# Auschwitz Museum Director Reveals 'Gas Chamber' Hoax - any truth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597 "2009-08-07T03:12:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/1 "2009-08-07T03:12:14Z")
> **[Auschwitz Museum Director Reveals 'Gas Chamber' Hoax](https://rense.com/general53/aauz.htm)** This highly suspicious website is claiming that: > [@](#): > > In a dramatic and unprecedented videotaped interview, Dr. Franciszek Piper, senior curator and director of archives of the Auschwitz State Museum admitted on camera that ‘Krema 1,’ the alleged ‘homicidal gas chamber’ shown off to hundreds of thousands of tourists every year at the Auschwitz main camp, was, in fact, fabricated after the war by the Soviet Union -apparently on the direct orders of Josef Stalin. > > What Piper said - in effect and on camera - was that the explosive 1988 Leuchter Report was correct: no homicidal gassings took place in the buildings designated as ‘homicidal gas chambers’ at Auschwitz. It was cited on an Irish bullitin board, and quickly dismissed as incredibly dodgy. What I’m wondering is if there is even a kernal of truth to it, or did they fabricate the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/2 "2009-08-07T03:27:30Z")
The section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing that all the tourists go and see was (re)built in the 1950s for their convenience. It wouldn’t surprise me if the original gas ovens were destroyed by the Soviets, who then realised the propaganda value of them and (re)built one for show. Has no relevance on the indisputable fact that they did exist and were used for mass murder on an industrial scale. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/3 "2009-08-07T03:29:58Z")
Have you reviewed the rest of that web site? Therein may reveal the answer you seek. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/4 "2009-08-07T04:25:42Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > The section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing that all the tourists go and see was (re)built in the 1950s for their convenience. > . Well, I’m not sure which section you are referring to. I assume it is Badaling? It’s usually quite common with the Great Wall that the part near the parking lot and entrance is newer, but you definitely can walk far enough to get to “old wall” at most areas. Was it Badaling you visited? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/5 "2009-08-07T05:07:27Z")
The key here is the word “fabricated”. In modern usage, _fabricate_ implies making or creating something dishonestly, with a view to deceiving or misleading. But this was not always so. The original and primary meaning was simply to make by art and labour. Thus buildings were fabricated, but stories were not. The word is still used in this sense, e.g. a steel fabricator, who makes steel members to order for the building trade. In fact, I suggest, except when used of stories or documents, the primary meaning of “fabricate” is _still_ simply “construct” or “construct to the client’s requirements”. The interview with Dr Piper was, I assume, conducted in Polish. I’d dearly like to know whether the words he used carried any implication of deception or dishonesty. Building work was done at Aschwitz throughout the war, and indeed afterwards when the comples was used as a prison by the NKVD. When the site was converted to a museum still further work was done, partly to reverse changes made during the NKVD period and restore some of the buildings as they were under the Nazis. I don’t know about Krema 1 specifically, but it is entirely possible that the structure that can be seeen today is post-war and therefore that, strictly speaking, “no homicidal gassings took place” in that building. That doesn’t mean, though, that gassings didn’t take place in an earlier, similar building standing on the same foundations. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/6 "2009-08-07T05:24:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > The section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing that all the tourists go and see was (re)built in the 1950s for their convenience. Same thing in Mexico. They had no problem reconstructing things back in the early days of this century. And if a few pieces were missing, no harm done if they made new ones. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/7 "2009-08-07T05:35:11Z")
Didn’t the Nazis dynamite the crematoria and gas chambers as they were being defeated, in an attempt to cover up the evidence? Thus necessitating the rebuilding-as-memorials of the buildings where the killings and cremations took place? I vaguely remember reading something about that on a Holocaust-denial rebuttal site … maybe [nizkor.org](http://nizkor.org)? Maybe that was a different building or a different camp, though… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/8 "2009-08-07T05:38:16Z")
