Treblinka extermination camp

Treblinka (pronounced [trɛˈblʲinka]) was an extermination camp, built by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was located near the village of Treblinka north-east of Warsaw in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp operated between 23 July 1942 and 19 October 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the most deadly phase of the Final Solution. During this time, it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers, along with 2,000 Romani people. More Jews were killed at Treblinka than at any other Nazi extermination camp apart from Auschwitz.

Managed by the German SS and the Eastern European Trawnikis (also known as Hiwi guards), the camp consisted of two separate units. Treblinka I was a forced-labour camp (Arbeitslager) whose prisoners worked in the gravel pit or irrigation area and in the forest, where they cut wood to fuel the crematoria. Between 1941 and 1944, more than half of its 20,000 inmates died from summary executions, hunger, disease and mistreatment.

Fred A. Leuchter

Fred Arthur Leuchter, Jr. (born February 7, 1943) is an American Holocaust denier. In the past, he had been contracted by governmental authorities of several states of the United States to improve the design of instruments for capital punishment, but no longer does so, primarily because of his lack of any formal engineering experience, but also because of charges of running a "death row shakedown" in which Leuchter threatened to testify for the defense in capital cases if he was not given contracts for his services by the state.

Leuchter became known around the world for his testimony in defense of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel in 1988. His study for Zündel's trial is referred to as the Leuchter Report after it was published by Zündel with that title. Leuchter's work is often presented by Holocaust deniers as scientifically-based evidence for Holocaust denial. However, his research methods and findings were discredited in a 1999 Errol Morris documentary on the controversy, entitled Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., as well as elsewhere.

Denying History

Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? is a 2002 book by Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman with collaboration of Arthur Hertzberg about Holocaust denial.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly gave the book a positive review explaining, "Keeping their focus on larger questions about historical rigor and public memory, Shermer (a professor of the history of science at Occidental College and publisher of Skeptic magazine) and Grobman (Rekindling the Flame) look closely at the methods employed by deniers and those used by legitimate historians. "Holocaust denial," they argue, "is not just a Jewish issue. It is an attack on all history and the way we transmit the past to the future." Drawing on a wide array of evidence and interviews they conducted with famous deniers (including David Irving) and text from their Web sites and literature, the authors explore the difference between legitimate historical revisionism and pseudohistorical denial."

Additionally, CNN wrote ". . . Shermer and Grobman do more than just refute ridiculous allegations. They also use the example of Holocaust denial literature to examine free speech issues, the psychology of right-wing extremists, and the role of biases in historical research." They further "reveal that Holocaust Denial is not skepticism, and that the revisionists are not being genuinely skeptical. Honest skepticism involves an inquisitive attitude which, as far as is humanly possible, is not marred by political or ethnic prejudices. Skepticism also involves a willingness to follow the evidence wherever it leads, rather than ignoring that which does not fit preconceived desires."