When F. was a researcher for the Jehovah's Witness publication 'Awake!', he prepared a research paper for the Witnesses' governing body on the history of the Jehovah's Witnesses during World War II. Members of the sect were incarcerated in virtually every camp in Germany during the war and also in such countries as Canada because they refused to bear arms. In the beginning, the Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that 60,000 of their members were killed in the German concentration camps. F.'s research on the question, which took him to the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses in New York, as well as to archives in Toronto, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries, convinced him that the actual number was far lower, and that only about 200 Jehovah's Witnesses were killed. F.'s research put him on a collision course with the sect; the leadership in New York warned members that they were not allowed to speak to him. In a subsequent Yearbook published by the Jehovah's Witnesses, however, they conceded that only 203 people were killed during the war.

In 1976, F. received an English language edition of the booklet 'Did Six Million Really Die?' by Richard Harwood. F., who was Swedish, could also read Danish, Norwegian, German, French and English. F. subsequently published a Swedish language edition of 'Did Six Million Really Die?' in 1977. Under Swedish law, he was required to submit the booklet to the Attorney General's department, which had a special department where publications were scanned to determine whether they were lawful. No complaint or prosecution was ever brought against F. for the booklet. It was mailed to all major newspapers in Sweden and schools and is still available in Sweden today. In total, he distributed about 10,000 copies in Swedish.' Dog Verkligen Sex Miljoner?' As a result of all this, he decided to delve into the issue and visit all of the camps that he possibly could, during the years 1978 to 1980. 

The first camp F. visited was Dachau in West Germany. In exterminationalist literature published between 1947 and the Frankfurt trial in 1964, the focus for the gas chamber allegation was Dachau. Later, the focus switched to Poland. At Dachau, F. investigated the entire area, looking at the crematories and the alleged gas chamber. While claims were once made that over 200,000 people died at Dachau, the sign at the camp today indicated that no one was gassed there. To prepare himself for his visits to the camps in Poland, F. interviewed people who had been in the camps, and studied books such as those by Raul Hilberg and Gerald Reitlinger. For F., it confirmed that the exterminationists did not do any real research. He also corresponded with such people as German historian Martin Broszat and the staffs at Yad Vashem and the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the Red Cross, major academics in Poland, and historians in the Soviet Union. 

In Poland, F. visited: Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Gross-Rosen, Stutthof, and Majdanek. He took photographs of the camps and interviewed people who lived in the area. On the whole, he made at least thirty trips to Birkenau and Auschwitz. F. got to be on speaking terms with the administration of the Auschwitz Museum. The Polish officials invited him to see their libraries, archives and the special buildings where they kept artifacts which were not open to the public. These people included Dr. Szymanski, Kazimierz Smolen, then Director of Auschwitz, Piper, Director of Artifacts, and Madame Danuta Czech, the head historian of Auschwitz. F. later published his book 'Auschwitz Exit'. Overall, F. took some 30,000 slides of the various camps he visited . 

F. discovered that there was a swimming pool for the inmates in Auschwitz, modern hospital facilities, including a gynecological section, as well as an orchestra, live theatre, well-stocked library, and sculpting classes. He also discovered the musical score of the "Auschwitz Waltz" in the secret archives accessible only with special permission. F. was allowed by Dr. Szymanski to view and photograph the private artifact collection located inside Block 25. This collection included crafts made by the inmates while they were recovering from sickness; sheet music played by the orchestra; posters which were displayed in the barracks, warning the inmates that if they did not keep themselves clean, they would die. One poster illustrated a large louse with a caption in German and Polish warning inmates that "One Louse Means Your Death." Also included in the private collection were gas masks and filters used by the Germans while fumigating the camp with Zyklon B. Piper told F. that the camp had copies of the special instructions which the exterminators followed during the fumigation process, such as how the gas mask was to be worn, the complications of the gas and the required airing of the room. In this private collection, F. was astonished to discover that the cremations carried out at Auschwitz were done in a manner no different than was done in Sweden today.  

Museum officials eventually admitted to F. that the entire "gas chamber" at Auschwitz I was rebuilt in various stages to "help" tourists understand what occurred. F. discovered two delousing buildings in Birkenau, which were kept secret and off-limits to the public because they explained the so called selection procedure at the ramp by Dr. Mengele and other camp doctors. Males were sent to delouse in a separate building from the women and children. The selection procedure also involved a visual determination of the health of incoming prisoners. It was in the interest of the camp authorities not to spread disease. If people were sick and needed to be treated, the camp had hospitals.

In Treblinka, F. found that the trees had been planted in about 1966 to 1968, and that the area alleged to be the camp today was several kilometres from the railroad. As with Treblinka, there were no authentic buildings remaining in Belzec,and the camp was located away from a railroad line. Also at Sobibor, F. found that the trees had been planted in the late 1960s.  

F. was charged in 1983 as a result of publishing a flyer entitled "Please Accept This Hair of a Gassed Victim!." The flyer was addressed to the Auschwitz Museum authorities, telling them that their exhibits of hair were as much proof of gassings as his own garbage at home. The flyer encouraged people to send their garbage to Auschwitz to enlarge the museum's collection of faked exhibits. The flyer also emphasized the environmental problems in Poland. Auschwitz today, said F., was a veritable gas chamber because Polish authorities would do absolutely nothing about pollution control at nearby Monowitz. As a result of publishing these flyers, F. was convicted on the criminal charge of agitating against an ethnic group and received a ten month prison sentence. 

In 1988. F. was a witness of Ernst Zündel in the latter's Toronto process. During the past years, F. became an instructor of dancing, gave music lessons and sold music which he had written. F. is also editor of the "Jewish Information Bulletin".  F. is known for his weird sense of humor and outlandish, offensive cartoons.  

Anschrift von / Address of F.:   

Werke von / Works of F.: DITLIEB FELDERER'S BLOG

Literatur über / Writings concerning F.: 

Literatur im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek von und über / Writings in the catalogue of Deutsche Nationalbibliothek of and about: Ditlieb Felderer 
 
Letzte Änderung / Last update: 25.07.2008 

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