1. I became involved...Copy !req
2. in the manufacture
of execution equipment...Copy !req
3. because I was concerned
with the deplorable condition...Copy !req
4. of the hardware that's in
most of the states'prisons,Copy !req
5. which generally results in torture...Copy !req
6. prior to death.Copy !req
7. A number of years ago
I was asked by a state...Copy !req
8. to look at their electric chair.Copy !req
9. I was surprised at the
condition of the equipment...Copy !req
10. and I indicated to them
what changes should be made...Copy !req
11. to bring the equipment up to the
point of doing a humane execution.Copy !req
12. Beyond making recommendations for changes,Copy !req
13. I sat down, on my own time
and at my own expense,Copy !req
14. and made a new design and new equipment...Copy !req
15. available to the states...Copy !req
16. utilizing electrocution...Copy !req
17. at a price far lower than
they would have to deal with...Copy !req
18. if they hired an engineering
firm to redesign a specific item.Copy !req
19. The equipment is all standardized,Copy !req
20. it all meets the current electrical
requirements for electrocution...Copy !req
21. and the pricing is such...Copy !req
22. that it's similar to what you'd
pay for an off-the-shelf item,Copy !req
23. even though it's made up.Copy !req
24. They essentially pay for the
parts, the labor and the installation,Copy !req
25. and a 20-percent markup,
which is more than fair.Copy !req
26. We are testing the electrocution system...Copy !req
27. here at the Tennessee State Prison.Copy !req
28. This is connected to
the execution system...Copy !req
29. in place of the electric chair,Copy !req
30. and the system thinks
that this is a human body.Copy !req
31. It consists of a series
of heavy-duty resistors...Copy !req
32. cooled by four fans.Copy !req
33. I will now switch on the fans...Copy !req
34. and begin the cooling process.Copy !req
35. We then proceed to the power supply.Copy !req
36. We turn on the main circuit breaker.Copy !req
37. You can see the voltage has
increased to 2,640 volts.Copy !req
38. We begin the test
at the control console...Copy !req
39. for the electric chair.Copy !req
40. We turn the fail-safe system on
to operation.Copy !req
41. Power up.
Computer on.Copy !req
42. And then I push the button for operation.Copy !req
43. The human body is not easy to destroy.Copy !req
44. It's not easy to take a life
humanely and painlessly,Copy !req
45. without doing a great deal of
damage to the individual's body.Copy !req
46. Excess current cooks the tissue.Copy !req
47. There have been occasions...Copy !req
48. where a great amount
of current has been applied...Copy !req
49. and the meat will come off the executee's
body like meat coming off a cooked chicken.Copy !req
50. The execution must be
conducted in two jolts.Copy !req
51. In 1/240th part of a second...Copy !req
52. the first jolt disrupts or destroys the
individual's central nervous system.Copy !req
53. Current is then applied...Copy !req
54. for a time approaching one minute.Copy !req
55. The adrenaline is being
driven out into the bloodstream.Copy !req
56. The second jolt now seizes
the pacemaker a second time.Copy !req
57. There's now no adrenaline left
to restart the pacemaker.Copy !req
58. The person is dead.Copy !req
59. If the voltage does not exceed
2,000 volts...Copy !req
60. throughout the execution,Copy !req
61. the individual's pacemaker
is not permanently seized.Copy !req
62. In some 20, 30 minutes later the individual's
heart restarts itself on its own...Copy !req
63. and the person is now alive again.Copy !req
64. They would have to call
all the witnesses back,Copy !req
65. strap the vegetable back into the chair...Copy !req
66. and reelectrocute him.Copy !req
67. There's no difference in a life support
system and an execution system.Copy !req
68. Uh, the system has to
function flawlessly...Copy !req
69. for the time period that it's operating.Copy !req
70. With a life support system, if it
doesn't function, the person dies.Copy !req
71. With an execution system,Copy !req
72. if it doesn't function
flawlessly, the person lives,Copy !req
73. but he doesn't live as a human being.Copy !req
74. He lives as an injured,
brain-dead vegetable,Copy !req
75. which is probably far worse
than being executed.Copy !req
76. My father worked in the
Massachusetts correctional system.Copy !req
77. He was a superintendent of
transportation for many years,Copy !req
78. first at the old state prison
in Charlestown,Copy !req
79. and then at the new prison in Walpole,Copy !req
80. which has now since been
renamed Cedar Junction.Copy !req
81. As many youngsters do,Copy !req
82. I went to work with my father.Copy !req
83. I'd been accompanying him to
work since I was four years old.Copy !req
84. I visited all of the cell areas,
including the death house area.Copy !req
85. I was in the same room that people
like Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in.Copy !req
86. I learned a number of things from the
inmates that normally would be illegal...Copy !req
87. but have proved very
useful to me in my later life,Copy !req
88. things like picking locks
and cracking safes and...Copy !req
89. I learned all kinds of
strange things as a youngster.Copy !req
90. I came into the execution field...Copy !req
91. from a back-door standpoint,Copy !req
92. because I was very concerned about the
humanitarian aspects of death by torture,Copy !req
93. similar to what happened in the
state of Florida two years ago...Copy !req
94. with Mr. Jesse Tafero,Copy !req
95. where they actually
set the man's head on fire.Copy !req
96. Once the chair broke in half
in the state of New York,Copy !req
97. and the individual lay writhing
on the floor of the death chamber...Copy !req
98. crying for 35 or 40 minutes while
the carpenters repaired the chair.Copy !req
99. They burnt the transformer up.Copy !req
100. Fortunately, due to the quick
thinking of the prison electrician,Copy !req
101. they had some cable, they ran
some wires over the prison wall...Copy !req
102. and tapped into the outside power line...Copy !req
103. without the consent of the power
company, but there was no objection later.Copy !req
104. They had one execution...Copy !req
105. where the transformer
caught on fire and blew up,Copy !req
106. and it occurred in such a sequence...Copy !req
107. that all it did was knock
the individual unconscious.Copy !req
108. He came out of it with no
apparent brain damage, no problem.Copy !req
109. Six months later they repaired
the electric chair...Copy !req
110. and they did successfully execute him.Copy !req
111. But, I mean, he was very lucky.Copy !req
112. He was hit with
a full jolt of electricity,Copy !req
113. the equipment blew up, burned up...Copy !req
114. and he walked away from it
without any damage, not even a burn.Copy !req
115. One by one,Copy !req
116. I determined that this state's
equipment was not functional,Copy !req
117. this state's equipment was not functional.Copy !req
118. Then suddenly one day I said,
"None of the equipment is functional."Copy !req
119. Many of the electric chairs were
built by inmates and electricians...Copy !req
120. who had no idea
of what they were building.Copy !req
121. They took a picture of another state's electric
chair and made something that looked like it.Copy !req
122. Tennessee contacted me...Copy !req
123. with the construction of their new prison.Copy !req
124. I was asked to inspect the
equipment at the old facility...Copy !req
125. and make a determination
of what could be salvaged.Copy !req
126. The only consideration was that they
wanted to maintain the electric chair,Copy !req
127. which they've had in place since 1898.Copy !req
128. The reasoning being that the
wood from the electric chair...Copy !req
129. not only had the tradition of all
of their electrocution executions,Copy !req
