Fox News reports that Germany is celebrating the end of World War I

Fox News is my favorite TV news channel and Megan Kelly is one of my favorite Fox reporters.  Today I was startled to hear Trace Gallagher, another Fox News reporter say, on Megan’s show, that World War I is finally over and this is cause for celebration in Germany.  He went on to say that the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, and later he added that it was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of November, the 11th month.  NO, NO, NO!  That was the Armistice that was signed on November 11, 1918 to end World War I.

According to Fox News, World War I is now over because the Germans have finally paid off the reparations that they were required to pay, after Germany TOOK THE BLAME for World War I. NO, NO, NO!  Germany did not TAKE the blame.  This clause of the Treaty of Versailles was forced upon the Germans after the British blockaded German ports to starve the Germans into submission.  

“fabulous policemen” of the German Gestapo

This quote is from a UK2U blog post about David Irving’s tour of Poland:

Revisionist historian David Irving has praised Adolf Hitler and described the Gestapo as “fabulous Policemen” during a controversial tour of Nazi death camps in Poland.

David Irving’s tour of Poland was infiltrated by a spy who reported on the new crimes committed by Irving a couple of days ago, when he had the audacity to praise Hitler and the Gestapo policemen. This could mean more prison time for “Holocaust Denier David Irving,” as he is known in the mainstream media.  

Poles “should be grateful” that David Irving is in Poland

I’ve been following the news about David Irving’s nine-day tour of Holocaust sites and World War II historical sites in Poland, but I have been unable to find out if his tour group actually visited Auschwitz or not.  The last news I read about his proposed tour of Auschwitz said that the authorities at the Auschwitz Museum were denying him the right to lead a tour because he is not a licensed tour guide.  How long would it take to issue him a license?

Here is a quote from a news article about Irving’s reaction:

Mr Irving told The Daily Telegraph: “I am baffled by the reaction I’ve had in Poland because they should be very grateful that I am here.  

German courts now using the “common plan” or co-responsibility charge against John Demjanjuk

The trial of John Demjanjuk in a German court is on again, after a summer break.  Ninety-year-old Demjanjuk is accused of being a guard at the Sobibor death camp in German-occupied Poland during World War II. Although there are no specific charges against him, he is accused of being an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews who were gassed at Sobibor. Demjanjuk denies that he worked as a guard at Sobibor.  

“Lying about Auschwitz?” Southern Poverty Law Center article

As a Catholic, I learned when I was a child that there are two ways to lie:  You can tell an outright “bald-faced lie,” but if you withhold the truth, that is also a lie, which is a sin.

A couple of days ago, I came across an article on the Southern Poverty Law Center web site, which you can read here.  The article is about a very brave woman who wrote about what the tour guides at Auschwitz don’t tell you.  I’ve been to Auschwitz twice, once with a guide, and once just wandering around by myself.  So I know that there are many things the guides don’t tell you. This has become more important in recent years since, during certain times of the day, visitors to Auschwitz must be with a tour group.  

Your life span is determined by your kidneys … and the kidneys are the first organs to fail

Yesterday I went to my Chinese doctor for another acupuncture treatment and this time, I asked him some questions.  Like, what causes “dry mouth”?  Ten weeks ago, I had a stroke, and for a couple of weeks before the stroke, I was experiencing “dry mouth” at night.  At the hospital, tests showed that I had high blood sugar, as well as high cholesterol and sky-high blood pressure.  I was a walking time bomb.    

Did the Nazis really use human skin to make handbags and purses?

The charge of making handbags from human skin was made at the American Military Tribunal held at Dachau in November 1945, when Martin Gottfried Weiss, the former Commandant, and 39 others were prosecuted as war criminals.   The star witness at these proceedings was Dr. Franz Blaha, a Communist who had been a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp.

Dr. Blaha testified that he had worked as a surgeon in the Dachau concentration camp, but after he said that he didn’t want to do any more operations, he was punished by being “sent to the death chamber where autopsies were performed.” Dr. Blaha claimed that he had performed “six to seven thousand autopsies” at Dachau.

During the AMT proceedings at Dachau, Dr. Blaha gave testimony regarding the bodies upon which he had performed autopsies. The following is from the trial transcript of Dr. Blaha’s testimony, as quoted in “Justice at Dachau” by Joshua M. Greene:

We took the skin from the chest and back, then used chemicals to treat the skin. Then the skins were placed outside in the sun and parts were cut for saddles, breeches, gloves, house slippers, ladies’ handbags.

In answer to a question about what had happened to these items, Dr. Blaha said:

They were prepared and sent either to SS schools or given to some of the SS men.

According to Dr. Blaha’s testimony, these items were made from human skin while a man named Bruno, and then Willy Mirkle, were in charge of the autopsies. Neither of these men were on trial and no items allegedly made from human skin were ever presented as evidence, nor was any forensic report introduced by the prosecution. Blaha’s testimony was corroborated by a confession obtained by Lt. Paul Guth from Dr. Wilhelm Witteler, one of the doctors at Dachau who was among the accused.

