Holocaust

See the Discussion page and the links below.

Basically because they disobeyed God and broke the promises of obedience they had made to their leader Moses:-

Deu 27:1-2,8-26 GNB Then Moses, together with the leaders of Israel, said to the people, "Obey all the instructions that I am giving you today. [v. 2] On the day you cross the Jordan River and enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you are to set up some large stones, cover them with plaster, ... [v. 8] On the stones covered with plaster write clearly every word of God's laws." [v. 9]Then Moses, together with the levitical priests, said to all the people of Israel, "Give me your attention, people of Israel, and listen to me. Today you have become the people of the LORD your God; [v. 10] so obey him and keep all his laws that I am giving you today." [v. 11] Then Moses said to the people of Israel, [v. 12] "After you have crossed the Jordan, the following tribes are to stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessings are pronounced on the people: ... [v. 13] And the following tribes will stand on Mount Ebal when the curses are pronounced... [v. 14] The Levites will speak these words in a loud voice: [v. 15] " 'God's curse on anyone who makes an idol of stone, wood, or metal and secretly worships it; the LORD hates idolatry.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

(The same response of 'Amen' (or, "So be it") is made 10 more times for 10 more prohibitions, and in Verse 26 the people agree to God's curse on them if they disobey):-

[v. 26] " 'God's curse on anyone who does not obey all of God's laws and teachings.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

They were promised great blessings if they obeyed:-

Deu 28:1-13 GNB "If you obey the LORD your God and faithfully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, he will make you greater than any other nation on earth. [v. 2] Obey the LORD your God and all these blessings will be yours: [v. 3] "The LORD will bless your towns and your fields. [v. 4] "... with many children, ... abundant crops, ... with many cattle and sheep. [v. 5] ... grain crops ... food you prepare .... [v. 6] ... everything you do. [v. 7]... defeat your enemies ... they will run from you in all directions. [v. 8] ... bless your work ... fill your barns with grain. ... [v. 9] "If you obey the LORD your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised. [v. 10]Then all the peoples on earth will see that the LORD has chosen you to be his own people, and they will be afraid of you. [v. 11] The LORD will give you many children, many cattle, and abundant crops ... [v. 12]He will send rain in season ... and bless all your work, ... you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any. [v. 13] ... will make you the leader among the nations and not a follower; you will always prosper and never fail if you obey faithfully all his commands that I am giving you today.

They were told never to disobey:-

[Deu 28:14] Butyou must never disobey them in any way, or worship and serve other gods.

However, if they did disobey they were promised not blessings but their opposite: cursings:-