130. but it also formerly served
as the wood of their gallows.Copy !req
131. The chair itself...Copy !req
132. was much smaller than one would expect.Copy !req
133. It looked more like it was made
to accommodate a youngster...Copy !req
134. or a woman.Copy !req
135. So, we essentially made the chair wider,Copy !req
136. we made the chair higher.Copy !req
137. We supplied them with
a completely new power supply...Copy !req
138. so there's no excessive cooking.Copy !req
139. And then finally,Copy !req
140. because we were unable to match
the old wood with the new oak,Copy !req
141. it became necessary for us
to paint the chair...Copy !req
142. with a special, high-quality epoxy paint,Copy !req
143. the same basic paint
that's used by NASA...Copy !req
144. on the nose and body of the space shuttle.Copy !req
145. That was back
in '89, I believe it was.Copy !req
146. At that time I was still in school.Copy !req
147. I just remember coming home...
"What is this big box in the front yard?"Copy !req
148. "Well,
it's an electric chair."Copy !req
149. "Oh."Copy !req
150. Fred and my uncle were here.Copy !req
151. They'd come out with the crowbars.Copy !req
152. They had to break the box open,
unscrew all the parts.Copy !req
153. There was an electric chair
sitting in the front yard.Copy !req
154. It was very unusual,
something I wasn't expecting.Copy !req
155. I guess Fred was expecting it.Copy !req
156. It was very difficult getting
up and down those stairs...Copy !req
157. with a couple hundred-pound
piece of oak chair.Copy !req
158. Of course, before we even brought it
inside, had to have Fred sit down in it.Copy !req
159. Strapped him in...Copy !req
160. I said, "No, thanks." [
Camera Shutter Clicks ]Copy !req
161. I had processed
a couple of rolls of film,Copy !req
162. photos that I took
for engineering purposes...Copy !req
163. detail stuff, so you'd know how
it looked before you took it apart.Copy !req
164. I went through it and said,
"What the hell's this?"Copy !req
165. We had a magnifier and we were
trying to figure out what was there.Copy !req
166. We saw what appeared to be
more than one image.Copy !req
167. As far as I understand it,Copy !req
168. certain objects give off auras,Copy !req
169. and some objects that have been exposed to
high-intensity electromagnetic fields...Copy !req
170. absorb some of that energy
and would give off an aura.Copy !req
171. I don't know what we photographed.Copy !req
172. We don't know if we photographed
an entity. We don't know what's there.Copy !req
173. It may still reside in the
parts that are in Tennessee.Copy !req
174. When I tore the chair apart,
maybe it was freed.Copy !req
175. I don't know.Copy !req
176. That's assuming there was
something there to start with.Copy !req
177. Because of my work in electrocution,Copy !req
178. I was contacted by
the state of New Jersey...Copy !req
179. to consult with them on the construction
of a lethal injection machine.Copy !req
180. They realized that lethal injection is
a difficult, if not impossible problem,Copy !req
181. even for trained medical personnel.Copy !req
182. They determined that there
should be some kind of a machine...Copy !req
183. that could repetitively deliver
the necessary chemicals...Copy !req
184. at the proper time intervals...Copy !req
185. for all executions.Copy !req
186. This completely took
the human factor out of it.Copy !req
187. I studied for several months,Copy !req
188. and I put together a proposal
on how this machine should work.Copy !req
189. The syringe is driven
by a weighted piston...Copy !req
190. that floats on a column of air.Copy !req
191. This causes a push-pull relationship...Copy !req
192. between the machine and
the individual's vascular system,Copy !req
193. and it allows the executee
to take the chemical...Copy !req
194. at a rate that his body
and vein will accept.Copy !req
195. The doctors were satisfied.Copy !req
196. Now they had to make the
presentation to the prison officials.Copy !req
197. The deputy commissioner was sittin' there
through most of the meeting very bored,Copy !req
198. probably because he didn't
understand what I was talking about...Copy !req
199. most of the time.Copy !req
200. But then he finally heard
something he understood.Copy !req
201. One of the doctors said, "Fred designed the
helmet that's used on the electric chair...Copy !req
202. in the state
of North Carolina."Copy !req
203. At that point the deputy commissioner
said, "Wait. Stop the meeting."Copy !req
204. He looked at me and says, "You designed
the helmet, the one that they just used?"Copy !req
205. I says, "Yes."
He said, "Okay, that does it."Copy !req
206. He turned around to the doctors and
he says, "Do the necessary paperwork...Copy !req
207. and see that Mr. Leuchter
gets the contract."Copy !req
208. Now, what lethal injection has to
do with electrocution is beyond me.Copy !req
209. Simply because I'm capable
of building an electric chair...Copy !req
210. doesn't mean I'm capable of
building a lethal injection machine.Copy !req
211. They're two totally different concepts.Copy !req
212. With electrocution,Copy !req
213. unconsciousness takes place
in 1/240th part of a second.Copy !req
214. Gas chamber, within three or four minutes.Copy !req
215. And with the gallows it doesn't matter,Copy !req
216. because you're being dropped almost immediately
after being brought onto the scaffold.Copy !req
217. None of the procedures require that
somebody lay on a gurney for 35 minutes...Copy !req
218. looking at a ceiling.Copy !req
219. You have to have the man immobile.Copy !req
220. He has to be unable to move, or else he's
gonna damage his arm with the catheter.Copy !req
221. But you certainly can
make it more comfortable.Copy !req
222. You could put him in a contoured chair
like they have in the dentist's office.Copy !req
223. Then at least he'd be sitting up.Copy !req
224. You could give him a television,
music, some pictures on the wall...Copy !req
225. rather than put him in a concrete room.Copy !req
226. That's not humane.Copy !req
227. Essentially, the states
talk with each other.Copy !req
228. We immediately got Illinois,
and we got Delaware.Copy !req
229. They had a hanging problem that
they totally were not able to deal with.Copy !req
230. They had a gallows that had
been stored for 25 or 30 years.Copy !req
231. They took it out, they screwed
it together and it fell over.Copy !req
232. The only thing left that was functional
were the hinges for the trap door.Copy !req
233. The reasoning here is that I'd
built helmets for electric chairs,Copy !req
234. so I could build
lethal injection machines.Copy !req
235. I now built lethal injection machines,Copy !req
236. so I'm now competent to build a gallows.Copy !req
237. And since I'm building gallows,Copy !req
238. I'm also competent
to work on gas chambers...Copy !req
239. because I'd done all of the other three.Copy !req
240. What really makes you competent is the fact
that you have the necessary background,Copy !req
241. you do the investigation, you find out
what the problem is and you solve it.Copy !req
242. It's not anything different than
any competent engineer could do.Copy !req
243. The difference is that
it's not a major market.Copy !req
244. A lot of people are not interested...Copy !req
245. and are morally opposed to
working on execution equipment.Copy !req
246. They think it's somehow gonna change them.Copy !req
247. As you've probably guessed by now,Copy !req
248. I am a proponent of capital punishment.Copy !req
249. Uh, I'm certainly not
a proponent of capital torture.Copy !req
250. We must always remember...Copy !req
251. and we must never forget...Copy !req
252. the fact that the person being
executed is a human being.Copy !req
253. One of the things
that I've had to deal with...Copy !req
254. is the feelings of the people
