Well, of course they didn’t, but some Holocaust revisionists say the Nazis were accused of using an atomic bomb on 20,000 Jews at the Nuremberg Trial.
In Auschwitz: Myths and Facts Mark Weber wrote, “At the Nuremberg Tribunal chief US prosecutor Robert Jackson charged that the Germans had used a “newly invented” device to instantaneously “vaporize” 20,000 Jews near Auschwitz “in such a way that here was no trace left of them”. “
In his book Lectures on the Holocaust Germar Rudolf lists several claims about the Holocaust which “the Germans have been forced to unquestioningly accept as “common knowledge” since the end of the war.” (Germar Rudolf, Lectures on the Holocaust, Theses and Dissertations Press,Illinois, 2005, p 435). These include, “Instant obliteration of 20,000 Jews near Silesia using atomic bombs; alleged at IMT” (p 438)
In the 1992 video “David Cole interviews Dr Franciszek Piper”, which I have discussed here, Cole says, “In an almost inconceivable charge it was claimed that the Nazis exterminated Jews with an atomic bomb.” (43 mins)
Jurgen Graf writes “Thus at the Nuremberg trial, US prosecutor Robert Jackson falsely denounced the Germans to former German armaments minister Albert Speer for having blown up 20,000 Jews with an atom bomb at Auschwitz.” This was “confirmed by ‘eye-witness reports’ and ‘perpetrator confessions’. ” (Jurgen Graf, The Giant with Feet of Clay, Theses and Dissertations Press, Alabama, 2001, p 50).
In an article “The Value of testimony and Confessions Concerning the Holocaust”, Manfred Kohler implies that eyewitnesses had said the Nazis killed 20,000 Jews with an atomic bombs (Ernst Gauss (editor), Dissecting the Holocaust, Theses and Dissertations Press, Alabama, 2001, p 129).
These revisionist claims are based on the 21 June 1946 session of the Nuremberg trial, which can be read here, when the Chief US Prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson asked the defendant Albert Speer, Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production about Nazi atomic energy research,
“MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And certain experiments were also conducted and certain researches were conducted in atomic research, were they not?
SPEER: We had not got as far as that, unfortunately because the finest minds we had in atomic research had emigrated to America, and this had thrown us back a great deal in our research, so that we still needed another year or two in order to achieve any results in the splitting of the atom.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: The policy of driving people out who didn’t agree with Germany hadn’t produced very good dividends, had it?
SPEER: Especially in this sphere it was a great disadvantage to us.
MR JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, I have certain information, which was placed in my hands, of an experiment which was carried out near Auschwitz and I would like to ask you if you heard about it or knew about it. The purpose of the experiment was to find a quick and complete way of destroying people without the delay and trouble of shooting and gassing and burning, as it had been carried out, and this is the experiment, as I am advised. A village, a small village was provisionally erected, with temporary structures, and in it approximately 20,000 Jews were put. By means of this newly invented weapon of destruction, these 20,000 people were eradicated almost instantaneously, and in such a way that there was no trace left of them; that it developed, the explosive developed, temperatures of from 4000 to 5000 [?] [degrees] centigrade and destroyed them without leaving any trace at all.
Do you know about that experiment?
SPEER: No, and I consider it utterly improbable. If we had had such a weapon under preparation, I should have known about it. But we did not have such a weapon. It is clear that in chemical warfare attempts were made on both sides to carry out research on all the weapons one could think of, because on did not know which party would start chemical warfare first.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: The reports, then, of a new and secret weapon ere exaggerated for the purpose of keeping the German people in the war?
SPEER: That was the case mostly during the last phase of the war. From August, or rather June or July 1944 on I very often went to the front. I visited about 40 front-line divisions in their sectors and could not help seeing the troops, just like the German people, were given hopes about a new weapon coming, new weapons and wonder-weapons which, without requiring the use of soldiers, without military forces, would guarantee victory. In this belief lies the secret why so many people in Germany offered their lives, although common sense told them the war was over. They believed that in the near future this new weapon would arrive. “ (Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 1947, Vol. 16, p 529-530)
Jackson asked Speer if this report was true. Speer said no. It was probably only Nazi propaganda to encourage the troops. That is all. The subject was dropped and they moved on. There were no eyewitnesses who claimed the Nazis killed 20,000 Jews with an atomic bomb in Auschwitz. The Allies did not torture any Nazis into confessing they had blown up Jews with an atomic bomb, as revisionists have to claim they did to German witnesses to the gas chambers.Speer was free to say it did not happen. In fact, the weapon was not even referred to as an “atomic bomb”, although it sounds like one.The Germans have not been forced to unquestioningly accept it as common knowledge as Germar Rudolf alleges.
On the other hand, Germar Rudolf claims that the Nazis really did test “nuclear bombs” in March 1945 and several hundred people were killed, including some inmates from the Ohrdruf concentration camp (Lectures on the Holocaust, p 438). If the Nazis did have atomic bombs, one would have thought they would used them on the Russians who were about to overrun Berlin. I assume Rudolf believes this because it would make the Nazis look intelligent.
Malcolm Nicholson 