zionistfreemasonilluminatiNWOaliensrothschildsbilderbergUFOworldtradecenterzionismextraterrestrialzionists da jooooooooz da jooooooooooz! AAAAAAAAAAGGGHHhhHHH! Jeff Rense is insane. Just look at a picture of him. Jeff Rense, if you’re reading this…you’re insane. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/9 "2009-08-07T05:50:55Z")
This may shed some light on it. [http://www.scrapbookpages.com/auschwitzscrapbook/Tour/Auschwitz1/Auschwitz08B.html](http://www.scrapbookpages.com/auschwitzscrapbook/Tour/Auschwitz1/Auschwitz08B.html) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/10 "2009-08-07T06:53:16Z")
David Cole aside, it’s not a secret that Krema 1 at Auschwitz is a reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/11 "2009-08-07T15:52:01Z")
No snark intended, but did you even casually peruse that site? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/12 "2009-08-07T16:06:24Z")
The Concentration Camps of history are a complete hoax. Also the Brits never settled in America ,Kaiser Wilhelm was a French Jew named Nigel,and George Washingtons hobby was dressing up as a LAYDEE ! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/13 "2009-08-07T16:10:02Z")
I love the idea of a hoax claim being posted on [rense.com](http://rense.com). It’s as if Fred Phelps and his gang decided to protest religious extremism. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/14 "2009-08-07T16:21:24Z")
That home page is absolutely hilarious. The adorable-child-zapping-cellphone-deathray pic is right out of SomethingAwful. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/15 "2009-08-08T00:05:43Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Same thing in Mexico. They had no problem reconstructing things back in the early days of this century. Do you mean nine years ago, or the previous century? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/16 "2009-08-08T01:21:30Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > No snark intended, but did you even casually peruse that site? Reread my OP. I know it’s a dodgy site, but that does not mean the claim is entirely false (as suggested by some of the responses of other posters) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/17 "2009-08-08T03:23:00Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > [Auschwitz Museum Director Reveals 'Gas Chamber' Hoax](http://www.rense.com/general53/aauz.htm) > This highly suspicious website is claiming that: > It was cited on an Irish bullitin board, and quickly dismissed as incredibly dodgy. > > What I’m wondering is if there is even a kernal of truth to it, or did they fabricate the whole thing. First things first: _kernel_. A kernel of truth appears to be that David Cole did interview Dr. Piper. Left unsupported in the text of the link posted by the OP are the reliability of pretty much every other assertion, such as:[ol]That Piper’s statements lead inevitably to the conclusion that the Leuchter Report was correct in its findings, 2. That the interview “proves” a policy, on the part of the officials of the state museum, of manufacturing evidence for the homicidal gassings, 3. That United States monetary aid to Israel is to atone for the gassings at Auschwitz and elsewhere, 4. That tourists to Auschwitz have been told that “Krema 1” is in its original state, 5. That tourists are being told today that “Krema 1” is in its original state.[/ol]Dangit, I can’t make lists work properly. Oh well. I just hope that nobody takes my difficulties with coding to be proof that the Holocaust never happened. :rolleyes: You are correct that the appearance of this nonsense on a dodgy site is not _prima facie_ evidence that the claim is entirely false. However, a few points to consider:[ul] The Cole/Piper interview is some seventeen years old. The so-called “controversy” has been debunked several times, even _since_ 1992 It seems to be impossible to find (online) the “much longer” article by P. Samuel Foner to subject it to any scrutiny[/ul] So, no, let’s not write it off as entirely false. But I think it’s safe to write it off as entirely dismissable and ignorable. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/18 "2009-08-08T03:41:22Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Do you mean nine years ago, or the previous century? Just curious. You have caught me in a mistake. bravo. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/19 "2009-08-08T04:09:03Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > I know it’s a dodgy site Dodgier than the Dodge-ball World Champion in the middle of a dodging during overtime in the gold-medal round of the Dodge-ball Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-museum-director-reveals-gas-chamber-hoax-any-truth/505597/20 "2009-08-08T04:30:59Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > You have caught me in a mistake. bravo. Hope I didn’t come off as snarky; I was genuinely unsure what you meant.