The testimony of Maximilian Grabner
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2024 11:17 pm
Maximilian Grabner is an interesting character in the history of the Auschwitz camp, because he served as the head of the dreaded "Politische Abteilung" (Political Department) at Auschwitz from May 1940 until December 1943, a virtual eon in the context of Auschwitz. He would have been present before the Final Solution ever materialized, and stayed in the camp as a senior SS officer well after the construction and implementation of Crematoria II, III, IV and V. He would have been a crucial witness to such iconic events as the alleged "first gassing", the Himmler visit of 1942, the conversion of the newly constructed crematoria into gas chambers, and he would have had detailed first-hand knowledge of the "selections", the unloading of the Jews at the old ramp, the registration of Jews fit for work, and so on. In many ways, Grabner should have been the perfect witness.
But even so, Grabner is a confounding witness, because he doesn't really appear to have had any first-hand or detailed knowledge of any of these events. He was arrested in Vienna in 1945 and executed in Poland 1948. In his various interrogations with Austrian police and Polish prosecutors, he gave confused answers that don't really jive with the orthodox version of events. The most interesting example is probably the first gassing, which is said to have taken place in the Auschwitz Main Camp around the end of 1941 (between September and early December). Historians still disagree on the details, but the first gassing is said to essentially have been carried out on Russian prisoners of war. Rudolf Hoess claimed that his deputy, Karl Fritzsch, experimented with using Zyklon B to gas prisoners in the basement of Block 11. Nonetheless, Grabner attempted to associate the first gassing with an alleged euthanasia programme and the visit of Doctors Schumann and Mueller, a visit which took place in July 1941, not in September (the earliest possible date for the first gassing).
Quoted from Mattogno (TFG), Grabner stated:
Oddly, Grabner claims that about 400-500 prisoners were selected by euthanasia doctors visiting Auschwitz and later sent to Dresden for gassing. This transfer must have taken place at the end of July 1941, several months before the first gassing is supposed to have taken place inside of Auschwitz. Grabner goes on to state that another such transfer was slated to take place about 2-3 months later, again accompanied by doctors visiting the camp, but for whatever reason never happened. Instead, the prisoners were executed for the first time using gas in Auschwitz:
What's interesting about Grabner's retelling of events is that the alleged first gassing using Zyklon B was not for the purpose of finding a way of exterminating the Jews, which according to Hoess was Fritzsch's purpose in testing the gas on Russian PoW's. In fact, Grabner doesn't seem to be aware that the victims were supposed to be Russian PoW's. Instead, they were mere "prisoners", and the purpose was instead related to a euthanasia programme for cripples and criminals. And it wasn't Fritzsch who discovered the gas, but Hoess himself. But according to Hoess, he was on a business trip in Berlin with Fritzsch discovered the gas. According to Grabner, Fritzsch was the one who later opened up the holes in the roof of Crematorium I.
Grabner also states that SS doctor Siegfried Schwela was present along with Hoess during the first gassing:
Grabner later stated that the first gassings took place "in early 1942", "initially in Block 11", and were only "later" moved to Crematorium I, but this is too late to fit with the timeline of discovering the gas in late 1941 for the purpose of exterminating Jews. By early 1942, the Germans are already said to have begun converting Bunker 1 into a gas chamber. Grabner also states that he personally witnessed these gassings, that only 20-40 detainees at a time were executed, and that the prison block was "made air-tight" for the occasion, but there was no way of making the cell basement of Block 11 air-tight, and Rudolf Hoess claimed that ventilating the basement took several days.
The reliability of Grabner's testimony can be gleaned from some of his other statements, again taken from Mattogno (TFG). In one of his later interrogations, he stated:
Grabner also retold the story of Himmler's gassing inspection during his visit of July 1942, but Grabner claims that Himmler inspected the gassing "in the crematorium". However, during this time, gassings in the old crematorium of the Main Camp had already been abandoned in favor of gassings in Bunker 2 outside of Birkenau, and the Birkenau crematoria had not yet been completed at this time, so it was not possible for Himmler to have inspected a gassing inside of any of the crematoria.
There are countless other examples of Grabner's insane testimony, many of which are mentioned by Mattogno in TFG, but all of this to say that Grabner should have been the ideal witness. He worked as the head of the Political Department for all of the relevant history of the camp as a senior SS officer, but was completely unable to reconstruct the history of the camp and the alleged gassings in any serious way. He was confused, changed his mind and contradicted the official story whenever he got the chance to elaborate on his experiences.
But even so, Grabner is a confounding witness, because he doesn't really appear to have had any first-hand or detailed knowledge of any of these events. He was arrested in Vienna in 1945 and executed in Poland 1948. In his various interrogations with Austrian police and Polish prosecutors, he gave confused answers that don't really jive with the orthodox version of events. The most interesting example is probably the first gassing, which is said to have taken place in the Auschwitz Main Camp around the end of 1941 (between September and early December). Historians still disagree on the details, but the first gassing is said to essentially have been carried out on Russian prisoners of war. Rudolf Hoess claimed that his deputy, Karl Fritzsch, experimented with using Zyklon B to gas prisoners in the basement of Block 11. Nonetheless, Grabner attempted to associate the first gassing with an alleged euthanasia programme and the visit of Doctors Schumann and Mueller, a visit which took place in July 1941, not in September (the earliest possible date for the first gassing).
Quoted from Mattogno (TFG), Grabner stated:
"In 1941, I think in the month of September, an SS man of the Kommandantur secretly showed me a telex from Berlin sent by Glücks, of which I made a copy as always. On it was written succinctly that a Dr. Schumann and a Dr. Müller were to arrive in Auschwitz, that the prisoners they wanted were to be presented along with their documentation, and that prisoners selected by them were then to be made available. Höss, as I found out later, already knew about the details. The action, as far as I can remember, was called ‘Operation Cripples, Incurables, Incorrigibles, Especially Hardened Criminals’. The selected prisoners were then brought by the troops and the leadership of the protective-custody camp to the vicinity of Dresden by means of transport, and [these] were about 4-500 prisoners. The files had to be handed over as far as I can remember. Later I learned that they were supposedly gassed."
Oddly, Grabner claims that about 400-500 prisoners were selected by euthanasia doctors visiting Auschwitz and later sent to Dresden for gassing. This transfer must have taken place at the end of July 1941, several months before the first gassing is supposed to have taken place inside of Auschwitz. Grabner goes on to state that another such transfer was slated to take place about 2-3 months later, again accompanied by doctors visiting the camp, but for whatever reason never happened. Instead, the prisoners were executed for the first time using gas in Auschwitz:
"And after about 2-3 months, there came again allegedly a doctor with a secretary who did the same thing, under the same cover telex Berlin Glücks – Liebehenschel. There were also about 300 prisoners, and they were to be picked up by buses. I could not find out the destination. This transfer did not take place, and so the gassings began."
What's interesting about Grabner's retelling of events is that the alleged first gassing using Zyklon B was not for the purpose of finding a way of exterminating the Jews, which according to Hoess was Fritzsch's purpose in testing the gas on Russian PoW's. In fact, Grabner doesn't seem to be aware that the victims were supposed to be Russian PoW's. Instead, they were mere "prisoners", and the purpose was instead related to a euthanasia programme for cripples and criminals. And it wasn't Fritzsch who discovered the gas, but Hoess himself. But according to Hoess, he was on a business trip in Berlin with Fritzsch discovered the gas. According to Grabner, Fritzsch was the one who later opened up the holes in the roof of Crematorium I.
Grabner also states that SS doctor Siegfried Schwela was present along with Hoess during the first gassing:
The biggest problem with putting Schwela at the first gassing is that he was stationed at Stutthof during this time, and only returned to Auschwitz in March of 1942, and later died of a typhus infection."Here, Höss carried out an experimental gassing in the cells of the headquarter’s prison together with SS Hauptsturmführer Dr. Schwela, back then the physician. The prisoners slated for transfer were gassed apparently with blue gas in 2 successive shifts."
Grabner later stated that the first gassings took place "in early 1942", "initially in Block 11", and were only "later" moved to Crematorium I, but this is too late to fit with the timeline of discovering the gas in late 1941 for the purpose of exterminating Jews. By early 1942, the Germans are already said to have begun converting Bunker 1 into a gas chamber. Grabner also states that he personally witnessed these gassings, that only 20-40 detainees at a time were executed, and that the prison block was "made air-tight" for the occasion, but there was no way of making the cell basement of Block 11 air-tight, and Rudolf Hoess claimed that ventilating the basement took several days.
The reliability of Grabner's testimony can be gleaned from some of his other statements, again taken from Mattogno (TFG). In one of his later interrogations, he stated:
But in his first interrogation, he stated:"During the time I was head of the Political Department in Auschwitz, about 3 to 6,000,000 people were murdered in this or similar ways."
On the September 12, 1945, he went with 3 million victims:"All gassings, as long as I was in the camp, should amount to 800,000 to 1,000,000."
After he was extradited to Poland, he returned to his original numbers:"But there were at least 3,000,000 while I was head of the Auschwitz Political Department."
Graber's perhaps most absurd statement came in relation to the burying of corpses outside the camp in 1942, during a period in which the camp had no functioning crematoria because Crematoria I had broken down:"When I thought about it in 1943, I compared the figures in the reports compiled for Berlin with the death cases at the camp and, as far as I remember, I arrived at the figure of 800,000 to 1,000,000 back then. I do not know how many victims perished in Auschwitz after my departure from there. As for the figure of about 4 million victims for the entire duration of the Auschwitz Camp’s existence, I don’t know what to think."
But the Germans only discovered the Katyn mass graves in April 1943."Long trenches were dug and filled with corpses. In 1942, in connection with the propaganda about Katyn, the order came from Berlin to dig up the bodies again and burn them, so that no traces could be found."
Grabner also retold the story of Himmler's gassing inspection during his visit of July 1942, but Grabner claims that Himmler inspected the gassing "in the crematorium". However, during this time, gassings in the old crematorium of the Main Camp had already been abandoned in favor of gassings in Bunker 2 outside of Birkenau, and the Birkenau crematoria had not yet been completed at this time, so it was not possible for Himmler to have inspected a gassing inside of any of the crematoria.
There are countless other examples of Grabner's insane testimony, many of which are mentioned by Mattogno in TFG, but all of this to say that Grabner should have been the ideal witness. He worked as the head of the Political Department for all of the relevant history of the camp as a senior SS officer, but was completely unable to reconstruct the history of the camp and the alleged gassings in any serious way. He was confused, changed his mind and contradicted the official story whenever he got the chance to elaborate on his experiences.