Archie assesses Hoess evidence;
viewtopic.php?t=803
The most popular debunk of Hoess is to point out that he was tortured. It's a strong point, and it has the virtue of being readily understandable. But imo the truly fatal flaws in the Hoess statement are the problems with the timeline. Hoess's story is fundamentally and irresolvably anachronistic.
That Hoess was subject to intense pressure, not just from being tortured, but also from the stress he was under as he knew he was going to be held responsible for what happened at the camp. People can crumble when they face up to the enormity of their crime, especially when that crime is serious and they face the ultimate punishment.
I asked AI to summarise how good are people at remembering details when they are under stress? The answer was;
"People under stress often have a complex and uneven memory performance, where they are very good at remembering the central, threatening features of the stressor but poor at recalling peripheral details. While moderate stress can enhance the encoding of emotional information, high or acute stress generally impairs the ability to recall details unrelated to the threat, hinders memory retrieval, and reduces the precision of memories"
Studies suggest the effect of stress is varied;
https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/ ... istinctive
"Stress has complicated effects on our memories. Whereas some studies have found that we are better at remembering events that occurred during stressful situations, such as while watching disturbing videos, others have shown that stress impairs memory."
When Hoess was being interviewed by the army interrogators, he was being placed in a very stressful situation.
https://www.science.org/content/article ... d-remember
"An anxious witness takes the stand and then can't remember crucial details of her story. Faked or forgotten? A new study that teases apart the effects of a stress hormone on memory might exonerate the witness. The findings, which appear in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, suggest that cross-examinations or other stressful situations may impair our ability to recall memories."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog ... ter-others
"The role of emotion in memory is complex. While positive emotions may improve recall, some stressful experiences are suppressed from memory.
This phenomenon is illustrated by a frequent inability of people to recall extremely stressful events. For example, murderers my not recall their crime so that they spend their lives falsely protesting their innocence. Such stress-induced amnesia happens because extreme stress prevents memories from being stored."
That Hoess was subjected to so much stress, in itself, explains why he made so many mistakes, such as over the chronology of what took place. Archie gives an example;
Hoess says he got his orders in 1941 and that mass killings were already underway at Treblinka at that time. That is universally acknowledged to be wrong since TII had not opened yet, but this problem is usually brushed off by saying that Hoess was bad with dates.
It is not a brush off, to acknowledge Hoess made mistakes. What Archie fails to do, is look for reasons why Hoess may have made such an obvious error. I asked AI, how good are people at remembering dates and chronologies?
"People generally possess a moderate to weak ability to remember exact dates and precise chronologies, often relying on reconstructing timelines rather than direct recall, though ability varies significantly based on emotional investment, age, and individual differences."
Studies find all sorts of factors affect our ability to remember dates and the order of events;
https://www.cogneurosociety.org/memoryg ... papenberg/
"As we age, our memories of autobiographical events often fade but some individuals are much better at remembering than others. A new study explores how our genetics result in some of these individual differences in memory retention – and finds that certain genes play an increasingly larger role in how much we forget as we get older."
Revisionists use issues, such as Hoess claiming he had orders and visited in 1941, before TII was even open, so suggest he lied about the gassings. Studies of memory prove that there are explanations, such as stress, as to why witnesses recall details that are obviously incorrect. Archie claims;
"He's Just Bad With Dates!
This excuse doesn't cut it here.
Unless Archie can produce evidence from studies that prove a witness under stress is normally very good at remembering dates and chronologies, then what he calls an excuse, but it is really an evidenced explanation, does cut it. The highly stressed Hoess was bad with dates.