The Bombing of Auschwitz

by Neufeld, Michael J.

• ISBN13: 9780700612802
• ISBN10: 0700612807
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas

Summary

Did we "know" the gas chambers were there? Could we have destroyed them? Why didn't we bomb? For decades, debate has raged over whether the Allies should have bombed the gas chambers at Auschwitz and the rail-roads leading to the camp thereby saving thousands of lives and disrupting Nazi efforts to exterminate European Jews. Was it truly feasible to do so? Did failure to do so simply reflect a callous indifference to the plight of the Jews or was it a realistic assessment of a plan that could not succeed? In this volume, a number of eminent historians address and debate those very questions. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this is the first paperback edition of a book that has been widely hailed by critics and cited by "Kirkus Reviews as "the definitive resource for understanding this deeply troubling episode in the twentieth century's greatest horror." Prominent scholars such as Sir Martin Gilbert, Walter Laqueur, Michael Berenbaum, Gerhard Weinberg, and Williamson Murray offer a diverse array of mutually supporting a

Table of Contents

PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION	ix
PREFACE	x
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xvi
INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTROVERSY
by Michael J. Neufeld	1	(10)
I. ALLIED KNOWLEDGE and CAPABILITIES	11	(48)
1. THE ALLIES AND THE HOLOCAUST
by Gerhard L. Weinberg	15	(12)
2. AUSCHWITZ PARTIALLY DECODED
by Richard Breitman	27	(8)
3. ALLIED AIR POWER: OBJECTIVES AND CAPABILITIES
by Tami Davis Biddle	35	(17)
4. THE AERIAL PHOTOS OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU EXTERMINATION COMPLEX
by Dino A. Brugioni	52	(7)
II. BOMBING AUSCHWITZ: FOR and AGAINST	59	(122)
5. THE CONTEMPORARY CASE FOR THE FEASIBILITY OF BOMBING AUSCHWITZ
by Martin Gilbert	65	(11)
6. THE ALLIES AND AUSCHWITZ: A PARTICIPANT'S VIEW
by Gerhart M. Riegner	76	(4)
7. THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ RE-EXAMINED
by James H. Kitchens III	80	(21)
8. THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ REVISITED: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
by Richard H. Levy	101	(26)
9. COULD THE ALLIES HAVE BOMBED AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU?
by Stuart G. Erdheim	127	(30)
10. BOMBING AUSCHWITZ: U.S. FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE AND THE MILITARY ASPECTS OF A POSSIBLE ATTACK
by Rondall R. Rice	157	(24)
III. NEW PERSPECTIVES on the CONTROVERSY	181	(56)
11. AUSCHWITZ
by Walter Laqueur	186	(7)
12. BOMBING AUSCHWITZ AND THE POLITICS OF THE JEWISH QUESTION DURING WORLD WAR II
by Henry L. Feingold	193	(11)
13. MONDAY-MORNING QUARTERBACKING AND THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ
by Williamson Murray	204	(10)
14. THE BOMBING OF AUSCHWITZ: COMMENTS ON A HISTORICAL SPECULATION
by Richard G. Davis	214	(13)
15. THE FAILURE TO RESCUE AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE HOLOCAUST: JUDGING FROM A DISTANCE
by Deborah E. Lipstadt	227	(10)
IV. DOCUMENTS	237	(44)
1. PRELIMINARIES
1.1 I.G. Farben Auschwitz Aiming Point Report, 21 January 1944	240	(2)
1.2 Vrba-Wetzler and Rosin-Mordowicz Reports, April and June 1944 (excerpts)	242	(7)
2. THE FIRST APPEALS TO THE AMERICANS
