The Unraveling of the Leuchter Report

by E. W.

A student essay from Dr. Elliot Neaman's History 210 class (historical methods - fall 1997)

In 1985, Ernst Zundel, a German-Canadian living in Toronto, was brought to trial for writing the book, Did Six Million Really Die? He was also charged with mailing out thousands of pamphlets and mailings all over North America and Europe containing holocaust denial literature. He was convicted and sent to prison for fifteen months for publishing the pamphlets, but was able to escape any immediate charges because of an error in the trial process for the second accusation. The Toronto Court of Appeals overturned the decision and the trial began again in January of 1988. The trial gained a rather large amount of media attention, so Zundel and his lawyer, Daniel Christie, took advantage of the situation. The trial was built into a golden opportunity for them to preach their Holocaust Denial beliefs all over the world.

As one of the most important points that Christie and Zundel wanted to accomplish was that there was never any gas chambers for genocide in Auschwitz or anywhere else. Recommended by a Chief Warden, Fred Leuchter was sought out as a reference for the design of gas chambers. Living in Boston at the time, Leuchter was contacted in early February of 1988. After a few days of conference with Robert Faurrison, another defense team member, Leuchter and a small crew consisting of his wife, a cinematographer, a draftsman, and an interpreter left for an investigation of the camps Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Majdenak for eight days.

As a result of their investigation, Leuchter became convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Majdenak could not possibly have functioned as gas chambers. As a response to his findings, Leuchter wrote a one-hundred and ninety-two page report including physical inspections, quantitative data, and literature supplied by people Leuchter reported to be museum officials. Besides the gas chamber findings, Leuchter also provided estimations on the capabilities of the crematoriums at the camps. Leuchter also willingly included information from his own personal expertise on gas chambers and how they operate. On the 20 and 21 of April, Leuchter spoke out at the trial as a witness for the defense. He was both examined and cross-examined very thoroughly. However, his efforts came to nothing, as Zundel was convicted for the publications of his literature. Yet in many ways Zundel, Christie, Leuchter, and all the rest of the team succeeded much more than they ever could have expected. The trial gained all kinds of publicity for their cause, and Leuchter is now a household name amongst these self-titled "revisionists." Leuchter has since become the leading authority on the design and construction of gas chambers according to hundreds of Holocaust Denier web pages, books, and journals in existence today.

Leuchter has since enjoyed fame amongst his own circle, as it was believed that his report answered all of the suspicions of the "revisionists." Faurrison describes his own relief at the trial for all of his fears being answered. He describes it as "the myth of the gas chamber was ending" and that everyone present knew "a historical event was occurring." Leuchter is the undeniable, foremost authority. His report is referred to all over the Internet and in all types of revisionist novels. His report is easily accessible, and in full form, in three different types of languages. It is one of the most heavily referred to arguments for the deniers, the backbone of all their arguments. In one hundred and ninety-two pages Leuchter and all revisionists believe to have dispelled an entire myth.

II

Leuchter’s report is broken up into several two or three page sections. But in general he attacks only a few different areas. First he attacks the use of Zyklon-B, or hydrocyanide, as the gas used to gas the inmates. He then attacks the crematoriums used for the burning for the bodies. Finally he attacks the actual construction of the chambers and the procedures used for the gassings. Throughout the report Leuchter provides his own findings from personal experience and research on gas chambers, gas, and gassing procedures. He also provides several of his own calculations and estimations. Leuchter is thorough in providing all of his research and lab reports.

He opens his report with a history of gas chambers in the United States and the procedures used since 1920. He describes how they have been constructed in the United States over the last century including the required air ventilation system and the use of Zyklon B. He then contrasts it with "A Brief History of the Alleged German Execution Gas Chamber." Here Leuchter argues that if Carbon monoxide had been used for initial gassings, the required use of 4,000 ppm’s at a pressure of 2.5 atmospheres would have been required for death after at least thirty minutes. Leuchter says that this would hardly have been an effective gas for execution, even if only used in the experimental stages and at camps with lower execution rates.

Leuchter continues with the design criteria for both fumigation and execution chambers today. For Zyklon-B to dissolve effectively the air temperature must be at least 78.3 degrees Fahrenheit. He discusses the required seven complete air changes for proper ventilation. Chambers must also be constructed of standard marine-tight walls, and negative pressure is required in order to ensure inward leaks.