Deu 28:15-57 [v. 15] "But if you disobey the LORD your God and do not faithfully keep all his commands and laws that I am giving you today, all these evil things will happen to you: [v. 16] "The LORD will curse your towns ... fields. [v. 17] "...grain crops ... food ...from them. [v.18]... few children, poor crops, ... few cattle and sheep.[v. 19] ... everything you do. [v. 20]"If you do evil and reject the LORD, he will bring on you disaster, confusion, and trouble in everything you do, until you are quickly and completely destroyed. [v. 21]He will send disease after disease on you ... [v. 22]...infectious diseases, ... swelling and fever... drought and scorching winds ... destroy your crops. ... disasters ...[v. 23] No rain ... ground will become as hard as iron. [v. 24... duststorms and sandstorms .... [v. 25] ... your enemies victor[ious] over you. ... you will run from them ... all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you. [v. 26] When you die, birds and wild animals will come and eat your bodies... [v. 27] The LORD will send boils on you, ... sores...scabs, ... ... itch, but there will be no cure. [v. 28] ... lose your mind; ... blindness and confusion. [v. 29] ... you will not be able to find your way. You will not prosper in anything ... constantly oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to help you. [v. 30] "You will be engaged to a young woman---but someone else will marry her. You will build a house---but never live in it. You will plant a vineyard---but never eat its grapes. [v. 31] Your cattle will be butchered before your very eyes, but you will not eat any of the meat. Your donkeys will be dragged away while you look on, and they will not be given back to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you. [v. 32] Your sons and daughters will be given as slaves to foreigners while you look on. Every day you will strain your eyes, looking in vain for your children to return. [v. 33] A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment.[v. 34] Your sufferings will make you lose your mind.[v. 35] ... incurable, painful sores; boils will cover you ... [v. 36] "... will take you and your king away to a foreign land... there you will serve[false]lgods.... [v. 37...the people will be shocked at what has happened to you; they will make fun of you and ridicule you. [v. 38] ...the locusts will eat your crops. [v. 39] ... worms will eat the vines.[v. 40] ...you will not have any olive oil, because the olives will drop off. [v. 41] ...[your sons and daughters ] will be taken away as prisoners of war. [v. 42] All your trees and crops will be devoured by insects. [v. 43] "Foreigners who live in your land will gain more and more power, while you gradually lose yours.[v. 44] They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers.[v. 45] "All these disasters will come on you... because you did not obey the LORD your God and keep all the laws that he gave you. [v. 46] They will be the evidence of God's judgment on you and your descendants forever. [v. 47]The LORD blessed you in every way, but you would not serve him with glad and joyful hearts. [v. 48] So then, you will serve the enemies that the LORD is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked---in need of everything. The LORD will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed. [v. 49] The LORD will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle. [v. 50] They will be ruthless and show no mercy to anyone, young or old. [v. 51] They will eat your livestock and your crops, and you will starve to death. They will not leave you any grain, wine, olive oil, cattle, or sheep; and you will die. [v. 52]They will attack every town in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and the high, fortified walls in which you trust will fall. [v. 53] "When your enemies are besieging your towns, you will become so desperate for food that you will even eat the children that the LORD your God has given you.[v. 54] Even the most refined man of noble birth will ... [v. 55] (SEE 28:54) [v. 56] Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way... [v. 57] (SEE 28:56)

Just to make certain they got the message, the consequences of disobedience were repeated to them again:-

[Deu 28:58-68] v.58] "If you do not obey faithfully all of God's teachings that are written in this book and if you do not honor the wonderful and awesome name of the LORD your God, [v. 59] he will send on you and on your descendants incurable diseases and horrible epidemics that can never be stopped. [v. 60] He will bring on you once again all the dreadful diseases you experienced in Egypt, and you will never recover. [v. 61] He will also send all kinds of diseases and epidemics that are not mentioned in this book of God's laws and teachings, and you will be destroyed. [v. 62] Although you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, only a few of you will survive, because you did not obey the LORD your God. [v. 63] Just as the LORD took delight in making you prosper and in making you increase in number, so he will take delight in destroying you and in bringing ruin on you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are about to occupy. [v. 64] "The LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have ever worshiped before. [v. 65] You will findno peace anywhere, no place to call your own; the LORD will overwhelm you with anxiety, hopelessness, and despair. [v. 66] Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror, and you will live in constant fear of death. [v. 67]Your hearts will pound with fear at everything you see. Every morning you will wish for evening; every evening you will wish for morning. [v. 68] The LORD will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will want to buy you."

This covenant was in addition to the one they had made previously at Mt Sinai at the giving of the 10 Commandments. Everyone was there. Once again they were told to obey it to be successful:-

Deu 29:1-3, 9-29 GNB These are the terms of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab; all this was in addition to the covenant which the LORD had made with them at Mount Sinai. [ie the giving of the 10 Commandments] [v. 2] Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, "You saw for yourselves what the LORD did to ...[v. 3] You saw the terrible plagues, the miracles, and the great wonders that the LORD performed.... [v. 9] Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do.

They were told the covenant obligations and curses for breaking it also applied even to their future descendants as yet unborn

Deut 29:10-21 [v. 10] "Today you are standing in the presence of the LORD your God, all of you---your leaders and officials, your men, [v. 11]women, and children, and the foreigners who live among you and cut wood and carry water for you. [v. 12] You are here today to enter into this covenant that the LORD your God is making with you and to accept its obligations, [v. 13] so that the LORD may now confirm you as his people and be your God, as he promised you and your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [v.14]You are not the only ones with whom the LORD is making this covenant with its obligations. [v. 15] He is making it with all of us who stand here [my underlining] in his presence today and also with our descendants who are not yet born [my underlining]. [v. 16] "You remember what life was like in Egypt and what it was like to travel through the territory of other nations.[v. 17] You saw their disgusting idols ... [v. 18] Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the LORD our God to worship the gods of other nations. ... [v. 19] Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike. [v. 20] The LORD will not forgive such a man. Instead, the LORD's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the LORD has destroyed him completely.[v. 21] The LORD will make an example of him before all the tribes of Israel and will bring disaster on him in accordance with all the curses listed in the covenant that is written in this book of the LORD's teachings.

