[UseNet headers trimmed]

From: Mark Van Alstine
Subject: Behold the Lie
Newsgroup: alt.revisionism
Date: July 15, 1996

In article <31e50451.3235741@news.pacificnet.net>, tm@pacificnet.net (tom moran) wrote:

[snip]

As to the overall number of people said to have been killed at Auschwitz and the number that was and is now said to have been Jews I give you a extract from the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"For years, the statistics at Auschwitz-Birkenau had been put at well over 3 million.* Recently, however, a memorial plaque at the former death camp estimates Jewish loses closer to 1 million. Shouldn't the new figures imply that Jewish losses for the Holocaust are much lower than previously thought?"

*("well over" meaning 4 million)

The center then goes into a paragraph about how it was an "invention" of the communist government of Poland and the U.S.S.R., "to blur the uniqueness of Jewish suffering", that they "purposely overstated the number of non-Jewish casualties at Auschwitz-Birkenau by many times" and in order to "disguise the subterfuge" ... "the figures for Jewish losses were inflated by nearly double, so that their losses would still be larger than those of non-Jewish victims".

Instead of trying to figure this out at this time we can just go on to the motive behind this rather confusing logic.

"The figure of 6 million Jewish losses during the Holocaust has always been in line with the lower Auschwitz figures."

Here, we have yet another brazen example of "lying by omission" and taking what was said out of context for the purpose of malicious distortion. Such puerile tactics are the stock-in-trade of Holocaust deniers, of which Moran is one. The full passage, in context, from the center's "Responses to Revisionist Arguments" page (URL: http://www.wiesenthal.com/resource/revision.htm#13) is:

"13. For years, the death statistics at Auschwitz-Birkenau had been put at well over 3 million. Recently, however, a memorial plaque at the former death camp estimates Jewish losses closer to 1 million. Shouldn't the new figures imply that Jewish losses for the Holocaust are much lower than previously thought?

"The figure of 3-4 million murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau was an invention of communist officials in Poland (and the former U.S.S.R.) which sought to blur the uniqueness of Jewish suffering at Auschwitz. To do this, they purposely overstated the number of non-Jewish casualties at Auschwitz-Birkenau by many times their true numbers. In a clever attempt to disguise the subterfuge, the figures for Jewish losses were inflated by nearly double, so that their losses would still be larger than those of non-Jewish victims,though now by a much smaller ratio. With the end of communism in Poland and the former Soviet Union, officials at the Auschwitz museum finally lowered the casualty figures in line with the estimates of historians who, for years, have insisted that between one and 1 1/2 million people perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 80 - 90% of them Jews.

"The figure of 6 million Jewish losses during the Holocaust has always been in line with the lower Auschwitz figures.

As can be seen, Moran's implication that "[f]or years, the death statistics at Auschwitz-Birkenau had been put at well over 3 million..." was the position of the Center is a shallow-minded canard. The truth, of course, is that Center framed this as a question (question #13) in attributing the claims by deniers who assert that the discrepancy between erroneous death toll at Auschwitz-Birkenau by the former Polish and Soviet governments, and the historically accepted death toll described by the plaque, somehow means that the death toll of the Holocaust was somehow significantly revised downwards.

Of course, as the Wiesenthal Center illustrates, it never was.

"Now recalling the Wiesenthal Center's claim that the overall 6,000,000 number of Jews never was based on a higher figure at Auschwitz and thus is still 6,000,000, after the revision of 4,000,000 down to 1,000,000, we can review the contradictory listing below to see if they are telling the truth or are in fact committing a blasphemy against the truth and are insulting the reader."

Here we see Moran, using his misrepresentation of what the Center said as a straw man argument, maliciously distorts the assertions of the Center. Conveniently ignored is that historians, for decades, have come to agreement that the death toll at Auschwitz-Birkenau was between 1-1.5 million (80-90% Jews) and the Jewish death toll of the Holocaust, including the deaths at Auschwitz, was around 6 million.

[snip]

"So, even though the Simon Wiesenthal Center claims the 6,000,000 figure of total Jews killed "has always been in line with the lower figures" it is obvious that there is some recorded evidence to show this statement to be down right false, since they clearly cite anywhere from 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 Jews killed at Auschwitz, which would make the 6,000,000 figure considerably lower if we used those numbers instead of the newer currently accepted number of 1,000,000 Jews."

Again, conveniently ignored, is any mention of Dr. Piper's exhaustive estimate, begun in 1980 and completed in 1986, for the number murdered at Auschwitz, which was (at least) 1.1 million. It was, in great part, Dr. Piper's estimate that was used by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum's 1990 reassessment of the Museum's official estimate to 1.1 million. An estimate that historians and Holocaust researchers are in agreement with. As is the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"This poster has over the years witnessed many times..."

And this poster has witnessed, over the months, that Moran has been profuse in his lies and innuendo. Especially when it regards Jews in general, the numbers of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, the historical veracity of the Holocaust, and the fact that Auschwitz was an extermination camp that murdered people in gas chambers with Zyklon B and their bodies incinerated in furnaces and pits.

[snip]

"In lieu of the evidence we should ask: If the Simon Wiesenthal Center claims the 6,000,000 number was never contingent on the pre-revised number why didn't they make an attempt at setting the record straight?"

But, as Moran knows full-well knows, that is exactly what the Center was doing in question #13! Why else would he lie, distort, and fabricate about what the Center said in question #13 in order to "prove" the Simon Wiesenthal Center was doing otherwise? Evidently he must feel the necessity to slander the Simon Wiesenthal Center because their refutation completely demolishes the deniers' patently false and misleading claims!

"It cannot be shown that the Holocaust perpetuators were the initiating force behind this huge revision and others, but in fact struggled energetically to keep it from happening."

Considering the Herculean efforts of historians and Holocaust researchers, such as Dr. Piper, and the desire of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to officially reflect the historically accepted estimates for the death toll at the Auschwitz extermination camp, it CAN be shown that Moran's absurd claim is exposed for the pathetic lie that it is!

"It could also be suggested that if it was not for revisionist energy the Holocaust beneficiaries would have let the old figures stay as they were."

It could also be suggested, given the above, that this is nothing more than yet another self-serving denier lie.

"Behold the Lie - Ask Your Friends"

Behold the Liar - Read a Moranic(tm) re-post by Moran!

[snip]

"WARNING: Even though this gigantic modification to the story has taken place and is currently accepted by the world, along with a number of other major revisions, Holocaust revisionists still chipping away at the credibility of the remaining story are still dubbed `anti-Semites' and "neo-Nazis".

REALITY CHECK: In other words, Moran is lying through his teeth again and re-posting this garbage for the umpteenth time. That Moran feels Holocaust denialism is "chipping away" at the historocity of the Holocaust simply underscores his propensity for propaganda and delusional state of mind. A state of mind, besides being delusional, that is driven by rampant anti-Semitism and sympathy to Nazi ideology.

Mark

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