He then examines the construction of the alleged gas chambers. The argument here is that the alleged chambers were not properly sealed with either tar or any other type of sealant. The crumbling mortar and bricks were porous, thus able to collect gas and making it dangerous for human use. Leuchter claims that nowhere on any of the plans given to him by Auschwitz officials are there any exhaust systems to properly vent the rooms, and no heaters or dispersal systems to introduce or evaporate the gas. He also argues that the rooms are damp, and this would have inhibited the evaporation of the gas.

With the rooms packed as they are reported to be, proper circulation would have been impossible for the size of the room. Furthermore, none of the chambers are built in accordance with the delousing chambers, therefore they prove to be unsafe for the use of Zyklon-B, as they would be used in the delousing chambers. Finally, as Leuchter examined the first two chambers of Auschwitz, he notes that the chambers were surrounded by a depressed concrete walkway that would accumulate the gas and not allow for proper circulation. This would make the walkway a "deathtrap."

Furthermore, krema I was situated near, and shared a drainage system with, the SS hospital. The venting and drainage from the gas chambers would undoubtedly have resulted in eventual poison gas reaching the hospital, and risking the lives of the personnel, according to the opinion of the author. Leuchter also argues that the gas chamber doors were reported to have been opened twenty minutes after the gassings for the bodies to have been removed. This would have been impossible, almost ensuring the death of the soderkommando removing the bodies, the gas being so toxic.

The gas chambers were also situated underneath the retorts that were in constant use for burning the corpses. This is also a safety guideline, that not only could not have been ignored, but surely would have resulted in an explosion, since according to his private consultations with DuPont (the leading chemical producer in the country) Zyklon-B is highly explosive.

In examining the effects of Zyklon-B, Leuchter finds that 300ppm in air is rapidly fatal, but to ensure rapid death, 3200 ppm’s would be used today. So Leuchter took forensic samples from each of the alleged gas chambers and compared them with a control sample from a delousing chamber. The delousing chambers are universally acknowledged to be rooms in which Zyklon-B was used solely for delousing purposes. Leuchter describes the rooms from which they have been taken from as identical. Only the chambers in kremas IV and V differ because they have since been exposed to sunlight, which hastens the chemical breakdown process. One would have expected that the delousing chambers would have less Cyanide present because they were in less use than the gassing chambers and required less use of Zyklon-B. Yet once the samples were analyzed, it was found that the delousing rooms actually had much higher concentrations in the samples than the samples from the gassing chambers. Leuchter feels that this is strong evidence that these were rooms were not chambers for gassing prisoners.

Finally the crematoriums and their gassing and burning capabilities in terms of numbers are analyzed. Leuchter adopts the theory that each person would require nine square feet of space. Accordingly, the two identical chambers II and III would have been able to hold 278 people. At this point Leuchter also states that ventilation time after the gassings would be one week. The retorts, fifteen of which exist in each of krema II and III, would have the burning capabilities of 315 people per week. Krema I, according to Leuchter’s calculations had only the capability of gassing ninety-four people a week, according to the nine-foot theory, and would only be able to cremate126 people a week.

Leuchter creates his own theory for the burning rates of the kremas. According to Leuchter, that theoretically 6.8 corpses could have been burned in twenty-four hours in a retort at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit- if one corpse is burned in one retort at a time. Yet realistically, he even claims that only three corpses are burned in a twenty-four hour period in a normal capacity.

Taking these estimations, Leuchter prepares tables and charts to show the approximate numbers of corpses burned at each of the kremas, both hypothetical and real, and also compares them with the number of bodies that could have been gassed at each of the chambers as well. What Leuchter attempts to do here is prove that the alleged six million to die would have been impossible according to his estimations.

III

The truth of the matter is that when Leuchter came to trial as a witness for the defense on April 20 and 21, 1985, he did little good for the case. The Leuchter Report was actually never introduced as evidence, because a gag rule had been placed on it. Leuchter’s claims about the chambers and gassing effects were found to be riddled with fallacies.

The first and most important claim would be that the gas chambers were never properly sealed and had no ventilation systems. This is a remarkable claim since the only chamber left standing today is the first chamber at Auschwitz, at krema I. This also has since been remodeled by the Germans into an air raid shelter when it was found to be no longer to the best advantage for immediate needs. All other chambers were razed and bombed. There is no possible way that Leuchter could have assessed the sealant of the walls. As for the ventilation systems, parts of which are still exposed today in the wreckage, they are clearly marked on the plans and designs of other chambers that were built. The plans Leuchter referred to were those sold in a souvenir shop. No museum official at Auschwitz ever acknowledged giving Leuchter official plans of the camp.