Moses prophesied - even then - that Israel would suffer these curses because they would break this covenant made with God, despite knowing it applied both to them and their descendants :-

Deut 29:22-29 [v. 22] "In future generations your descendants and foreigners from distant lands will see the disasters and sufferings that the LORD has brought on your land. [v. 23] The fields will be a barren waste, covered with sulfur and salt; nothing will be planted, and not even weeds will grow there. Your land will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, ..., which the LORD destroyed when he was furiously angry.

[v. 24] Then the whole world will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to their land? What was the reason for his fierce anger?' [v. 25] Andthe answer will be, 'It is because the LORD's people broke the covenant they had made with him, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of Egypt. [v. 26] They served other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that the LORD had forbidden them to worship. [v. 27] And sothe LORD became angry with his people and brought on their land all the disasters written in this book. [v. 28] The LORD became furiously angry, and in his great anger he uprooted them from their land and threw them into a foreign land, and there they are today.' [v. 29] "There are some things that the LORD our God has kept secret; but he has revealed his Law, and we and our descendants are to obey it forever.

Moses told the people they had to make a choice between whether they received the blessings or the curses, life or death, so to be obedient and choose life:-

Deu 30:1-3, 10-11, 14-20 GNB "I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse.When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you. [v. 2]If you and your descendants will turn back to the LORD and with all your heart obey his commands that I am giving you today, [v. 3] then the LORD your God will have mercy on you... [v. 10] but you will have to obey him and keep all his laws that are written in this book of his teachings. You will have to turn to him with all your heart. [v. 11] "The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach. [v. 14]No, it is here with you. You know it and can quote it, so now obey it. [v. 15] "Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death. [v. 16] If you obey the commands of the LORD your God, which I give you today, if you love him, obey him, and keep all his laws, then you will prosper and become a nation of many people. The LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy.[v. 17] But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods, [v. 18] you will be destroyed---I warn you here and now. You will not live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. [v. 19] I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life. [v. 20]Love the LORD your God, obey him and be faithful to him, and then you and your descendants will live long in the land that he promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Deu 31:1-2, 7, 9-13, 30 GNB Moses continued speaking to the people of Israel, [v. 2] and said, "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to be your leader. And besides this, the LORD has told me that I will not cross the Jordan [v. 7] Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the presence of all the people of Israel, "Be determined and confident; you are the one who will lead these people to occupy the land that the LORD promised to their ancestors [v. 9] So Moses wrote down God's Law and gave it to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box, and to the leaders of Israel. [v. 10]He commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, when the year that debts are canceled comes around, read this aloud at the Festival of Shelters. [v. 11] Read it to the people of Israel when they come to worship the LORD your God at the one place of worship. [v. 12] Call together all the men, women, and children, and the foreigners who live in your towns, so that everyone may hear it and learn to honor the LORD your God and to obey his teachings faithfully. [v. 13] In this way your descendants who have never heard the Law of the LORD your God will hear it. And so they will learn to obey him as long as they live in the land that you are about to occupy across the Jordan." [v. 14] Then the LORD said to Moses, "You do not have much longer to live. Call Joshua and bring him to the Tent, so that I may give him his instructions." Moses and Joshua went to the Tent, [v. 15] and the LORD appeared to them there in a pillar of cloud that stood by the door of the Tent. [v. 16] The LORD said to Moses, "You will soon die, and after your death the people will become unfaithful to me and break the covenant that I made with them. They will abandon me and worship the pagan gods of the land they are about to enter.[v. 17] When that happens, I will become angry with them; I will abandon them, and they will be destroyed. Many terrible disasters will come upon them, and then they will realize that these things are happening to them because I, their God, am no longer with them. [v. 18] And I will refuse to help them then, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods. [v. 19] "Now, write down this song. Teach it to the people of Israel, so that it will stand as evidence against them. [v. 20] I will take them into this rich and fertile land, as I promised their ancestors. There they will have all the food they want, and they will live comfortably. But they will turn away and worship other gods. They will reject me and break my covenant, [v. 21] and many terrible disasters will come on them. But this song will still be sung, and it will stand as evidence against them. Even now, before I take them into the land that I promised to give them, I know what they are thinking." [v. 22] That same day Moses wrote down the song and taught it to the people of Israel. [v. 23]Then the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun and told him, "Be confident and determined. You will lead the people of Israel into the land that I promised them, and I will be with you." [v. 24] Moses wrote God's Law in a book, taking care not to leave out anything. [v. 25] When he finished, he said to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box, [v. 26] "Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the LORD your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people. [v. 27]I know how stubborn and rebellious they are. They have rebelled against the LORD during my lifetime, and they will rebel even more after I am dead. [v. 28] Assemble all your tribal leaders and officials before me, so that I can tell them these things; I will call heaven and earth to be my witnesses against them. [v. 29] I know that after my death the people will become wicked and reject what I have taught them. And in time to come they will meet with disaster, because they will have made the LORD angry by doing what he has forbidden." [v. 30]Then Moses recited the entire song while all the people of Israel listened.

