It is "S C H L E G E B E R G E R". Before I come on to this and, Mr Irving, I call it the so-called Schlegelberger note because, whatever you may think, we and I, that is to say, are by no means certain that that is what it ought to be called. The reasons for that will emerge in a moment. But before we start on this topic, you just said about Hitler's May 26th speech that you do not extrapolate "I am inclined to stick more closely to what we find in the record with no quantum leap", yes? A. Yes. Q. Well, bear that in mind, will you, as we look at your treatment of this particular document. My Lord, it starts, this exercise, which I am afraid is a little bit tedious, however it must be done, on page 363 of Professor Evans' report. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Have we got the Schlegelberger note somewhere? Is it worth looking at that or not? MR RAMPTON: It certainly is. It will be necessary to look at it. Yes, it will. A. I have the entire file with the original just in case we need it. Q. The best copy, well, there are two copies of it. There is a translation of it at the top of page 364 of Professor Evans. MR JUSTICE GRAY: That will do, I suspect. MR RAMPTON: Well, no, it will not, I am afraid, because, as . P-155 often in these cases, the markings on the note may be thought to have some significance. It is necessary to look at the actual note. That, my Lord, is to be found in two places. It is in H1 (viii) at page 368, which is the Evans' copy, but it is also to be found on Mr Irving's web site -- in some senses this is a more satisfactory copy -- at page 1561 of file D8(iv). MR JUSTICE GRAY: I have not got that either -- yes, I have. That is better actually. MR RAMPTON: Your Lordship might appreciate looking at that one too. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Instead? MR RAMPTON: No both, and maybe put the Evans one away. That is matter for your Lordship entirely. It is the same document. MR JUSTICE GRAY: I will stick with the one I have got. Page, sorry? I did not catch that in the web site. MR RAMPTON: In the Evans' one, my Lord? MR JUSTICE GRAY: No, the web site one. MR RAMPTON: Web site one is 1561. It is in a box at the top of the page. A. That has the translation with it? Q. Pardon? A. That has the translation with it. Q. It does too. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Have you got it? . P-156 A. I have it here. MR RAMPTON: You translate it as meaning: "Mr Reich Minister Lammers told me, informed me, that the Fuhrer had repeatedly declared to him that he wants to hear the solution of the Jewish problem has been postponed until after the war is over". Which are the words which say that he wants to hear? A. "Wissen", he wants to know that, he wants to -- I am trying to remain, adhere as closely as possible to the sense of the document, "wissen volle". Q. I see. Then you go on: "That being so, the current discussions are of purely theoretical value, Mr Reich Minister Lammers' opinion. He will moreover take pains to ensure that, whatever happens, no fundamental decisions are taken without his knowledge in consequence of a surprise briefing by any third party." Now, that document is undated, is it not? A. That is undated, yes. Q. It comes from a file of somewhat miscellaneous documents, does it not? A. Well, it is a Ministry of Justice file headed "Treatment of the Jews". Q. Yes? A. "The Reichs Ministry of Justice", the label on the jacket of the file is [German]. Q. My understanding, however, is that this file was one that . P-157 was used by the Allies or may even have been put together by the Allies; is that right? A. A photocopy of the file was made at the 777 Berlin Document Centre, and the photocopies were supplied to the prosecution authorities at Nuremberg, where they were handled by Dr Kempner. Q. Can you look -- I do not want to read it out because it is really too boring in a sense -- I wonder if you could look, read to yourself, and I would ask your Lordship to do the same, please, paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7, the first sentence of 7, perhaps the whole of 7, of Professor Evans' report starting on page 364? To hear me read it out would drive everybody mad, I am sure. A. Yes, he obviously has problems with it. Q. Well, do you not? A. Not at all. Q. Have you read the whole of that? MR JUSTICE GRAY: Just pause a moment. I am sure Mr Irving knows it by heart. I do not. A. I am rather amused by the problems he has with it. This is one document that just does not fit into the Holocaust historians' repertoire. MR JUSTICE GRAY: Yes. MR RAMPTON: You have been absolutely categorical that this document comes from March 1942, have you not, Mr Irving? A. Yes, the end of March or early April. . P-158 Q. Do you see on your copy in the web site the name "Freisler"? A. Yes. Q. What do you think of those letters or digits which appear before Mr Freisler's name? A. Staatssekretar, STS, big S, little T -- this is old German handwriting -- [German] handwriting it is called -- capital S, little T, full stop, S, Staatssekretar. He was State secretary in the Ministry of Justice.
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.