"Why did the change in the number of Auschwitz victims not affect the number of Holocaust victims?"
Holocaust negationists point out that estimates of the number of Auschwitz victims have changed significantly over the years, which would indicate, in their opinion, a lack of reliable source materials, making the estimates implausible.
The facts:
For many years after the war, the published data regarding the number of those murdered in KL Auschwitz followed the Soviet Commission protocol of early 1945, mainly based on the testimonies of former prisoners, which estimated the total number of Auschwitz victims to be 4 million.
The former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. Members of the Soviet investigative commission near the ruins of the crematorium V and gas chamber, which were blown up on 26th January 1945. Fragments of the blown-up building can be seen strewn on the ground. Photograph taken in March 1945. Source: Archives of Auschwitz Museum
The former Auschwitz I camp. A meeting of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders in the office of the first Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss. Photograph taken by Stanisław Mucha, February or March 1945. Source: Archives of Auschwitz Museum
During the Nuremberg trial the former Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss, testified that no fewer than 2.5 million people were killed. However, in his memoir, written in a Polish prison a year later, he withdrew this figure. Based on his memory, he corrected his earlier testimony.
An excerpt from Rudolf Höss’s memoir:
‘I never knew the total number, nor did I have the data based on which I could determine it. All I can remember are the numbers of those included in the major operations, figures which were repeatedly reported to me by Eichmann or his assistant.
Upper Silesia and the General Government – 250,000
Germany and Theresienstadt – 100,000
Holland (The Netherlands) – 95,000
Belgium – 20,000
France – 110,000
Greece – 65,000
Hungary – 400,000
Slovakia – 90,000
I do not remember the numbers concerning the smaller operations, but they were insignificant compared with the above figures. I believe the figure of two and a half million is much too high. The possibilities of extermination had their limits, even in Auschwitz.’
Source: Rudolf Höss, Pery Broad, Johann Paul Kramer, Oświęcim w oczach SS [Auschwitz through the eyes of the SS], Oświęcim, 1991, pp. 83-84.
During the Höss trial in 1947, the number of Auschwitz victims was analysed by the expert Nathan Blumenthal, who estimated it at around 1.6 million murdered people. However, this estimate was not accepted. The court also rejected the defendant’s claim that 1.1 Jews had been deported to Auschwitz as insufficient. Instead, it was finally determined that the number was 3 million. This figure, never verified by the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation largely due to political pressure from the communist authorities, was maintained for many years. It was only after the collapse of communism in 1989, that a thorough review of this figure became possible.
In Western Europe, studies on the number of victims were conducted independently and concentrated on debunking the Soviet figures. The estimates of historians such as Gerald Reitlinger and Raul Hilberg were much closer to the actual number of Auschwitz victims.
These studies were continued in the 1980s by other historians, e.g. George Wellers. The turning point came after the collapse of the communist regime in Poland with the publication of Franciszek Piper’s analysis. According to his findings, approximately 1.3 people were deported to Auschwitz, of whom approximately 1.1 were killed. Dr Piper’s work is based on archive documents, which has made it a key reference point for research into Auschwitz.