Deu 34:1-12 GNB Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah east of Jericho, and there the LORD showed him the whole land: the territory of Gilead as far north as the town of Dan; [v. 2] the entire territory of Naphtali; the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh; the territory of Judah as far west as the Mediterranean Sea; [v. 3] the southern part of Judah; and the plain that reaches from Zoar to Jericho, the city of palm trees. [v. 4]Then the LORD said to Moses, "This is the land that I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob I would give to their descendants. I have let you see it, but I will not let you go there." [v. 5]So Moses, the LORD's servant, died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said he would. [v. 6] The LORD buried him in a valley in Moab, opposite the town of Bethpeor, but to this day no one knows the exact place of his burial. [v. 7]Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; he was as strong as ever, and his eyesight was still good. [v. 8]The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days in the plains of Moab. [v. 9] Joshua son of Nunwas filled with wisdom, because Moses had appointed him to be his successor. The people of Israel obeyed Joshua and kept the commands that the LORD had given them through Moses. [v. 10] There has never been a prophet in Israel like Moses; the LORD spoke with him face-to-face. [v. 11] No other prophet has ever done miracles and wonders like those that the LORD sent Moses to perform against the king of Egypt, his officials, and the entire country. [v. 12]No other prophet has been able to do the great and terrifying things that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

When Joshua became leader after Moses died the people promised to obey him just as they had Moses:-

Jos 1:1-3, 5-8, 16-18 GNB After the death of the LORD's servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Moses' helper, Joshua son of Nun. [v. 2] He said, "My servant Moses is dead. Get ready now, you and all the people of Israel, and cross the Jordan River into the land that I am giving them.[v. 3] As I told Moses...[v. 5] Joshua, ... I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you. [v. 6...for you will be the leader of these people as they occupy this land which I promised their ancestors. [v. 7] Just be determined, be confident; and make sure that you obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave you. Do not neglect any part of itand you will succeed wherever you go. [v. 8] Be sure that the book of the Law is always readin your worship. Study it day and night, andmake sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful [v. 16]They [the people of Israel] answered Joshua, "We will do everything you have told us and will go anywhere you send us. [v. 17] We will obey you, just as we always obeyed Moses, and may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses! [v. 18]Whoever questions your authority or disobeys any of your orders will be put to death. Be determined and confident!"