who are doing the executions.Copy !req
255. The guards that work
with the execution equipment...Copy !req
256. are generally the same guards
that have dealt with that inmate...Copy !req
257. for the last five, ten, fifteen,
sometimes twenty years...Copy !req
258. while the man was on Death Row.Copy !req
259. The warden of the institution...Copy !req
260. is, in many respects,
the surrogate father...Copy !req
261. is, in many respects,
the surrogate father...Copy !req
262. of the inmate who's being executed.Copy !req
263. He sees that inmate
maybe five or six times a week.Copy !req
264. He's concerned if the inmate is
sick, if the inmate doesn't feel well...Copy !req
265. the general welfare of the inmate.Copy !req
266. Then, at the end of the time,
he must take that inmate out,Copy !req
267. strap him into his electric
chair, his gas chamber,Copy !req
268. strap him into
his lethal injection machine...Copy !req
269. or put a noose around his neck.Copy !req
270. Most people think of a hardened
criminal and a murderer...Copy !req
271. as someone who is in a cell
and gonna be executed,Copy !req
272. but these people are really no different
than somebody that we work with every day.Copy !req
273. The only difference is, the inmate
doesn't go home and the guard does.Copy !req
274. And now, at the end of
this ten or fifteen-year cycle,Copy !req
275. they now are faced with the task
of executing this man...Copy !req
276. with equipment that's defective,Copy !req
277. with equipment that's gonna cause pain.Copy !req
278. Even with a good execution...Copy !req
279. you get some burning at the electrodes.Copy !req
280. It's a very distasteful thing...Copy !req
281. for the guard who has to unstrap
the inmate from the electric chair...Copy !req
282. after the execution.Copy !req
283. Normally, if we think of a belt with holes in
it and the pin that goes through the holes,Copy !req
284. that guard has to then compress all
the flesh and everything on the body.Copy !req
285. It's oozing, because it's been cooked.Copy !req
286. He has to get the body fluids
on his hands.Copy !req
287. With the equipment we designed,Copy !req
288. all of the straps are instant-release.Copy !req
289. They're the same
as the safety belts in your car.Copy !req
290. You hit a button and the strap opens.Copy !req
291. Another thing that we do is, our
electric chair contains a drip pan.Copy !req
292. All executees,Copy !req
293. during the execution,Copy !req
294. lose control of their bodily functions.Copy !req
295. They urinate and defecate
in their pants, on their chair.Copy !req
296. This normally winds up on the chair and
on the floor directly beneath the chair.Copy !req
297. This is a disgusting thing when it occurs.Copy !req
298. It's a very inhumane thing to allow
a person who's being executed,Copy !req
299. a human being...Copy !req
300. who should be afforded the greatest dignity
of all because he is losing his life...Copy !req
301. It's a disgusting and a degrading
thing to allow him to defecate...Copy !req
302. and, quite frankly, piss on the floor.Copy !req
303. Additionally, the urine,Copy !req
304. when it hits the floor... and I think everybody
knows that urine is highly conductive...Copy !req
305. it's normally mopped up.Copy !req
306. If there's a second execution
or a third execution...Copy !req
307. and this sometimes occurs when they have
more than one execution at the same time...Copy !req
308. the guards in the death house now
have to work and stand on a floor...Copy !req
309. that's dampened and wet...Copy !req
310. with this highly conductive urine.Copy !req
311. Fortunately, there has
never been an accident.Copy !req
312. But it's quite possible for the urine to
conduct electricity and shock a guard.Copy !req
313. And nobody should have to
place his life in jeopardy...Copy !req
314. because an execution is being conducted.Copy !req
315. This is much the same thing that
goes on with the gas chambers.Copy !req
316. With the defective equipment that exists,Copy !req
317. every time there's a gas execution...Copy !req
318. it's an accident waiting to happen.Copy !req
319. There is a major danger of leakage,Copy !req
320. and I honestly believe and I wish...Copy !req
321. that those remaining few states
that are utilizing gas...Copy !req
322. would do away with the gas chamber...Copy !req
323. and go to lethal injection
or some other procedure...Copy !req
324. which wouldn't place in danger the
lives of witnesses and prison officials...Copy !req
325. who have to be at that execution to see
that the execution conforms with the law.Copy !req
326. Being familiar with all of
the four systems that we use,Copy !req
327. I would much rather be electrocuted,Copy !req
328. providing that you were gonna electrocute
me on the system that's in Tennessee.Copy !req
329. I don't want to be
electrocuted in Virginia.Copy !req
330. I don't want to be
electrocuted in Florida.Copy !req
331. I don't want to be
electrocuted in Alabama.Copy !req
332. I don't want to be Mr. Tafero or have
my eyeballs blown across the room.Copy !req
333. I'd like the execution procedure
to go smoothly.Copy !req
334. I have often been asked, generally
by some type of adverse party,Copy !req
335. whether I sleep at night,
or how well I sleep at night.Copy !req
336. My answer is always the same.Copy !req
337. I sleep very well at night, and I
sleep with the comforting thought...Copy !req
338. of knowing that those persons that
are being executed with my equipment,Copy !req
339. that these people have a better chance...Copy !req
340. of having a painless, more
humane and dignified execution.Copy !req
341. Been drinking coffee for a long time,Copy !req
342. since I was, probably,
around four or five years old.Copy !req
343. Yes, it's still true.
I love coffee.Copy !req
344. I think it's running through my veins.Copy !req
345. Coffee never bothers the ulcer,Copy !req
346. but I remember, must be 15, 20
years ago when I went to the doctor...Copy !req
347. He was asking me, "How much coffee
do you drink a day?" About 40 cups."Copy !req
348. So he's writing it down. "How much coffee
do you drink a day?" About 40 cups."Copy !req
349. He says, "How much coffee do you drink
a day?" And I says, " About 40 cups."Copy !req
350. He says, "Look, I'm not
kidding." I says, "I'm not either."Copy !req
351. He said, "Oh? How much do you
smoke a day?" I said, " About six packs."Copy !req
352. He said, "Six packs of
cigarettes, 40 cups of coffee a day.Copy !req
353. You should be dead by now."Copy !req
354. If I don't drink the coffee, I
get headaches. They're terrible.Copy !req
355. My body's so used to the
caffeine that it doesn't bother me.Copy !req
356. I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.Copy !req
357. Somewhere along the line,
she just appeared.Copy !req
358. I was a good tipper, and she
used to bring me extra coffee.Copy !req
359. I was a waitress, he
was a customer. I was working nights.Copy !req
360. He'd come in on his way to the gun club.Copy !req
361. He taught me how to shoot.Copy !req
362. I have a.22.Copy !req
363. This guy Joe asked me if I
knew what Fred did for a living.Copy !req
364. I said "No, " and he said,
"He kills people."Copy !req
365. That kind of surprised me...Copy !req
366. until he explained exactly what he did,Copy !req
367. which wasn't that he killed people,Copy !req
368. but he made things that killed people.Copy !req
369. He was having problems
at home with his mother.Copy !req
370. She wasn't talking to him,
and we just got married.Copy !req
371. Because of my expertise in the
construction of execution equipment,Copy !req
372. I was asked to testify...Copy !req
373. by the defense team...Copy !req
374. of Mr. Ernst Zündel,Copy !req
375. a German national living in
Canada for some 20-odd years...Copy !req
376. who published a pamphlet.:
"Did Six Million Really Die?"Copy !req
377. As in most
of his public appearances,Copy !req
378. Ernst Zündel arrived at court surrounded
by supporters wearing hard hats.Copy !req
379. They are bodyguards for a man
who says the Holocaust is a myth...Copy !req
380. and who's prepared to argue that
before a judge and jury.Copy !req
381. Zündel is charged under a rarely
used section of the criminal code...Copy !req
382. that he published statements
he knew were false,Copy !req
383. statements that could cause
racial intolerance.Copy !req
384. Forty-five years of
undetermined hatred is enough.Copy !req
385. The Holocaust is nothing but
undetermined hate propaganda...Copy !req
386. posing as history.Copy !req
387. I, with the help of my friends from
around the world, Jews and gentiles,Copy !req
388. am going to finish the Second
World War, I guarantee you.Copy !req
389. We can solve the
mystery of the gas chambers...Copy !req
390. in Auschwitz and all these other places...Copy !req
391. if we find an American expert,Copy !req
392. because America is the only country
that dispatches people with gas.Copy !req
393. You can't open up the phone book and
say "gas," then "chamber," then "experts,"Copy !req
394. and out come ten Fred Leuchters.Copy !req
395. No, there's nobody.Copy !req
396. Fred Leuchter was our only hope.Copy !req
397. We were married for
less than a month when we went.Copy !req
398. Although she doesn't like to hear it,Copy !req
399. I normally tell her
that was her honeymoon.Copy !req
400. That's not a particularly good
place to go for a honeymoon, Poland.Copy !req
401. Every American, it would have
done them good to visit there.Copy !req
402. Then they would have appreciated
what we've got here.Copy !req
403. Specifically, I brought Carol
and my draftsman Howard Miller.Copy !req
404. Sent with us from Canada...Copy !req
405. was a cinematographer who
videotaped everything we did...Copy !req
406. and a translator...Copy !req
407. who's fluent both in German
and particularly in Polish.Copy !req
408. We were small, but we had
everything we needed.Copy !req
409. Our first night there we stayed
at the Auschwitz Hotel,Copy !req
410. which, apparently, was
the officer's quarters...Copy !req
411. for the German military at Auschwitz.Copy !req
412. They had a cafeteria-style dining area,Copy !req
413. and our first meal there...Copy !req
414. was, uh, starch soup.Copy !req
415. What they did is, they
boiled noodles in water,Copy !req
416. removed the noodles and served the soup.Copy !req
417. It was terrible.Copy !req
418. Unfortunately,
I received a double portion,Copy !req
419. because when I wasn't looking
my wife dumped hers into my dish.Copy !req
420. Good morning.
My name is Fred Leuchter.Copy !req
421. I'm an engineer from Boston
in the United States,Copy !req
422. and I'm here this snowy morning
at Auschwitz in Poland.Copy !req
423. The date is February 28.
It's approximately 10:30 a.m.Copy !req
424. I'm here to examine...Copy !req
425. this alleged gas chamber.Copy !req
426. Some people feel
it was an air raid shelter.Copy !req
427. Other people feel that
it was simply a morgue.Copy !req
428. And then there are those that feel the
structure functioned as a gas chamber...Copy !req
429. for sending people
on their way to their death.Copy !req
430. Carol was outside at one of the entrances,Copy !req
431. essentially freezing.Copy !req
432. She was one of our lookouts.Copy !req
433. We had her at one door. The
translator was at the other door.Copy !req
434. Howard, my draftsman,
and myself were inside,Copy !req
435. taking measurements and recording
the locations and bagging the samples,Copy !req
436. and the cinematographer
was making the videotapes.Copy !req
437. So everybody was busy at
what they were supposed to do.Copy !req
438. We didn't have any extra people.Copy !req
439. We made paint scrapings and
chiseled plaster from locations...Copy !req
440. that are not immediately noticeable,Copy !req
441. but still were proper locations
for condensation of cyanide gas.Copy !req
442. We made detailed
scale drawings of the rooms...Copy !req
443. with arrows showing
the location that was removed.Copy !req
444. The notebook, videotape
and the drawings...Copy !req
445. were given to the court and became
part of the permanent evidence.Copy !req
446. Zündel is on trial
for publishing false history,Copy !req
447. for publishing books of Holocaust denial.Copy !req
448. He needs to prove...Copy !req
449. that what others see as
false history is true history.Copy !req
450. Fred Leuchter is their trump card.Copy !req
451. He will be the scientist...Copy !req
452. who will reclaim from those ruins...Copy !req
453. evidence that killing didn't happen there.Copy !req
454. Holocaust denial, for me, is so revolting,Copy !req
455. and the way for me not to
immediately become sick...Copy !req
456. of having to deal with Leuchter...Copy !req
457. was by saying, "Okay, I'm
going to map his journey."Copy !req
458. I have a job to do,
and my job, my first job,Copy !req
459. is to try to understand where
this guy was at what time,Copy !req
460. to take that tape and record
every camera angle...Copy !req
461. where it was, what piece
of wall they were looking at,Copy !req
462. where he took the samples.Copy !req
463. It was important to be able to
follow that trail very, very precisely.Copy !req
464. I wanted to see how he had done it.Copy !req
465. Sixty-one feet.Copy !req
466. Sixty-one feet from the rear wall.Copy !req
467. Leuchter's a victim
of the myth of Sherlock Holmes.Copy !req
468. A crime has been committed.Copy !req
469. You go to the site of the crime and
with a magnifying glass you find a hair...Copy !req
470. or a speck of dust on the shoe.Copy !req
471. Leuchter thinks that is the way
reality can be reconstructed.Copy !req
472. But he is no Sherlock Holmes.Copy !req
473. He doesn't have the training.Copy !req
474. It was not that he brought any experience,Copy !req
475. the specific experience needed
to look at ruined buildings.Copy !req
476. The only experience he had...Copy !req
477. was design modifications for the
Missouri gas chambers in Jacksonville.Copy !req
478. Birkenau I never went in.Copy !req
479. I stayed in the car, with no keys,Copy !req
480. and froze my... whatever off...