Leuchter also argues that carbon monoxide was never strong enough or efficient enough to be used in the gas chambers, even in the experimental stages of execution. However in all cases in which the exhaust of diesel engines like those at Auschwitz were tested, all animals died. Yet in the test cases, the engines used were only about 568cc, with 6 BHP, and were connected to a chamber of 340 cubic feet. In actuality, at Treblinka, the engines used weighed 26 to 31 tons, with a 500 BHP. They were connected to chambers, crammed full of people, and measured 2,040 cubic feet. The chamber at Treblinka was six times larger than the test cases, but the engine size differs by more than 83 times.

It is not only here that Leuchter did not carefully examine the toxic levels of gasses. It is very true that HCN, or Zyklon-B, is extremely toxic for warm-blooded animals. It would only require about 300-ppm’s exposure for fifteen minutes to ensure death on a human. However, for an insect, it would require 16,000 ppm for as long as seventy-two hours to ensure the delousing process to be complete. This would explain the characteristic blue marks left by the gas in the delousing chambers and absent from the chambers. This would also explain why the gassing chambers, exposed to fifty years of natural elements, winters filled with three feet of water, and little exposed to Zyklon-B, would not have significant remnants of the gas. The walls of the chambers had very little gas exposed to them for a much shorter time span than the walls of the delousing chambers.

It is true that Zyklon-B does have an explosive quality to it. Leuchter claims that DuPont informed him that the explosive quality would undoubtedly be very high since Zyklon-B was constantly in use. However, when used in the chambers, it was only about 300 ppm’s for the length of time of about fifteen minutes. He did not properly research the fact that in order for an explosion to occur with Zyklon-B, there must be a concentration of 56,000. Therefore, its use was not much of threat, even in such close proximity to the crematoriums. Furthermore, the DuPont company denies having had any consultations with Fred Leuchter.

There is also the argument that the gas chambers could not have been properly ventilated in the space of twenty or thirty minutes as reported. Leuchter believes that it would have taken twenty hours for the building to air out properly before the corpses could have been removed. However, this twenty hour standard is a guideline used for today, in conditions where extreme safety comes into play and there is little forced air ventilation. When the bodies were removed, the Soderkommando removing them were camp prisoners, of little value and, therefore, their safety factor was not important. This twenty-hour standard is also used for building with furnishings and carpeting, where the gas could have been secreted. The gas chambers were only bare, concrete rooms—there were no furnishings to require longer ventilation.

Leuchter was also generous in his estimations. He gives each person a generous nine square feet in the chambers. He also estimates that only three corpses could be burned in a day. Furthermore, it is impossible according to Leuchter to burn more than one corpse at a time.

How is it possible then, that such a man revered to be the foremost expert on gas chamber construction and design should have so many fallacies in his argument. The reasons all came out in the trial. The first fact that emerged was that Leuchter had never passed any courses or schools that gave him an engineering degree. Leuchter had only a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the Boston University. He had neither a Masters of Science degree or a Ph.D. in science either. When asked why he didn’t have any of these, he responded that at the time, before 1964, (the year in which he had graduated) the school did not offer an engineering degree. It did; three types in fact. His science credentials were chemistry at the college level, and two courses in physics. For these reasons the judge ruled against allowing Leuchter to appear as an expert witness.

But Leuchter’s credibility as a witness extends beyond a lack of knowledge. It seems that Leuchter had not only been posing as an engineer, but made false claims about other credentials as well. Leuchter cited in his report that he had been a consultant, or had performed some kind of service to a prison system in each of the states still using the death penalty. It came out in court that Juan Vasquez, the warden in California who had allegedly consulted him for a heart monitoring system, denied ever doing so. As for North Carolina, he was remembered by the former warden, Nathan Rice, as to have attempted to sell a lethal injection system. His largest project, to which he constantly refers to, as a design consultant for a gas chamber in Missouri, has never actually been built since he allegedly designed it more than eight years ago.

It has furthermore been found that Leuchter also attempted to appear in appeals for the death sentence on behalf of the defense. As a witness, he would testify that the gas chamber would not function properly. He threatened to do so if the wardens did not buy his equipment. His attempts failed, as he was not allowed to appear in either of the federal courts of Florida and Virginia.