Jos 8:1-35 GNB The LORD said to Joshua, "Take all the soldiers with you and go on up to Ai. Don't be afraid or discouraged. I will give you victory over the king of Ai; his people, city, and land will be yours. [v. 2] You are to do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, but this time you may keep its goods and livestock for yourselves. Prepare to attack the city by surprise from the rear." [v. 3] So Joshua got ready to go to Ai with all his soldiers. He picked out thirty thousand of his best troops and sent them out at night [v. 4] with these orders: "Hide on the other side of the city, but not too far away from it; be ready to attack. [v. 5] My men and I will approach the city. When the men of Ai come out against us, we will turn and run, just as we did the first time. [v. 6] They will pursue us until we have led them away from the city. They will think that we are running from them, as we did before. [v. 7] Then you will come out of hiding and capture the city. The LORD your God will give it to you. [v. 8] After you have taken the city, set it on fire, just as the LORD has commanded. These are your orders." [v. 9] So Joshua sent them out, and they went to their hiding place and waited there, west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. Joshua spent the night in camp. [v. 10] Early in the morning Joshua got up and called the soldiers together. Then he and the leaders of Israel led them to Ai. [v. 11] The soldiers with him went toward the main entrance to the city and set up camp on the north side, with a valley between themselves and Ai. [v. 12] He took about five thousand men and put them in hiding west of the city, between Ai and Bethel. [v. 13] The soldiers were arranged for battle with the main camp north of the city and the rest of the men to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley. [v. 14] When the king of Ai saw Joshua's men, he acted quickly. He and all his men went out toward the Jordan Valley to fight the Israelites at the same place as before, not knowing that he was about to be attacked from the rear. [v. 15] Joshua and his men pretended that they were retreating, and ran away toward the barren country. [v. 16] All the men in the city had been called together to go after them, and as they pursued Joshua, they kept getting farther away from the city. [v. 17] Every man in Ai went after the Israelites, and the city was left wide open, with no one to defend it. [v. 18] Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Point your spear at Ai; I am giving it to you." Joshua did as he was told,[v. 19] and as soon as he lifted his hand, the men who had been hiding got up quickly, ran into the city and captured it. They immediately set the city on fire. [v. 20] When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke rising to the sky. There was no way for them to escape, because the Israelites who had run toward the barren country now turned around to attack them.[v. 21] When Joshua and his men saw that the others had taken the city and that it was on fire, they turned around and began killing the men of Ai. [v. 22] The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it [v. 23] except the king of Ai. He was captured and taken to Joshua. [v. 24] The Israelites killed every one of the enemy in the barren country where they had chased them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there. [v. 25]Joshua kept his spear pointed at Ai and did not put it down until every person there had been killed. The whole population of Ai was killed that day---twelve thousand men and women. [v. 26] (SEE 8:25) [v. 27] The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the LORD had told Joshua. [v. 28] Joshua burned Ai and left it in ruins. It is still like that today. [v. 29]He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sundown Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today. [v. 30] Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel. [v. 31] He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the LORD's servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: "an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools." On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the LORD, and they also presented their fellowship offerings. [v. 32] There, with the Israelites looking on, Joshua made on the stones a copy of the Law which Moses had written. [v. 33] The Israelites, with their leaders, officers, and judges, as well as the foreigners among them, stood on two sides of the LORD's Covenant Box, facing the levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and the other half with their backs to Mount Ebal. The LORD's servant Moses had commanded them to do this when the time came for them to receive the blessing. [v. 34] Joshua then read aloud the whole Law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the book of the Law. [v. 35] Every one of the commandments of Moses was read by Joshua to the whole gathering, which included women and children, as well as the foreigners living among them.

Dan 9:1-18 GNB Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia. [v. 2]In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the LORD had told the prophet Jeremiah. [v. 3] And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. [v. 4] I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed the sins of my people. I said, "Lord God, you are great, and we honor you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command.[v. 5] "We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right. [v. 6] We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers, our ancestors, and our whole nation. [v. 7] You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you. [v. 8] Our kings, our rulers, and our ancestors have acted shamefully and sinned against you, Lord. [v. 9] You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you. [v. 10] We did not listen to you, O LORD our God, when you told us to live according to the laws which you gave us through your servants the prophets. [v. 11] All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant. [v. 12] You did what you said you would do to us and our rulers. You punished Jerusalem more severely than any other city on earth, [v. 13] giving us all the punishment described in the Law of Moses. But even now, O LORD our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth. [v. 14] You, O LORD our God, were prepared to punish us, and you did, because you always do what is right, and we did not listen to you. [v. 15] "O Lord our God, you showed your power by bringing your people out of Egypt, and your power is still remembered. We have sinned; we have done wrong. [v. 16] You have defended us in the past, so do not be angry with Jerusalem any longer. It is your city, your sacred hill. All the people in the neighboring countries look down on Jerusalem and on your people because of our sins and the evil our ancestors did. [v. 17] O God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God. [v. 18]Listen to us, O God; look at us and see the trouble we are in and the suffering of the city that bears your name. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right.