feet.Copy !req
481. I was in the car for hours.Copy !req
482. I brought books to read.Copy !req
483. Mystery books.Copy !req
484. And crossword puzzles.Copy !req
485. I do a lot of crossword puzzles.Copy !req
486. I didn't consider it my
honeymoon. Let's put it that way.Copy !req
487. I don't know that we ever slept in
the same bed while we were there.Copy !req
488. I try to forget about going there.Copy !req
489. I should note
that everything that was done,Copy !req
490. was done in the best possible taste,Copy !req
491. understanding that these things are
national shrines and national monuments.Copy !req
492. The only thing that was a little
bit harrowing or frightening...Copy !req
493. is that I didn't want to get caught.Copy !req
494. Unfortunately, you have to make a lot of noise
when you're chiseling brick out of walls.Copy !req
495. Auschwitz
is like the holy of ho lies.Copy !req
496. I prepared years to go there.Copy !req
497. And to have a fool come in,Copy !req
498. coming completely unprepared,Copy !req
499. it's sacrilege.Copy !req
500. Somebody who walks into the holy
of ho lies and doesn't give a damn.Copy !req
501. I expected to see facilities
that could have been used as gas chambers.Copy !req
502. I expected to see areas
that were explosion-proof.Copy !req
503. I expected to see areas
that were leak-proof.Copy !req
504. There have to be holes in walls or areas
where they had exhaust fans and pipes.Copy !req
505. There has to be something to remove
the gas after it's been put into the room.Copy !req
506. There has to be some kind of
device to heat the chalk pellets...Copy !req
507. and sublimate the gas
to get it to go into the air.Copy !req
508. These things didn't exist.Copy !req
509. Auschwitz
is very, very different...Copy !req
510. from the place it was during the war.Copy !req
511. Everything has changed
three or four times...Copy !req
512. since that camp operated
as an extermination camp.Copy !req
513. The barracks are 50 years old.
They're moldy, they smell bad.Copy !req
514. It's not a smell of the war.Copy !req
515. It's a smell of decay, of 50 years
of being exposed to the elements.Copy !req
516. There's no way that
when you go to the crematoria...Copy !req
517. you really can understand what
it was to be led there as a victim,Copy !req
518. to have to undress
and be led in the gas chamber.Copy !req
519. And when you are in the building archive,Copy !req
520. it is possible to reimagine
what the place was like...Copy !req
521. during the war.Copy !req
522. The first time I came into
the archive, I was stunned.Copy !req
523. I had found a mission. I had
found a task. I had found a vocation.Copy !req
524. When you go to Birkenau
there's very little left,Copy !req
525. and to suddenly have in that room...Copy !req
526. that concentration of evidence...Copy !req
527. There is a tactile reality,
an incredible texture,Copy !req
528. the texture of making that camp.Copy !req
529. If Leuchter had gone to the archives,Copy !req
530. if he had spent time in the archives...Copy !req
531. he would have found evidence
about ventilation systems,Copy !req
532. evidence about ways to introduce
Zyklon B into these buildings,Copy !req
533. evidence of gas chambers,Copy !req
534. undressing rooms.Copy !req
535. But then, of course,
I don't think he knows German,Copy !req
536. so it wouldn't have helped very much.Copy !req
537. 26th of February, 1943,Copy !req
538. 20 after 6.:00 p.m.Copy !req
539. Telegram to Topfwerke Erfurt.Copy !req
540. "Send immediately ten gas detectors.Copy !req
541. "Invoice us later.Copy !req
542. Signed, Pollok,
S.S. Untersturmfuhrer."Copy !req
543. "Auschwitz, 6 March, 1943.Copy !req
544. "Subject.:
Crematoria Two and Three.Copy !req
545. "In accordance with your suggestion,Copy !req
546. "Cellar One should be preheated.Copy !req
547. "At the same time, we would ask
you to send an additional quotation...Copy !req
548. "for the air extraction installation
in the undressing room.Copy !req
549. S.S. Sturmundfuhrer Bishof."Copy !req
550. "31 March, 1943.Copy !req
551. "Three gas-tight doors...Copy !req
552. "have been completed.Copy !req
553. "We remind you of an additional order...Copy !req
554. "for the gas door for Crematorium Three.Copy !req
555. "This must be made with a spy hole...Copy !req
556. "with double eight-millimeter glass.Copy !req
557. "This order is particularly urgent.Copy !req
558. Signed,
S.S. Major Bishof."Copy !req
559. There was a code.Copy !req
560. The Germans had a coded language.Copy !req
561. You never talk about extermination.Copy !req
562. You always talk about "special action"...Copy !req
563. or "special treatment."Copy !req
564. There was a very clear policy.Copy !req
565. Words like " gas chamber"
would not be used.Copy !req
566. The letter of Bishof
of the 29th of January...Copy !req
567. is a kind of exception in this...Copy !req
568. because it is a letter which is written by
a person who manages the whole operation...Copy !req
569. and who himself had established a policy that
you would never use the words "gas chamber."Copy !req
570. Somebody in the architecture office...Copy !req
571. underlined the word "Vergasungskeller,"Copy !req
572. literally, " gassing basement,"Copy !req
573. and put on top a note...Copy !req
574. "S.S. Untersturmfuhrer
Kierschnecht, exclamation mark."Copy !req
575. This means Kierschnecht
should be informed...Copy !req
576. about this slip.Copy !req
577. It doesn't occur after that.Copy !req
578. The Nazis were the first
Holocaust deniers...Copy !req
579. because they deny to themselves...Copy !req
580. that it's happening.Copy !req
581. When my doubt about the
Holocaust first came to me,Copy !req
582. it took me two and a half years.Copy !req
583. I was like a reforming alcoholic.Copy !req
584. I was like one yo-yo...Copy !req
585. back and forth...Copy !req
586. believe, not believe; maybe
believe; false belief;, true belief.Copy !req
587. Fred was able to purge his own mind...Copy !req
588. within a matter of a week.Copy !req
589. That's amazing to me.Copy !req
590. So I said,
"Fred, what convinced you?"Copy !req
591. He said, "Ernst, it wasn't what I found.Copy !req
592. "It's what I didn't find
that blew me away.Copy !req
593. "It never, ever occurred to me...Copy !req
594. that a man could be convinced
by something that is not there."Copy !req
595. That's what Fred said.Copy !req
596. Before I went, I
had no idea of their purpose.Copy !req
597. I just knew that
they were concentration camps.Copy !req
598. I knew because I was taught
that they had gas executions there.Copy !req
599. But I subsequently found out...Copy !req
600. that the concentration camps
were, in effect, slave labor camps.Copy !req
601. It doesn't make much sense that they would
take an entire force of slave labor...Copy !req
602. and execute them.Copy !req
603. You get into a situation where you
start thinking about what happened,Copy !req
604. you look at the facilities, none
of it seems to make any sense.Copy !req
605. If I were to take
any one of the facilities...Copy !req
606. and attempt to conduct
a gas execution in them today,Copy !req
607. and the facilities haven't
changed at all since 1942 or 1941,Copy !req
608. then what, in effect, I'd do is, I'd kill myself
and everybody helping me do the execution.Copy !req
609. I certainly don't have a death wish,Copy !req
610. and I don't think the German
S.S. had a death wish.Copy !req
611. If those facilities could be
made competent for an execution,Copy !req
612. I would be the one that
would be able to do that.Copy !req
613. I assure you that nobody could
do that better than I could.Copy !req
614. Leuchter has
said a number of times...Copy !req
615. that the place wasn't touched.Copy !req
616. Just open your eyes.Copy !req
617. You realize that this is utter nonsense.Copy !req
618. Virtually every brick,Copy !req
619. which was located in 1944 in one place,Copy !req
620. has been relocated to another place.Copy !req
621. Where are all the bricks
of the crematoria?Copy !req
622. It's an interesting question.Copy !req
623. There's some mountain of bricks
in Crematorium Five,Copy !req
624. but for the rest there are no bricks.Copy !req
625. I think I know where they are.Copy !req
626. The real places to sample are the
farmhouses to the west of the crematoria,Copy !req
627. the farmhouses where people are living,Copy !req
628. children are playing, dogs are barking.Copy !req
629. These were rebuilt after the war
with bricks of the crematoria.Copy !req
630. This site has been turned inside-out.Copy !req
631. What was inside the camp
is now outside the camp.Copy !req
632. And inside, you have a big void.Copy !req
633. We're standing at Krema II...Copy !req
634. at one of the alleged holes...Copy !req
635. where the S.S. officers threw in
the hydrogen cyanide material.Copy !req
636. As you can see,
it's a rough-cut opening...Copy !req
637. with metal reinforcing rods.Copy !req
638. I'm about to descend through
a hole in the roof...Copy !req
639. in the gas chamber at Krema II...Copy !req
640. to retrieve samples from...Copy !req
641. below the structure.Copy !req
642. I was saying to myself, "Fred, do
you really want to go down in there?"Copy !req
643. It came with the territory,
so I had to go down in the hole.Copy !req
644. Excellent.Copy !req
645. Excellent.Copy !req
646. Can't actually stand up in here.Copy !req
647. Not sure if the whole thing
is gonna come down on me.Copy !req
648. Where are you? Oh, there you are.Copy !req
649. Beautiful. Got a
beautiful piece of a roof.Copy !req
650. I guess you thought...
I guess you're getting me.Copy !req
651. A sample from the roof...Copy !req
652. that I am now bagging.Copy !req
653. Okay? Now I will find
another sample...Copy !req
654. of brick...Copy !req
655. from the wall we were not able to get
at from the surface, which is over here.Copy !req
656. I am again going out of view,Copy !req
657. and I will see what I can find.Copy !req
658. It was cold. It was wet.Copy !req
659. It was kind of spooky.Copy !req
660. It must feel like the same way
somebody feels when they go into a tomb...Copy !req
661. that they've opened after
a couple of thousand years,Copy !req
662. and you don't know what you're gonna see.Copy !req
663. I didn't know if I was gonna see
somebody's skeleton or bones...Copy !req
664. or whether or not there were
gonna be animals in there.Copy !req
665. That would not have been
a particularly good place...Copy !req
666. to encounter some kind of a wild animal.Copy !req
667. I have a sample of the concrete...Copy !req
668. from the alleged pillar...Copy !req
669. that carried the hydrocyanic acid...Copy !req
670. into the chamber.Copy !req
671. It would be nice if I could
obtain a floor sample,Copy !req
672. which I will seek...