IV

In truth, there are five gas chambers at Auschwitz and the nearby camp of Birkenau. the chambers were known as krema I, II, III, IV, and V; the first krema and the experimental one was and is still located in Auschwitz. This is the chamber that Leuchter argues could hardly have been useful because of the surrounding hallways, which would have arrested the gas from properly ventilating For this reason it was in fact only used for a short period of time. It was also not used for a very long period of time because of the difficult in removing bodies. They would have to be carried through the main street of camp, which would hardly have been good for keeping the camp inmates in order. So by October of 1941, the plans were begun for the conversion of two old farmhouses into gas chambers at the camp of Birkenau, only three kilometers away. The other operational chamber, at Auschwitz, krema I, was in use in the meantime. This chamber was properly screened by the SS hospital, so there was little fear of problems with the prisoners. The capacity, according to the testimony of Filip Muller, a soderkommando, was as many as 700 people at once. At later trials, He testified that between the months of May of 1942 to July of 1943, several tens of thousands were killed. However, Hoss and others have testified to even more than his figures.

The conversions of what were known as bunker one and two at Birkenau were finally completed in the beginning of 1942. Gassings here were always attended by a SS doctor in case of accidental poisonings. Johann Kremer, a doctor, testified that the gassings generally only lasted a few minutes, and after about a half an hour the doors were opened. However, if it was late in the evening or at night, and the transports were slow they would not open the doors until the next morning. However it was not until September of 1942 that the order to build Crematoriums to be built at Birkenau was made. Upon visiting the camp, Himmler decided that since the bodies could not properly be buried, and in order to avoid reconstruction of the numbers being killed, they must be cremated.

So when the crematoriums were actually built, he called for a krema capable of destroying 1,440 bodies in twenty-four hours. When the retorts were finally delivered in the spring of 1943, the first krema was capable of destroying 340 bodies per day, and II and III could destroy 1440, and two more, kremas IV and V had been built to destroy 768 bodies a day. As if these numbers were not large enough, eventually incineration times were reduced, and they tried to increase the numbers in the retort from two to three at a time according to size—according to the testimony of Sommere Feinsilber.

When the chambers were all completed, below all of the new krema, they were state of the art. They were secured with iron bolts and screws. There was ventilation running along the wall where the ceiling and floor met the wall. Perry Broad, a camp functionary, testified to the chambers being proofed with rubber and reinforced with iron fittings. There were storage rooms for Zyklon-B, and for the prisoners’ valuables removed after death. Most importantly, on average, they were capable of killing 2000 people in one gassing.

But as the war drew to a close, the dismantling of kremas began. In December of 1944, seventy soderkommandos and other prisoners began the dismantling of krema III. Krema IV was burned and then blown up. January 20, 1945, kremas II and III were blown up Six days later krema V was blown up as well; the ashes were removed to old incineration pits and covered. What remained was krema I and the old bunkers, not having been operated since the spring of 1943, except for a short time in May of 1944. Since that time they have only been used in the tours through Auschwitz.

V

On May 11, 1994, The Washington Post published an article reporting a settlement between Fred Leuchter and the Massachusetts Court. Facing charges, Leuchter made a consent decree with the board which licenses engineers, admitting that he was not in fact an engineer. Furthermore, Leuchter had to stop reports that he is acknowledged as an engineer, most significantly, the Leuchter Report.

So while this report seemed to give the Holocaust "revisionists" a huge boost for their arguments, it had been immediately torn down in the trial. When Leuchter finally made the agreement mentioned above, it was the last final blow to their movement. The report was now, officially and legally, in no way reliable. All that remains of the Leuchter Report is a series of unresearched arguments and boldfaced lies by a man guilty of breaking the law. There is no credibility anywhere in the report. It is remarkable to me that a report so poorly written, even consisting of internal contradictions, could be so heralded by the Holocaust Deniers to this day. It only goes to prove how pretentious all of the "revisionists" are.

I think that when people such as Leuchter step forward and try to deny the existence of such a massive genocide, it only re-emphasizes the gravity of the situation. As people may try to put such horrible tragedies behind them and progress, especially such Germans who still remember the Holocaust, it only stirs up more regret and anger. Even though deniers live off the publicity, both positive and negative, they do no good for anyone, only hindering the progress of history.

Bibliography

Berenbaum, Michael and Yisrael Gutman. Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Hoffman II, Michael A. The Great Holocaust Trial. New York: Wiswell Ruffin House,1995.

Leuchter, Fred. The Leuchter Report . 1988. Online. Available: www.webcom.com/~ezundel/english/leuchter/report1.html

Lipstadt, Deborah. Denying the Holocaust. New York: Plume Printing, 1994.

"The Nizkor Project." Online. 20 November 1997. Available: www.nizkor.org