Mal 2:1-12 GNB The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "This command is for you: [v. 2] You must honor me by what you do. If you will not listen to what I say, then I will bring a curse on you. I will put a curse on the things you receive for your support. In fact, I have already put a curse on them, because you do not take my command seriously. [v. 3]I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice---and you will be taken out to the dung heap. [v. 4] Then you will know that I have given you this command, so that my covenant with the priests, the descendants of Levi, will not be broken. [v. 5] "In my covenant I promised them life and well-being, and this is what I gave them, so that they might respect me. In those days they did respect and fear me. [v. 6] They taught what was right, not what was wrong. They lived in harmony with me; they not only did what was right themselves, but they also helped many others to stop doing evil. [v. 7] It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty. [v. 8] "But now you priests have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has led many to do wrong. You have broken the covenant I made with you. [v. 9] So I, in turn, will make the people of Israel despise you because you do not obey my will, and when you teach my people, you do not treat everyone alike." [v. 10] Don't we all have the same father? Didn't the same God create us all? Then why do we break our promises to one another, and why do we despise the covenant that God made with our ancestors? [v. 11] The people of Judah have broken their promise to God and done a horrible thing in Jerusalem and all over the country. They have defiled the Temple which the LORD loves. Men have married women who worship foreign gods. [v. 12] May the LORD remove from the community of Israel those who did this, and never again let them participate in the offerings our nation brings to the LORD Almighty.

Mal 4:4-6 GNB "Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the laws and commands which I gave him at Mount Sinai for all the people of Israel to obey. [v. 5] "But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah. [v. 6] He will bring fathers and children together again; otherwise I would have to come and destroy your country."

Joh 7:47-49 GNB "Did he fool you, too?" the Pharisees asked them. [v. 48] "Have you ever known one of the authorities or one Pharisee to believe in him? [v. 49]This crowd does not know the Law of Moses, so they are under God's curse!"

Gal 3:6-14 WEB Even as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." [v. 7] Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. [v. 8] The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you all the nations will be blessed." [v. 9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. [v. 10] For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who doesn't continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them." [v. 11] Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, "The righteous will live by faith." [v. 12] The law is not of faith, but, "The man who does them will live by them." [v. 13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," [v. 14] that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Rev 22:1-21 MKJV And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. [v. 2] In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there,wasthe Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. [v. 3] And every curse will no longer be; but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him. [v. 4] And they will see His face, and His name will be in their foreheads. [v. 5] And there will be no night there. And they need no lamp, or light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light. And they will reign forever and ever. [v. 6] And he said to me, These sayingsarefaithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show to His servants the things which must shortly be done. [v. 7] Behold, I come quickly. Blessed ishe who keeps the Words of the prophecy of this Book. [v. 8] And I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel showing me these things. [v. 9]Then he said to me, Behold! See, do not do it! For I am your fellow-servant, and of your brothers the prophets, and of those who keep the Words of this Book. Do worship to God.[v. 10] And he said to me, Do not seal the Words of the prophecy of this Book; for the time is at hand. [v. 11]He acting unjustly, let him still act unjustly. And the filthy, let him be filthy still. And the righteous, let him be righteous still. And the holy, let him be holy still. [v. 12]And behold, I am coming quickly, and My rewardiswith Me, to give to each according as his work is.[v. 13] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last. [v. 14]Blessed arethey who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city. [v. 15] But outside arethe dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie. [v. 16] I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star.[v. 17] And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the onehearing say, Come! And let theonewho is thirsty come. And he willing, let him take of the Water of Life freely. [v. 18] For I testify together toeveryone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book. [v. 19] And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and fromthe things which have been written in this Book. [v. 20] He who testifies these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly, Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus. [v. 21] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ bewith all of you. Amen.