in the lowest spot.Copy !req
673. I am at floor level.Copy !req
674. And the floor is covered with water.Copy !req
675. I will obtain some of the
material from the bottom,Copy !req
676. bottom of the... the
sediment from the bottom...Copy !req
677. which should contain residual cyanate.Copy !req
678. Okay, there not being much more I can do
down here, I will ascend to the surface.Copy !req
679. Aah!Copy !req
680. Okay, let's go slightly back.Copy !req
681. So Krema Tomb II was the
most lethal building at Auschwitz.Copy !req
682. In the 2,500 square feet of this one room,Copy !req
683. more people lost their life than
in any other place on this planet.Copy !req
684. Five hundred thousand people were killed.Copy !req
685. If you would draw a map
of human suffering,Copy !req
686. if you create the geography of atrocity,Copy !req
687. this would be the absolute center.Copy !req
688. Every year remains
of human beings are found.Copy !req
689. Bones, teeth.Copy !req
690. The earth doesn't rest.Copy !req
691. What happened
in all of these facilities...Copy !req
692. is undoubtedly a mystery.Copy !req
693. Whether or not these facilities
were used for gas execution...Copy !req
694. That's not a mystery.
I don't believe they were.Copy !req
695. Because in my best engineering opinion,Copy !req
696. I don't think they could've been.Copy !req
697. It's a tough job...Copy !req
698. to execute several hundred people at once.Copy !req
699. We have a hard job executing one man.Copy !req
700. I think it would be easier
to shoot them or hang them.Copy !req
701. I probably could do a reasonably
good job by building a multiple gallows...Copy !req
702. and hanging 50 people at once.Copy !req
703. I probably could execute more people...Copy !req
704. within a shorter time frame.Copy !req
705. Why didn't they just shoot them?Copy !req
706. Bullets would've been cheaper
than doing this.Copy !req
707. Why didn't they just blow them up?Copy !req
708. Why didn't they take them down
into a mine and seal the mine off?Copy !req
709. Maybe we're gonna find an
execution chamber under Berlin...Copy !req
710. with 3,000 electric chairs lined up.Copy !req
711. I don't know.Copy !req
712. It just doesn't seem to make any sense.Copy !req
713. I had a couple of heavy bags of samples,Copy !req
714. which we mixed with our dirty linen,Copy !req
715. dirty underwear and all sorts of things...Copy !req
716. because we figured the customs people would
not be willing to go through our dirty laundry.Copy !req
717. In the event we got caught,Copy !req
718. we did have a contingency plan.Copy !req
719. I had maps of Austria,
Czechoslovakia and East Germany.Copy !req
720. And we would have made some kind of a ground
flight across one of those countries...Copy !req
721. to either get to Austria
or to West Germany.Copy !req
722. We would've just essentially taken off...Copy !req
723. and hope we made it to a border before
somebody figured out what was going on.Copy !req
724. They probably wouldn't
have chased me immediately...Copy !req
725. because I would've,
from a practical standpoint,Copy !req
726. just been a vandal
chiseling holes in their wall.Copy !req
727. I was never so relieved when we passed
through the West German passport control.Copy !req
728. Because at least I hadn't chiseled...Copy !req
729. at any of the West Germans'
national shrines.Copy !req
730. All of the forensic samples that I took
were brought back to the United States...Copy !req
731. and sent to a lab here in Massachusetts
that was highly recommended.Copy !req
732. They were not told what the
samples were or where they came from.Copy !req
733. They were told that they were materials...Copy !req
734. that would be involved in a court case...Copy !req
735. relative to an industrial accident...Copy !req
736. and they should be prepared to testify...Copy !req
737. and they should certify
all of the samples.Copy !req
738. All of their tests came back.Copy !req
739. And they did several types of tests...Copy !req
740. to determine whether or not
there was any hydrogen cyanide.Copy !req
741. They were negative.Copy !req
742. These facilities never saw any gas.Copy !req
743. For virtually 40-odd years I believed
unquestionably that there were gas chambers...Copy !req
744. at these concentration camps.Copy !req
745. When I found that there weren't, my
next question is, what do I do about it?Copy !req
746. I completed my report,
and I testified at the trial.Copy !req
747. The judge would not accept
the report into evidence.Copy !req
748. So what the judge did is, he accepted
the report as an informational exhibit...Copy !req
749. as opposed to an evidentiary exhibit.Copy !req
750. And every bit of the
information in that report...Copy !req
751. had to be testified
under oath into the record.Copy !req
752. My publishing imprint in
England, Focal Point Publications,Copy !req
753. we published The Leuchter Report.Copy !req
754. I can't remember where I first met him.Copy !req
755. He's not the kind of person
who would strike you.Copy !req
756. He's a mouse of a man.Copy !req
757. He's also a man who is totally
honest and totally innocent,Copy !req
758. innocent in the sense
of being a simpleton.Copy !req
759. He went into this as a glorious adventure.Copy !req
760. He was taken out of oblivion.
He was given this task to perform.Copy !req
761. He traveled abroad, probably for
the first time in his life, to Poland.Copy !req
762. He came back with these
earth-shattering results.Copy !req
763. The big point.:Copy !req
764. there is no significant residue
of cyanide in the brickwork.Copy !req
765. That's what converted me.Copy !req
766. When I read that in the report
in the courtroom in Toronto,Copy !req
767. I became a hard-core disbeliever.Copy !req
768. On April 20, 1988,Copy !req
769. Adolf Hitler's birthday,Copy !req
770. Fred Leuchter, not knowing he's gonna be
delivering a birthday present to the führer,Copy !req
771. steps into the witness box in Toronto.Copy !req
772. Devastation reigns all around.Copy !req
773. The prosecution and the judge...Copy !req
774. were in a visible state of panic.Copy !req
775. I could see the facial
muscles working in the judge.Copy !req
776. I could see the pale face
of the prosecutor.Copy !req
777. This was history-making. That
was clear to everybody present.Copy !req
778. They cross-examined Fred.Copy !req
779. Immediately, of course, they zeroed in...Copy !req
780. on his soft or inadequate academic
credentials for what he was doing.Copy !req
781. The judge made a decision that
could have been very dangerous to us...Copy !req
782. The judge made a decision that
could have been very dangerous to us...Copy !req
783. in that he said, "The samples
by themselves are worthless,Copy !req
784. unless the defense can bring
the man who did the testing."Copy !req
785. I went up to
Toronto on very short notice,Copy !req
786. not knowing any of the background
at all of what was going on.Copy !req
787. They wanted somebody
from the laboratory to say,Copy !req
788. "Yes, we analyzed these samples. Yes,
we produced this report on the analysis."Copy !req
789. And that's what I was there to do.Copy !req
790. I don't think the Leuchter
results have any meaning.Copy !req
791. There's nothing in any of our data...Copy !req
792. that says those surfaces
were exposed or not.Copy !req
793. Even after I got off the stand, I didn't
know where the samples came from.Copy !req
794. I didn't know which samples were which.Copy !req
795. And it was only at lunch that I found
out really what the case involved.Copy !req
796. Hindsight being 20-20,Copy !req
797. the test was not the correct one
to have been used for the analysis.Copy !req
798. He presented us with rock samples...Copy !req
799. anywhere from the size of your
thumb up to half the size of your fist.Copy !req
800. We broke 'em up with a hammer...Copy !req
801. so that we could get a sub-sample,Copy !req
802. placed it in a flask,Copy !req
803. add concentrated sulfuric acid.Copy !req
804. And it undergoes a reaction.Copy !req
805. It produces a red-colored solution.Copy !req
806. It is the intensity of this red color...Copy !req
807. that we can relate
with cyanide concentration.Copy !req
808. And you have to look
at what happens to cyanide...Copy !req
809. when it reacts with a wall.Copy !req
810. Where does it go?
How far does it go?Copy !req
811. Cyanide is a surface reaction.Copy !req
812. It's probably not going to
penetrate more than ten microns.Copy !req
813. Human hair's
a hundred microns in diameter.Copy !req
814. Crush this sample up.Copy !req
815. I have just diluted that sample...Copy !req
816. ten thousand, a hundred thousand times.Copy !req
817. If you're gonna go look for it,
you're gonna look on the surface only.Copy !req
818. There's no reason to go deep...Copy !req
819. because it's not going to be there.Copy !req
820. Which was the exposed surface?
I didn't even have any idea.Copy !req
821. That's like analyzing paint on the wall.Copy !req
822. By analyzing, they timber this behind it.Copy !req
823. If they go in with blinders on,Copy !req
824. they will see what they want to see.Copy !req
825. What was he really trying to do?Copy !req
826. What was he trying to prove?Copy !req
827. The jury
said Ernst Zündel is guilty...Copy !req
828. of publishing news he knew
to be false about the Holocaust.Copy !req
829. In spite of that, when he emerged
from the courtroom this afternoon,Copy !req
830. Zündel still maintained
the Holocaust was a hoax.Copy !req
831. No, this is just one
more hurdle to overcome.Copy !req
832. And I have always looked upon
boulders in the path of my life...Copy !req
833. not as stumbling blocks
but as stepping-stones.Copy !req
834. On my return from Canada,Copy !req
835. I went about my work and
business as I normally did.Copy !req
836. And I began to notice...Copy !req
837. that not as many prison
officials were talking with me.Copy !req
838. Orders weren't coming in as expected.Copy !req
839. The wardens and commissioners
were receiving very heavy pressure...Copy !req
840. from Jewish groups.Copy !req
841. There is no slippery
slope for Mr. Fred Leuchter.Copy !req
842. The man...
is an anti-Semite.Copy !req
843. There are hatemongers
in this country, and he's one of them.Copy !req
844. He handed over his
entire life and reputation...Copy !req
845. to the cause of spreading hatred.Copy !req
846. He didn't stop.
He kept on going.Copy !req
847. He could've gotten out any time.Copy !req
848. What kind of man is he?
And why is he doing this?Copy !req
849. And what kind of reflection
is this upon our community?Copy !req
850. To me, he looks
like he's almost under a spell,Copy !req
851. and I think he is.Copy !req
852. He's under his own spell.Copy !req
853. He truly believed...Copy !req
854. what he was doing was right.Copy !req
855. I testified in
Canada for two reasons.Copy !req
856. First, the trial was
an issue of freedom of speech...Copy !req
857. and freedom of belief.Copy !req
858. As an American, one who
supports the Bill of Rights,Copy !req
859. I believe that Mr. Zündel has the right
to believe and say what he chooses.Copy !req
860. I have this right in the United States.Copy !req
861. Secondly,Copy !req
862. Mr. Zündel was not on trial
for a misdemeanor.Copy !req
863. This was a major felony.Copy !req
864. He could've faced
up to 25 years in prison...Copy !req
865. for printing a document stating that
there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.Copy !req
866. I believe that any man,
no matter what he's done,Copy !req
867. has a right to a fair trial...Copy !req
868. and the best possible
defense that he can muster.Copy !req
869. I, unfortunately, was the only expert in
the world who could provide that defense.Copy !req
870. There was no one else.Copy !req
871. I don't think he's naive.Copy !req
872. I think he was empowered
by being part of this group.Copy !req
873. Who is this guy?Copy !req
874. The bottom line here is, you got a guy
who basically made a deal with the devil.Copy !req
875. Fred Leuchter is a hero.Copy !req
876. Not every generation gets a George
Washington or a Thomas Jefferson.Copy !req
877. Our generation's heroes
maybe are more humble.Copy !req
878. Fred got involved in
this and wanted to play this game.Copy !req
879. And I think he thought it was a
game at first. I really believe he did.Copy !req
880. How nice to fly to Canada,Copy !req
881. to go to Poland,Copy !req
882. get paid a lot of money...Copy !req
883. and come back
and have a lot of attention...Copy !req
884. brought to him.Copy !req
885. I think he really dug it.Copy !req
886. I think that he really
thought that that was great.Copy !req
887. I pity him.Copy !req
888. In April 1988,Copy !req
889. there was still opportunity
for Fred to redeem himself,Copy !req
890. to apologize.Copy !req
891. To apologize for having
gone down in that hole.Copy !req
892. But he chose not
to consider the evidence...Copy !req
893. of his own foolishness.Copy !req
894. Holocaust denial is a story about vanity.Copy !req
895. It's a way...Copy !req
896. to get in the limelight, to be noticed,Copy !req
897. to be someone.Copy !req
898. Maybe to be loved.Copy !req
899. I have a sympathy to Fred who was lost
in Auschwitz, because I think he's lost.Copy !req
900. But not anymore with the Fred
who appears at these conferences.Copy !req
901. You're ignored. You're
despised by many people.Copy !req
902. And then there is a home, and the home
is the Institute for Historical Review.Copy !req
903. You make new friends.Copy !req
904. Go to one conference, then
you go to the second one...Copy !req
905. and a third and a fourth.Copy !req
906. And it's nice to get up and stand
behind a lectern and have people applaud.Copy !req
907. They compare your logic with
that of any university professor.Copy !req
908. Maybe it's about choosing
the right friends.Copy !req
909. Please welcome a man whose work is a
mighty blow for historical understanding.Copy !req
910. Mr. Fred Leuchter.Copy !req
911. My paper is entitled, The Leuchter
Report, the How and the Why.Copy !req
912. In 1988... 1988 was a very informative
and likewise disturbing year for me.Copy !req
913. I was appalled to learn that much
