The BiG Story

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Q: Which was the worst death camp?
A: The worst one was Auschwitz-Birkenau. Some

:at the Auschwitz, Treblinka (which was briefly shut
down because of the rebellion) and Sobibor exter-
mination camps.

11.3 million men, women and children — of whom
more than 1.1 million were Jewish — were mur-
dered there. The second worst death camp was
Treblinka, where about 500,000 Jews were killed.
There is a distiriction to be made between exter-
. mination and concentration camps. The former
existed solely for murdering Jews. There were no

Q: Did Anne Frank die in a death
camp? What happened to the rest of
her family?
A: Anne Frank, the famous diarist, was not gassed

1 at a Nazi extermination camp. She died of typhus
while imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen.
Anne, her family and friends had been in hiding
1 for a little more than two years inside a secret attic
in Amsterdam when an informer told where they
could be found.
Anne's mother Edith was sent to Auschwitz,
where she died on Jan. 6, 1945, according to
Red Cross records. Anne and her sister, Margot,
Anne Frank and her elder sister Margot
1 both died near the end of March in 1945, just
weeks before the end of the war.
I some Holocaust deniers concede that "a
As to the fate of the others in the secret annex:
few" Jews died (usually of disease, they say)
Mr. Van Daan, a business colleague of Anne's
lin the death camps. But they often insist that
father, was gassed when he arrived at Auschwitz
Hitler himself had nothing to do with it. This
I on Sept. 6, 1944. His wife died soon after, as
1 is a lie.
did their son, Peter.
In fact, Hitler was in absolute control,
Dr. Dussel, a family friend, died in December
overseeing every aspect of his Third Reich.
Two cremation ovens at
1944 at the Neuengamme concentration camp.
This included many areas of which he
The only one to survive the war was Anne's
I knew absolutely nothing and which ultimately
father, Otto Frank.
crematorium at concentration camps, but this hardly
may have led to the Nazis' defeat (such as the
1 means Jews didn't perish there, as well. In fact,
I development of radar, something German scien-
:thousands of Jews died from starvation, disease,
tists wanted to explore but Hitler pooh-poohed;
Q: Whatever happened with the lawsuit
:exhaustion and Nazi whim (shootings, beatings,
I consequently, the British were the first to master
about "proving the existence of the
etc.) at these very concentration camps.
the technique).

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From the publication of Mein Kampf until his
death, Hitler made no secret of his desire to see
the world rid of all its Jews.
I In his speeches to the German people, Hitler
'spoke of "exterminating" all the Jews, and many
;Nazi records show that Hitler was well aware
I not only that Jews were being murdered, but
also exactly how far the Nazi plan was pro-
' gressing. When Heinrich Himmler oversaw the
murder of 363,211 Jews from August through
November in 1942, for example, he sent a
detailed report to Hitler.

Q: Why did the Nazis use gas to kill
people?
I A: They began by killing Jews with bullets, in

mass shootings just outside towns and villages
Then the Nazis decided this was taking too
much time and was not efficient. They opted
for using the infamous Zyklon-B, which was
prussic acid. Zyklon-B came, conveniently
enough, directly from a chemical company.

4/28
2000

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I Holocaust"?
1 A: The "Institute of Historical Review" (IHR), a Cali-

Q: Is it possible that the many Poles
: fornia-based organization of Holocaust deniers,
living near the Auschwitz death camp
:offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who
didn't know what was really hap-
I could prove that Jews had been gassed at
pening there?
Auschwitz. The IHR was joined in this by the Liberty
I A: No. It is absolutely impossible.
Lobby, Willis Carton, Elisabeth Carto, Legion for

Auschwitz, located just outside the city of
:Oswiecim in southwest Poland, was established
1 for one reason only: to kill Jews. Consequently,
-
1 the Nazis constantly were bringing in trains
packed with Jews headed straight for the gas
!chambers. The air was filled with the horrible
I smell of burning flesh, and the curious could
I watch as trains were sent back out of Auschwitz,
I filled with the clothing, shoes and other items the
i Nazis had stolen from their victims.

Q: Was the Warsaw Ghetto the only
Jewish rebellion against the Nazis?
A: No. While the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is

probably the most extraordinary, because it
involved only a handful of Jews who for weeks
held back legions of Nazis, there also were revolts

:Survival of Freedom and the Noontide Press.
Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz, took
them up on their challenge — and won.
In 1981, the Honorable Thomas T. Johnson ruled
that "it is simply a fact" and "not reasonably sub-
ject to dispute" that Jews were gassed at
Auschwitz. The IHR subsequently was ordered to
pay $90,000 to Mermelstein (including the plain-
: tiff's attorney fees). The judge also directed the IHR
to issue an apology to Mermelstein, along with "all
I other survivors of Auschwitz for the pain, anguish
and suffering he and all other" Auschwitz survivors
had experienced because of the lawsuit. ❑