Dr. Witteler testified that he had been forced to sign this confession, but Lt. Guth testified, under direct examination by the prosecutor, that no coercion had been used on any of the men that he had interrogated.

Here is the testimony of Dr. Witteler from the trial transcripts, as published in “Justice at Dachau”:

A: During my interrogation I had to sit in front of the desk of Lt. Guth. A spotlight was turned on me which stood on the desk. Lt. Guth stood behind the spotlight and the interrogation started. “We know you, we have the necessary records about you…” I started to make an explanation. I was immediately stopped. I was yelled at. He called me a swine, criminal, liar, murderer, and that is the way the interrogation continued. I couldn’t give any explanations. I was only told to answer “yes” or “no”… I was interrupted immediately and told that all I had to do was answer “yes” and “no”. I couldn’t even explain it. I was told to shut up and to answer “yes” or “no”… since it was not like he thought it was, I had to get up and stand. So I stood up until 1:30 in the morning – seven hours.

Q: … at the conclusion of the drafting of this statement you signed it?

A: No, I answered that it is not correct… this statement was not written in my presence. It was written in another room. The reporter was with me in the room all the time, but the statement was written in another room. After I couldn’t stand up any more this statement was put in front of me at 1:30. And then when I said that this testimony… is not by me, that is the testimony of Dr. Blaha — who was present for several hours that night… so that I didn’t want to sign it. Lt. Guth said he would interrogate me until tomorrow morning, that he had other methods…

Q: How many people were present at the time you were interrogated?

A: Altogether, three: Lt. Guth, Dr. Leiss, and I, and, for a short time, Dr. Blaha.

Q: This writing in your own handwriting. Was that dictated or did you make it up?

A: When I found that the interrogation would end that way, I wrote down this last part and signed my name to it.

Q: Was it your own words or was it dictated to you?

A: Lt. Guth dictated those words…

So now you know.  It was proved at the American Military Tribunal at Dachau, by a signed confession, dictated by Lt. Guth, that handbags were made from human skin at Dachau.

The gassing of prisoners at Dachau was not included in the charges against Martin Gottfried Weiss and the 39 others, but in spite of this, Dr. Franz Blaha was allowed to testify that the gas chamber at Dachau was used. Under the rules of the American Military Tribunal, any and all testimony was allowed, even if it had nothing to do with the charges or the men in the dock at Dachau.

Why did the U.S. government deny that American flyers were held in Buchenwald?

This post is in response to Peg, a reader who commented today on a previous post that I wrote about the American pilots who were held in the Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II.

Peg’s comment is quoted here:

My uncle, Robert Ward from Boone, Iowa was one of the men that was taken to Buchenwald. He is no longer alive, he nearly died while being held, but did manage to survive. He broke his ankle when they had to jump from their airplane and was then forced to walk without ever being treated for his injury. The story of their captivity is an amazing, but terrible one. I am amazed that they lived to tell about it.

He was definately a different man when he returned. For many many years even the American government denied that they were held in this camp.

One would think that the American government would have a field day in condemning the Germans for violating the Geneva Convention of 1929 by putting POWs into a concentration camp instead of a POW camp, as required by the Geneva Convention. In fact, why didn’t the American government take advantage of this situation to retaliate against the German POWs being held in America?   

“Never again” scratched on a gas chamber wall…

The things you learn on the Internet!  In fact, what did we do before the Internet changed our lives?  I got my first computer that had a modem for dial-up access to the Internet in 1993.  In the first few weeks, I used up an entire ream of paper, printing out stuff that I had read. Then I realized that I didn’t have to print out everything I had read; it would be there forever, or least for a long time.

Today I read this in an article written by James Zumwalt on 9/19/10:

A sobering piece of evidence of this evil were the words “Never Again”—scratched into a gas chamber wall by a Jewish victim minutes before death as a warning to future generations.   

Boardwalk Empire has some shocking details

I just saw the first episode of Boardwalk Empire, the new HBO series about gangsters during Prohibition.  Some of the characters are based on real life people like Al Capone.  One of the characters is Arnold Rothstein who is shown in an unflattering way.  He is suspected of cheating when he wins $93,000 at a casino and it is mentioned that he “allegedly” fixed the World Series game in 1919 and made a lot of money.

The big shocker was when the book “The International Jew” was brought out by a minor character who said it was written by Henry Ford.  This book, which was published in 1920 at the time that the action in Boardwalk Empire is taking place, explains the “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.”

Ford’s book is no longer in print and it is virtually unknown by the younger generation in America, but you can be sure the kids will be googling it.  I am surprised that such a controversial book was shown in a TV show when it was not at all necessary for the plot.