REPORT OF PROFESSOR ROBERT JAN VAN PELT Table of Contents   Re: L. Holes in the roof of morgue 1 at crematorium 2 (251- 282) The issue raised by Rudolf on pp. 251 to 283 of his affidavit concerns what, according to David Irving, was the core of his case. On the eleventh day of the case he had brought against Penguin Books Limited and Deborah E. Lipstadt, Irving stated during his cross-examination of me that his whole case depended on the existence of holes in the ruined roof of morgue 1 of crematorium 2. The point taken by Irving on this issue is typical of Holocaust denial: it selects a single link in the chain of evidence, and demands absolute proof of its validity in isolation from the rest of the evidence, thus conveniently ignoring the obvious historical truth that the existence of a fact may be inferred from other facts, often with a conviction approaching certainty. Rudolf's approach in this section of his affidavit is somewhat similar. He attacks some of the direct evidence for the holes in the roof and the wire-mesh gassing columns. But he ignores entirely some of the important eyewitness accounts, such as those of Broad and Höss, and his attack on the testimony of others, such as Tauber and Olere, is merely collateral. Moreover, he suggests no credible reason why the eyewitnesses should be treated as having lied, and ignores the fact that their individual accounts are, as Mr. Justice Gray noted, largely free of the risk of cross-pollination. Finally, like many Holocaust deniers, in the process of negative criticism of individual pieces of evidence, Rudolf conspicuously avoids dealing with the fact that the evidence about the holes in the roof and their attending gas columns is but part of, and entirely consistent with, the wider picture of the homicidal gassing procedures in Auschwitz, which is presented by the evidence as a whole. But all of this is probably no longer of importance because the holes in the roof of the gas chamber of crematorium 2 have been found. Attached to this report is a paper on the holes of crematorium 2. Entitled "A Report on Some Findings Concerning the Gas Chamber of Krematorium II in Auschwitz-Birkenau," it written by Daniel Keren, Ph.D., Jamie McCarthy, and Harry Mazal OBE. In order to validate the results obtained by Keren, McCarthy and Mazal, I got Paul Zucchi, a senior partner of Yolles Engineering, one of the world's most prominent firms of consulting engineers, to review their report. I attach Zucchi's letter, dated March 11, 2001. It concludes as follows: In conclusion, it is my professional view that the authors present a strong and sustainable case that openings described as Zyklon vents 1, 2 and 4 were installed in the roof of the building during the course of construction. 78 In addition to the Keren, McCarthy and Mazal's report on the holes, which appears to be conclusive evidence of the existence of these holes in the roof of the gas chamber of crematorium 2, I observe that the inventory of crematorium 2, attached to the transfer agreement of March 31, 1943, lists in morgue 1 the presence of four wire-mesh introduction devices and four wooden lids. These are obviously the gas columns that connected to the holes, and the covers to close the holes. In these circumstances, there is no need to respond in detail to this section of Rudolf's affidavit.
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