of what I was taught in school...Copy !req
914. about 20th century history
and World War II...Copy !req
915. was a myth, if not a lie.Copy !req
916. I was first amazed then
annoyed and then aware...Copy !req
917. that the myth of the Holocaust was dead.Copy !req
918. Fred Leuchter
put blinders on himself.Copy !req
919. He sat through all of those speeches
and neo-Nazi rallies in Europe...Copy !req
920. as he heard Jews vilified.Copy !req
921. Whether he belonged
to a group beforehand...Copy !req
922. has no relevance.Copy !req
923. He joined and he took part
for many, many years.Copy !req
924. I think Fred Leuchter,
when he was called upon,Copy !req
925. became one of them.Copy !req
926. I did this, but
because of what I have seen,Copy !req
927. I have a compelling urge
and perhaps a responsibility...Copy !req
928. to countless generations
who come after me,Copy !req
929. a responsibility to the truth.Copy !req
930. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen.Copy !req
931. I hope I've lived up to your expectations.Copy !req
932. And I will
entertain any questions.Copy !req
933. The Leuchter Report...
about 500,000 circulated in Germany.Copy !req
934. There have been translations.Copy !req
935. A Leuchter edition appeared in Russian.Copy !req
936. In Latvia, in Hungary,Copy !req
937. in Spanish.Copy !req
938. The Leuchter Report is out
there in dozens of languages.Copy !req
939. And, I would dare say,
in millions of copies.Copy !req
940. We will not go down in history...Copy !req
941. as being a nation of genocidal maniacs.Copy !req
942. We will not.Copy !req
943. We can, with historical truth,Copy !req
944. detoxify a poison planet.Copy !req
945. Holocaust Survivors and Friends...Copy !req
946. has asked the Massachusetts
Board of Registration of Engineers...Copy !req
947. to investigate whether
Leuchter is properly credentialed.Copy !req
948. Last week the board's
chief investigator told us...Copy !req
949. that Leuchter is not certified as
an engineer in Massachusetts.Copy !req
950. And if he is working
or soliciting business here,Copy !req
951. he could be liable for criminal charges.Copy !req
952. I have no
question that it's a conspiracy.Copy !req
953. They even pressured the engineering
board here in Massachusetts...Copy !req
954. into bringing a criminal
complaint against me...Copy !req
955. for practicing engineering
without being registered.Copy !req
956. Less than ten percent of the engineers
in the state are licensed or registered.Copy !req
957. But I'm the only one that was ever
prosecuted for practicing without a license.Copy !req
958. Did Christ have a diploma in Christianity?Copy !req
959. Did Marx have a diploma in Marxism?Copy !req
960. Did Adolf Hitler have a
diploma in national socialism?Copy !req
961. No, they did not.Copy !req
962. But they knew one hell of a lot...Copy !req
963. about their field.Copy !req
964. I have a half of
a lethal injection machine...Copy !req
965. which belongs to the State of Delaware.Copy !req
966. We had a contract to repair
the lethal injection machine...Copy !req
967. and to repair their gallows and
write their protocol for hanging.Copy !req
968. I was told that the deputy
attorney general, Fred Silverman,Copy !req
969. would not allow me
to complete the contract.Copy !req
970. A conference call was set up...Copy !req
971. between corrections officials
and the deputy attorney general...Copy !req
972. and several other attorney
generals whom I had worked with...Copy !req
973. in terms of the development
of the hanging procedure.Copy !req
974. And Fred Silverman told me that I would not be
allowed to deal with the State of Delaware...Copy !req
975. because I testified in Canada.Copy !req
976. They did not pay me...Copy !req
977. for the $7,000 work that I put
into the repair of the machine.Copy !req
978. I lost all of the contract
work for the gallows.Copy !req
979. And the State has effectively said,Copy !req
980. "Take the half of the
machine that you've got...Copy !req
981. and stick it someplace."Copy !req
982. I put an ad in the Want Advertiser.Copy !req
983. The second week that the ad
was running, someone saw the ad.Copy !req
984. Determined that the
instrument shouldn't be sold...Copy !req
985. because I was the one that was selling it.Copy !req
986. Subsequently, there was write-ups...Copy !req
987. in both major Boston newspapers...Copy !req
988. and pressure was again applied
to the district attorney's office...Copy !req
989. and the attorney general's office...Copy !req
990. to prosecute me for selling the machine.Copy !req
991. And it was necessary for
the attorney general's office...Copy !req
992. to explain in the newspaper
that it is not illegal...Copy !req
993. to sell a lethal injection
machine to anybody.Copy !req
994. Delaware turned out to be a major
problem, but I still have their machine.Copy !req
995. And anybody who's interested in buying half
a lethal injection machine can contact me,Copy !req
996. and it's available for
the cost of the repairs.Copy !req
997. I went a lot of places
that I probably wouldn't have gone.Copy !req
998. But basically, it was a nightmare.Copy !req
999. He had a job offer from California.Copy !req
1000. He thought I was going with him.Copy !req
1001. I told him that he could give his
speeches, he could do whatever he wanted,Copy !req
1002. but I would not be there.Copy !req
1003. And I told him I went to a lawyer.Copy !req
1004. And I explained to him that yes, I could get
a divorce and yes, you have to leave here.Copy !req
1005. I don't want you here.Copy !req
1006. And he hemmed and hawed and
whatever, but he left, like, a week later.Copy !req
1007. When he left, he took his phone.Copy !req
1008. The other phone was being shut off.Copy !req
1009. The gas and electric was being
shut off. And that was how he left.Copy !req
1010. If I never saw him again, that'd be fine.Copy !req
1011. The guy that brought
me out there didn't have any money.Copy !req
1012. He wound up with everybody
suing him and all kinds of stuff.Copy !req
1013. So I said, "Well,
I'm not getting anywhere."Copy !req
1014. I was locked out
of my hotel room three times.Copy !req
1015. It's kind of tough when they take your car
away and they drop you off on the freeway.Copy !req
1016. You're looking around trying to figure out
how the hell you get back to your apartment.Copy !req
1017. Then you find you got this super-size doorknob
on your knob so you can't get the key in,Copy !req
1018. and all your clothes and razor's inside.Copy !req
1019. I had my car taken away from me
while I was driving it on the freeway.Copy !req
1020. I had another car taken away in a garage.Copy !req
1021. These are rental cars
that had been assigned to me.Copy !req
1022. It's pretty tough when you're out in
the middle of nowhere all by yourself.Copy !req
1023. He's been
destroyed as a human being.Copy !req
1024. He's had his marriage destroyed.
He's had his life destroyed.Copy !req
1025. I frankly am surprised he didn't go
and commit suicide, jump under a train.Copy !req
1026. He saw everything he had built up in
his own quiet, humble way destroyed...Copy !req
1027. by these people he had never
met, whom he had offended.Copy !req
1028. All he did was take the bucket and
spade and go over to Auschwitz...Copy !req
1029. and come back with the samples.Copy !req
1030. And that was an act
of criminal simplicity.Copy !req
1031. He had no idea
of what he was blundering into.Copy !req
1032. He wasn't putting his name on
the line because he had no name.Copy !req
1033. He came from nowhere,
and he went back to nowhere.Copy !req
1034. Of course
I'm not an anti-Semite.Copy !req
1035. I have a lot of friends that are Jewish.Copy !req
1036. I've lost Jewish friends, too,
because of what's happened.Copy !req
1037. I bear no ill will to any Jews anyplace,Copy !req
1038. whether they're in the
United States or abroad.Copy !req
1039. I bear a great deal of ill will to
those people that have come after me,Copy !req
1040. those people who have
persecuted and prosecuted me.Copy !req
1041. But that's got nothing
to do with them being Jewish.Copy !req
1042. That only has to do with the
fact that they've been interfering...Copy !req
1043. with my right to live, think,
breathe and earn a living.Copy !req
1044. As far as being a revisionist...Copy !req
1045. At this point, I'm not
an official revisionist,Copy !req
1046. but I guess I'm a reluctant revisionist.Copy !req
1047. If my belief that there
were no gas chambers...Copy !req
1048. at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Majdanek...Copy !req
1049. makes me a revisionist, then so be it.Copy !req
1050. They've expressed their
unquestioned intent of destroying me...Copy !req
1051. simply because I testified in Canada,Copy !req
1052. not because I have any other affiliation
with any anti-Semitic organization,Copy !req
1053. not because I'm affiliated with
any Nazi or neo-Nazi organization.Copy !req
1054. I have no work. I haven't sold a piece
of equipment in almost three years.Copy !req
1055. And I have no idea if this
situation is gonna change.Copy !req
1056. Have you ever thought
that you might be wrong?Copy !req
1057. Or do you think that you could
make a mistake? No, I'm past that.Copy !req
1058. When I attempted to turn those facilities
into gas execution facilities...Copy !req
1059. and was unable to,Copy !req
1060. I made a decision at that
point that I wasn't wrong.Copy !req
1061. And perhaps that's why I did it.Copy !req
1062. At least it cleared my mind.Copy !req
1063. So I know that I left no stone unturned.Copy !req
1064. I did everything possible...Copy !req
1065. to substantiate and prove the existence
of the gas chambers, and I was unable to.Copy !req
1066. In 1957,Copy !req
1067. I actually had the opportunity
for the first time to sit in the chair.Copy !req
1068. There's a legend
that goes with the chair...Copy !req
1069. relative to prison personnel
and their families.Copy !req
1070. There was, um, a youngster,Copy !req
1071. much the same age as I was
when I sat in the chair,Copy !req
1072. whose father was a guard
at the institution,Copy !req
1073. who toured the institution
and who sat in the electric chair.Copy !req
1074. Some ten or twelve years later, he
was executed in that same chair...Copy !req
1075. for the commission of a murder
during an armed robbery.Copy !req
1076. And so the legend grew...Copy !req
1077. that prison officials shouldn't allow their
children to sit in the electric chair.Copy !req
1078. I kind of sat in the chair
waiting for something to happen.Copy !req
1079. But some 20 years later,Copy !req
1080. I wound up making execution equipment,Copy !req
1081. instead of being the person that
the execution equipment was used on.Copy !req
1082. So, maybe the legend got turned around,Copy !req
1083. and maybe we created a new legend,Copy !req
1084. and some good came out of it after all.Copy !req