Hilberg diesel

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 95 22:31 PDT
From: [email protected] (Eli M. Rosenbaum)

Re: “Inside” Magazine’s assertion that Professor Raul Hilberg
told its reporter that diesel exhaust was not used by the Nazis
to kill Jews and that soap was not made from the bodies of
Jewish victims.

On the matter of soap, as I noted previously, Prof. Hilberg’s
position, which he has maintained publicly for more than 30
years, is shared by virtually all serious Holocaust scholars.

On the diesel exhaust matter: A colleague checked with Dr.
Hilberg this morning. The professor confirmed that he had been
misquoted. He said that the examples he gave the reporter of
incorrect reports were (1) the claim that soap was made from
the bodies of Jewish victims; and (2) the claim that Jews were
executed *by electrocution*. (Somehow, the reporter got
confused. As someone who speaks with journalists at least a
dozen times a week, I can testify from personal experience that
errors, including erroneous “quotes” and attributions, occur
with great frequency.) Professor Hilberg has authorized me to
send this clarification out into cyberspace.

Bravo to Ken McVay for catching the magazine’s error!