2.1 Memorandum, Roswell McClelland to Col. Alfred de Jonge, 25 May 1944	249	(1)
2.2 "Report on a Discussion between Y. Gruenbaum and Mr. Pinkerton ... June 2, 1944."	250	(2)
2.3 Meeting of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, Jerusalem, 11 June 1944 (excerpt)	252	(2)
2.4 Jacob Rosenheim to Henry Morgenthau, 18 June 1944	254	(1)
2.5 Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Handy, Memorandum for the Record, 23 June 1944	254	(2)
2.6 John W. Pehle, War Refugee Board, Memorandum of 24 June 1944	256	(1)
2.7 Leland Harrison to Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, 24 June 1944	256	(1)
2.8 Memorandum, J.W. Pehle to John McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, 29 June 1944	257	(1)
2.9 War Refugee Board Memorandum, Benjamin Akzin to L.S. Lesser, 29 June 1944	258	(1)
2.10 A. Leon Kubowitzki, World Jewish Congress, to J.W. Pehle, 1 July 1944	259	(1)
2.11 Memorandum, Col. Harrison A. Gerhardt, to John J. McCloy, 3 July 1944	260	(1)
2.12 J.J. McCloy, War Department, to J.W. Pehle, War Refugee Board, 4 July 1944	260	(1)
3. THE APPEAL TO THE BRITISH
3.1 British Intercept of Cable from Richard Lichtheim to Jewish Agency, 26 June 1944	261	(1)
3.2 Yisrael Gruenbaum, Jerusalem, to Chaim Barlas, Istanbul, 30 June 1944	262	(1)
3.3 Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to Winston Churchill, 3 July 1944	262	(1)
3.4 Aide-Memoire by Chaim Weizmann and Moshe Shertok, 6 July 1944	263	(1)
3.5 Telegram, Moshe Shertok to David Ben-Gurion and Nahum Goldmannr, 6 July 1944	264	(2)
3.6 Memorandum, Anthony Eden to Winston Churchill, 6 July 1944	266	(1)
3.7 Winston Churchill to Anthony Eden, 7 July 1944	266	(1)
3.8 Anthony Eden to Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air, 7 July 1944	267	(1)
3.9 Sir Archibald Sinclair to Anthony Eden, 15 July 1944	267	(2)
3.10 Sinclair's Assistant Private Secretary to Vice-Chief of Air Staff, 26 July 1944	269	(1)
3.11 Deputy Chief of Air Staff Bottomley to Acting Chief of Air Staff, 2 August 1944	269	(1)
3.12 G.W.P. Grant, Air Ministry, to V.F.W. Cavendish-Bentinck, Foreign Office, 13 August 1944	269	(1)
3.13 Richard Law, Foreign Office, to Sir Archibald Sinclair, 1 September 1944	270	(1)
3.14 Deputy Chief of Air Staff Bottomley to Lt. Gen. Carl Spaatz, 6 September 1944	270	(1)
4. THE LATER APPEALS TO THE AMERICANS
4.1 J.J. Smertenko to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 24 July 1944	271	(2)
4.2 A. Leon Kubowitzki, World Jewish Congress, to John J. McCloy, 9 August 1944	273	(1)
4.3 John J. McCloy to A. Leon Kubowitzki, 14 August 1944	274	(1)
4.4 I.L. Kenen, "Report of Meeting with John W. Pehle ...," 16 August 1944 (excerpt)	274	(1)
4.5 War Refugee Board Memorandum, B. Akzin to J.W. Pehle, 2 September 1944	275	(2)
4.6 John W. Pehle to John J. McCloy, 3 October 1944	277	(1)
4.7 Memorandum, Col. Harrison A. Gerhardt, to John J. McCloy, 5 October 1944	277	(1)
4.8 John W. Pehle to John J. McCloy, 8 November 1944	278	(1)
4.9 Memorandum by H.H.F., War Department General Staff, 14 November 1944	279	(1)
4.10 John J. McCloy to John W. Pehle, 18 November 1944	279	(2)
NOTES	281	(46)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY	327	(4)
ABOUT THE EDITORS	331	(2)
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS	333	(4)
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	337	(2)
INDEX	339