Another reason why the Jewish Holocaust happened is because the Gospel was first preached to the Jews but they rejected it:-

Mat 10:5-6,14-15 KJV These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:[v. 6] But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.... [v. 14] And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. [v. 15] Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

The Gospel was preached instead to the Gentiles who welcomed it:-

Act 13:13-16, 22-23, 26, 28, 30-33, 38-52 WEB [v 16] Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. ... [v. 22 [God] raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.' [v. 23] From this man's seed, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise, [v. 26] Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you. ... [v. 28] Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him [ie Jesus Christ] killed. ... [v. 30] But God raised him from the dead, [v. 31] and [we]... are his witnesses to the people. [v. 32] We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, [v. 33] that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus... [v. 38] Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through [Jesus Christ] is proclaimed to you remission of sins, [v. 39] and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. [v. 40] Bewaretherefore,lest that come on youwhich is spoken in the prophets:[v. 41] 'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, awork which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.' "

[This was prophesied in the Old Testament: See Isa 28:14

"Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem":

& from Hab 1:5

"Look among the nations, watch, and wondermarvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. "

[v. 42] So when the Jewswentoutof the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. [v. 43] Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. [v. 44] The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. [v. 45] But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.[v. 46]Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, "It was necessary that God's word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.[v. 47] For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, 'I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.' "[v. 48] As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God.As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. [v. 49] The Lord's word was spread abroad throughout all the region. [v. 50]But the Jewsstirred upthe devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders. [v. 51] But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. [v. 52] The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.

Compare Matthew 5:14 with Acts 13:51 . Then read Matt. 5:15 for the consequences: it's the same today. Most Jews are secular or orthodox to some degree, but very, very few have become Christian. Most have rejected their Messiah.

In The Holocaust one jew out of three died. However, the Bible prophecies of another future and even greater holocaust in the Day of Jacob's Trouble, or 'in that day' [see Zechariah 12:1-14] in which two jews out of three die [see Zec 13:1-9, especially the last two verses]:-

Zec 12:1-14 BBE The word of the Lord about Israel. The Lord ... has said: [v. 2] See, I will make Jerusalem a cup of shaking fear to all the peoples round about, when Jerusalem is shut in. [v. 3] And it will come about in that day...[v. 4] In that day, ... [v. 5] ... [v. 6] In that day ... [v. 7] ... [v. 8] In that day ... [v. 9] And it will come about on that day ... [v. 10] ... and their grief for him will be bitter, like the grief of one sorrowing for his oldest son. [v. 11] In that day.... [v. 12] And the land will give itself to weeping, every family separately; ... [v. 13] ...; [v. 14] And all the ... families by themselves, and their wives by themselves.

Zec 13:1-9 BBE In that day ... [v. 2] And it will come about on that day, ... [v. 3] ...[v. 4] And it will come about in that day ... [v. 5] ... [v. 6] ... [v. 7] ... [v. 8] And it will come about that in all the land, says the Lord,two parts of it will be cut off and come to an end; but the third will be still living there. [v. 9] And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

I will not deal directly with the claims of Leuchter and Luftl here, rather I hope to provide the knowledge necessary to take on Holocaust denier's claims directly, so they can easily be discredited by anyone. As I hope to show, a little knowledge of physiology and chemistry is all that is required to see through their fabrications.

In this paper, I will discuss how cells make and use energy via aerobic metabolism. Then, I will show exactly how cyanide kills by shutting down aerobic (oxygen-using) metabolism in organisms, including how much cyanide can kill, and why warm blooded mammals are the most susceptible to cyanide poisoning. The supporting biochemical and toxicological data will set the context for the next section, which discusses how the gassing of people could be carried out. I will extrapolate from the Degesch manual on Zyklon B to show that Zyklon cloud be used quite easily in a number of situations, even at very low temperatures. I will then present a "hypothetical gassing", where I will run some basic calculations showing how easily a large number of people (about 1.8 million) could be killed in one and one half years with only one gassing a day. