Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Page #4

everything we did...

and a translator...

who's fluent both in German

and particularly in Polish.

We were small, but we had

everything we needed.

Our first night there we stayed

at the Auschwitz Hotel,

which, apparently, was

the officer's quarters...

for the German military

at Auschwitz.

They had a cafeteria-style

dining area,

and our first meal there...

was, uh, starch soup.

What they did is,

they boiled noodles

in water,

removed the noodles

and served the soup.

It was terrible.

Unfortunately,

I received a double portion,

because when I wasn't looking

my wife dumped hers

into my dish.

Good morning.

My name is Fred Leuchter.

I'm an engineer from Boston

in the United States,

and I'm here this snowy morning

at Auschwitz in Poland.

The date is February 28.

It's approximately 10:30 a.m.

I'm here to examine...

this alleged gas chamber.

Some people feel

it was an air raid shelter.

Other people feel that

it was simply a morgue.

And then there are those

that feel the structure

functioned as a gas chamber...

for sending people

on their way to their death.

Carol was outside

at one of the entrances,

essentially freezing.

She was

one of our lookouts.

We had her at one door.

The translator

was at the other door.

Howard, my draftsman,

and myself were inside,

taking measurements

and recording the locations

and bagging the samples,

and the cinematographer

was making the videotapes.

So everybody was busy at

what they were supposed to do.

We didn't have

any extra people.

We made paint scrapings

and chiseled plaster

from locations...

that are not

immediately noticeable,

but still were proper locations

for condensation of cyanide gas.

We made detailed

scale drawings of the rooms...

with arrows showing

the location that was removed.

The notebook, videotape

and the drawings...

were given to the court

and became part

of the permanent evidence.

[ Man ]

Zndel is on trial

for publishing false history,

for publishing books

of Holocaust denial.

He needs to prove...

that what others see

as false history

is true history.

Fred Leuchter

is their trump card.

He will be the scientist...

who will reclaim

from those ruins...

evidence that killing

didn't happen there.

Holocaust denial, for me,

is so revolting,

and the way for me not to

immediately become sick...

of having to deal

with Leuchter...

was by saying,

"Okay, I'm going to

map his journey. "

I have a job to do,

and my job, my first job,

is to try to understand

where this guy was

at what time,

to take that tape and record

every camera angle--

where it was,

what piece of wall

they were looking at,

where he took the samples.

It was important to be able

to follow that trail

very, very precisely.

I wanted to see

how he had done it.

Sixty-one feet.

Sixty-one feet

from the rear wall.

[ Van Pelt ]

Leuchter's a victim of

the myth of Sherlock Holmes.

[ Leuchter Continues,

Faint ]

A crime has been committed.

You go to the site of the crime

and with a magnifying glass

you find a hair...

or a speck of dust

on the shoe.

Leuchter thinks that is the way

reality can be reconstructed.

But he is

no Sherlock Holmes.

He doesn't have the training.

It was not that he brought

any experience,

the specific experience needed

to look at ruined buildings.

The only experience he had...

was design modifications

for the Missouri gas chambers

in Jacksonville.

[ Carol ]

Birkenau I never went in.

I stayed in the car,

with no keys,

and froze my... whatever off--

feet.

I was in the car

for hours.

I brought books to read.

Mystery books.

And crossword puzzles.

I do a lot

of crossword puzzles.

I didn't consider it

my honeymoon.

Let's put it that way.

I don't know that we ever

slept in the same bed

while we were there.

I try to forget

about going there.

[ Leuchter ]

I should note that

everything that was done,

was done

in the best possible taste,

understanding that these things

are national shrines

and national monuments.

The only thing that was

a little bit harrowing

or frightening...

is that I didn't want

to get caught.

Unfortunately, you have to

make a lot of noise when you're

chiseling brick out of walls.

[ Van Pelt ]

Auschwitz is like

the holy of holies.

I prepared years

to go there.

And to have a fool come in,

coming completely unprepared,

it's sacrilege.

Somebody who walks into

the holy of holies

and doesn't give a damn.

[ Leuchter ] I expected to see

facilities that could have

been used as gas chambers.

I expected to see areas

that were explosion-proof.

I expected to see areas

that were leak-proof.

There have to be holes in walls

or areas where they had

exhaust fans and pipes.

There has to be something

to remove the gas after

it's been put into the room.

There has to be

some kind of device

to heat the chalk pellets...

and sublimate the gas

to get it to go

into the air.

These things didn't exist.

[ Van Pelt ]

Auschwitz is very,

very different...

from the place it was

during the war.

Everything has changed

three or four times...

since that camp operated

as an extermination camp.

The barracks are 50 years old.

They're moldy, they smell bad.

It's not a smell of the war.

It's a smell of decay,

of 50 years of being exposed

to the elements.

There's no way that

when you go to the crematoria...

you really can understand

what it was to be led there

as a victim,

to have to undress

and be led in the gas chamber.

And when you are in

the building archive,

it is possible to reimagine

what the place was like...

during the war.

The first time

I came into the archive,

I was stunned.

I had found a mission.

I had found a task.

I had found a vocation.

When you go to Birkenau

there's very little left,

and to suddenly

have in that room...

that concentration

of evidence--

There is a tactile reality,

an incredible texture,

the texture

of making that camp.

[ Train Whistle Blows,

Faint ]

If Leuchter had gone

to the archives,

if he had spent time

in the archives...

he would have found evidence

about ventilation systems,

evidence about ways

to introduce Zyklon B

into these buildings,

evidence of gas chambers,

undressing rooms.

But then, of course,

I don't think he knows German,

so it wouldn't have helped

very much.

[ Typing ]

Telegram to

Topfwerke Erfurt.

"Send immediately

ten gas detectors.

"Invoice us later.

Signed, Pollok,

S.S. Untersturmfuhrer."

" Auschwitz, 6 March, 1943.

"Subject.:

Crematoria Two and Three.

"In accordance

with your suggestion,

"Cellar One

should be preheated.

" At the same time,

we would ask you to send

an additional quotation...

"for the air

extraction installation

in the undressing room.

S.S. Sturmundfuhrer Bishof. "

"31 March, 1943.

"Three gas-tight doors...

"have been completed.

"We remind you

of an additional order...

"for the gas door

for Crematorium Three.

"This must be made

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