Reaction on David Cole Interviews Dr.

Franciszek Piper The videotaped visit and guided tour of the Auschwitz and the video of David Coles Interview of Dr. Franciszek Piper is an example of how history is the record of the winners account. In popular estimations the Holocaust has been considered to be the one of the most defining features of the modern century, both in terms of the number of people it impacted and also in terms of how it resulted in the victor and the oppressor being viewed by the rest of the world. If people see the Jews as the ever suffering (even though as David Cole points out there were other races held in the camp at Auschwitz as well) they also assume the Nazis to be the demonic race that has systematically exterminated four million Jews. David Cole part of the revisionist attempts to look at the truth behind the victors account o what happened. There are many discrepancies in the Auschwitz complex and the accounts that are circulated by those who believe in the holocaust. The tales of eyewitness accounts, four million Jews dead, torture chambers, bars of soap made from the fat of bodies have become part of the Nazi bashing. Many of these details have since been refuted by historians and survivors though Dr. Pipers statement contradicts what has already been disproved. The blend between propaganda and fact is seemingly seamless because even history teachers in schools use the same facts while talking about the holocaust. David Coles interview and visit highlights major discrepancies. The most interesting one, I think, is that there would be no cyanide staining on the walls of the supposed gas chamber at Auschwitz when the gassing I said to have been a continuous feature of the death camps. Dr. Piper says it was done only for 20 -30 minutes a day. Also the camp officials went in for regular delousing an effort to prevent typhus. Mr. Cole refers to swimming pools, theatres and a sports

complex. Either the facilities were only for the Germans (a doubtful idea) or we are misinformed about how the prisoners were treated at Auschwitz. If the Jews were brought into the camp for extermination why were they provided these facilities? It can be assumed that a camp of this nature would not be cheap to run then why delouse their bedding thus making the stay healthier for them! The delousing was done with the same gas used in the gas chambers, which seem to be waste of the gas if you are going to gas the people to death anyway. This seems to say that gassing the inmates was never part of the Nazi plan but was done in some of the camps at a later stage. Further there is suspicious lack of clarity as to how much was reconstructed of the supposed gas chamber. The extension implies it used to be a smaller room, perhaps one more suited to delousing rather than massacre. There is no evidence to say what the room looked like and so we only have the reconstructed structure to base an entire history on enough bases to doubt what is supposed to have happened. 3 characteristics or stereotypes about Germans that you hold to be true and admire. To what extent are they opposite or comparable to American values? While there seems to be a large number of stereotypes associated with the Germans, the ones that I find admirable are their insistence on 100% perfection, the importance given to professional expertise and the importance given to communities and people. I believe these are true of America also though with some variations in the degree. The first idea of complete perfection in every job done form projects, ideas to machines and industrial products and use of language is a very important stereotype and is reflected in the kind

of reputation German products enjoy. It makes sense that the smallest of action or project receives this desire for perfection because eventually it all contributes to the whole effect. The second stereotype I admire is German expertise. The hall mark of a working person in German is that they would a professional implying automatically that they are the experts in that particular field. In a way this is a variation of the earlier idea of not settling for less than perfection. The third stereotype is the very strong community living. All of these are seen in differing degrees in the US. America like every other country does work towards perfection though it does not form the only concern in most projects; the idea is to be fulfilling the purpose. Americans are also focused on expert knowledge but the way of expressing it is different from the Germans. For American too community living is important but they have a wide range of acquaintances and friends and our interaction take on a lighter frontier kind of feel where the numbers are many and our interaction is different for each of the kinds of friends. Germans prefer fewer and deeper and more serious friendships.