Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Page #6

to make any sense.

I had a couple

of heavy bags of samples,

which we mixed

with our dirty linen,

dirty underwear

and all sorts of things...

because we figured the customs

people would not be willing

to go through our dirty laundry.

In the event

we got caught,

we did have

a contingency plan.

I had maps of Austria,

Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

And we would have made

some kind of a ground flight

across one of those countries...

to either get to Austria

or to West Germany.

We would've just

essentially taken off...

and hope we made it

to a border before somebody

figured out what was going on.

They probably wouldn't

have chased me immediately...

because I would've,

from a practical standpoint,

just been a vandal

chiseling holes

in their wall.

I was never so relieved

when we passed through the

West German passport control.

Because at least

I hadn't chiseled...

at any of the West Germans'

national shrines.

All of the forensic samples

that I took were brought back

to the United States...

and sent to a lab

here in Massachusetts

that was highly recommended.

They were not told

what the samples were

or where they came from.

They were told

that they were materials...

that would be involved

in a court case...

relative

to an industrial accident...

and they should be prepared

to testify...

and they should certify

all of the samples.

All of their tests

came back.

And they did

several types of tests...

to determine whether or not

there was any hydrogen cyanide.

They were negative.

These facilities

never saw any gas.

For virtually 40-odd years

I believed unquestionably

that there were gas chambers...

at these

concentration camps.

When I found that there weren't,

my next question is,

what do I do about it?

I completed my report,

and I testified at the trial.

The judge would not accept

the report into evidence.

So what the judge did is,

he accepted the report

as an informational exhibit...

as opposed

to an evidentiary exhibit.

And every bit

of the information

in that report...

had to be testified

under oath into the record.

My publishing imprint

in England,

Focal Point Publications,

we published

The Leuchter Report.

I can't remember

where I first met him.

He's not the kind of person

who would strike you.

He's a mouse of a man.

He's also a man

who is totally honest

and totally innocent,

innocent in the sense

of being a simpleton.

He went into this

as a glorious adventure.

He was taken out of oblivion.

He was given this task

to perform.

He traveled abroad,

probably for the first time

in his life, to Poland.

He came back with these

earth-shattering results.

The big point.:

there is no significant

residue of cyanide

in the brickwork.

That's what converted me.

When I read that in the report

in the courtroom in Toronto,

I became

a hard-core disbeliever.

[ Zndel ]

On April 20, 1988,

Adolf Hitler's birthday,

Fred Leuchter, not knowing

he's gonna be delivering a

birthday present to the fhrer,

steps into

the witness box in Toronto.

Devastation

reigns all around.

The prosecution

and the judge...

were in a visible

state of panic.

I could see

the facial muscles

working in the judge.

I could see the pale face

of the prosecutor.

This was history-making.

That was clear

to everybody present.

They cross-examined Fred.

Immediately, of course,

they zeroed in...

on his soft or inadequate

academic credentials

for what he was doing.

The judge made a decision

that could have been

very dangerous to us...

The judge made a decision

that could have been

very dangerous to us...

in that he said,

"The samples by themselves

are worthless,

unless the defense

can bring the man

who did the testing. "

[ Man ]

I went up to Toronto

on very short notice,

not knowing any

of the background at all

of what was going on.

They wanted somebody

from the laboratory to say,

"Yes, we analyzed these samples.

Yes, we produced this report

on the analysis."

And that's

what I was there to do.

I don't think

the Leuchter results

have any meaning.

There's nothing

in any of our data...

that says those surfaces

were exposed or not.

Even after I got off the stand,

I didn't know where

the samples came from.

I didn't know

which samples were which.

And it was only at lunch

that I found out really

what the case involved.

Hindsight being 20-20,

the test was not

the correct one to have

been used for the analysis.

He presented us

with rock samples...

anywhere from

the size of your thumb up to

half the size of your fist.

We broke 'em up

with a hammer...

so that we could get

a sub-sample,

placed it in a flask,

add concentrated

sulfuric acid.

And it undergoes

a reaction.

It produces

a red-colored solution.

It is the intensity

of this red color...

that we can relate

with cyanide concentration.

And you have to look

at what happens to cyanide...

when it reacts with a wall.

Where does it go?

How far does it go?

Cyanide

is a surface reaction.

It's probably

not going to penetrate

more than ten microns.

Human hair's

a hundred microns in diameter.

Crush this sample up.

I have just diluted

that sample...

ten thousand,

a hundred thousand times.

If you're gonna go look for it,

you're gonna look

on the surface only.

There's no reason

to go deep...

because it's not going

to be there.

Which was the exposed surface?

I didn't even have any idea.

That's like analyzing

paint on the wall.

By analyzing,

they timber this behind it.

If they go in

with blinders on,

they will see

what they want to see.

What was he really

trying to do?

What was he trying to prove?

[ Woman Reporter ]

The jury said

Ernst Zndel is guilty...

of publishing news

he knew to be false

about the Holocaust.

In spite of that,

when he emerged from

the courtroom this afternoon,

Zndel still maintained

the Holocaust was a hoax.

No, this is just one

more hurdle to overcome.

And I have always

looked upon boulders

in the path of my life...

not as stumbling blocks

but as stepping-stones.

[ Leuchter ]

On my return from Canada,

I went about

my work and business

as I normally did.

And I began to notice...

that not as many

prison officials

were talking with me.

Orders weren't coming in

as expected.

The wardens and commissioners

were receiving

very heavy pressure...

from Jewish groups.

[ Woman ]

There is no slippery slope

for Mr. Fred Leuchter.

The man...

is an anti-Semite.

[ Shapiro ] There are

hatemongers in this country,

and he's one of them.

He handed over

his entire life

and reputation...

to the cause

of spreading hatred.

He didn't stop.

He kept on going.

He could've gotten out

any time.

What kind of man is he?

And why is he doing this?

And what kind of reflection

is this upon our community?

[ Tabasky ]

To me, he looks like

he's almost under a spell,

and I think he is.

He's under his own spell.

He truly believed...

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