Did Six Million Really Die?
Testimony of
Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. was the twenty-first witness in the great Zundel trial.THE LEUCHTER REPORT
Did Six Million Really Die?
Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
[Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. was the twenty-first witness called by the defence. He testified on Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, 1988. Leuchter was tendered as an expert in gas chamber execution technology. Doug Christie informed the court that Leuchter had been commissioned by Ernst Zündel to conduct an investigation of the alleged execution gas chambers at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek in Poland with a view to determining the capability of these installations to perform the functions attributed to them in Holocaust literature. Leuchter had travelled to Poland and from 25 February to 3 March 1988 had inspected the alleged gas chambers, taken photographs, drawn plans, and removed samples which had been subsequently chemically analysed. He had prepared a report containing his opinion on whether the alleged gas chambers in the three camps were capable of being used for multiple executions by hydrogen cyanide gas and whether the crematories at the same camps were capable of disposing of the numbers allegedly burned there during the war.
After hearing Leuchter questioned in the absence of the jury, Judge Ron Thomas refused to allow the jury to see or hear of the report which Leuchter had prepared for Zündel, dated April 5, 1988: "An Engineering Report on the Alleged Execution Gas Chambers at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek Poland," which report summarized Leuchter's findings of his investigation of the three concentration camps.
Thomas held that Leuchter could give oral evidence but that the report itself was not going to be filed. (32-9032) He held Leuchter was not a chemist or a toxicologist. (32-9034) He further held that Leuchter was an engineer because he had made himself an engineer in a very limited area. (32-9048)
Thomas stated that Leuchter's opinion in the report was that there were never any gassings or exterminations carried on in the facilities. He held that Leuchter was not capable of giving that opinion. (32-9049) Nor was he capable of testifying regarding the results of the analysis of the samples. His testimony was restricted to the taking of the samples and who he turned them over to. (32-9047, 9048) Leuchter was allowed to testify with respect to his own work, his observations of the camps and the information he had gathered concerning the facilities, and whether the facilities were feasible as gas chambers. (32-9054) Defence counsel was instructed not to refer to the Leuchter Report during the in-chief examination. Thomas held that Leuchter had no expertise whatsoever in crematories and disallowed any testimony relating to crematories. (32-9052, 9054)]
Fred A. Leuchter was qualified as an expert in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of execution gas chambers. He was allowed to give opinion evidence on the operation of gas chambers and the suitability of the facilities he inspected in Poland to operate as gas chambers. (32-9062, 9063)
Leuchter testified that he was a consultant to the states of South Carolina and Missouri with respect to the operation of gas chambers used for prisoner executions, and was currently under contract with the state of Missouri to completely reconstruct their gas chamber. In the course of his work, he had studied all existing systems utilizing lethal gas and had consulted with large manufacturers of sodium and hydrogen cyanide. He held a medical research license from both state and federal governments in the United States which allowed him to carry drugs that were used in his work. (32-9056, 9057, 9058; qualified as expert witness, 32-9062)
Leuchter was retained by Zündel in February of 1988 to investigate three concentration camps in Poland: Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek, for the purpose of determining whether or not the alleged execution facilities in those camps could have been utilized for executing human beings with hydrogen cyanide or Zyklon B gas. (32-9059 to 9061)
His investigation involved the inspection of the physical sites and study of the original plans of the facilities alleged to be gas chambers. The bulk of such plans and designs were obtained by Leuchter directly from the museum officials at the three camps. (32-9061) He obtained descriptions of the procedures allegedly used in these facilities from currently available Holocaust literature. He also referred to the German documents concerning the handling of Zyklon B as a pesticide and documentation from DEGESCH, the manufacturer of Zyklon B. (32- 9062)
Prior to being asked to conduct the investigation, Leuchter had never had any contact with the revisionist view of the Holocaust. He had assumed that there were gas chambers and that many millions of people had died therein. Leuchter was not allowed to testify whether his opinion had changed after investigating the sites or whether information contained in either exterminationist or revisionist publications conformed to what he had observed. (32-9188 to 9192)
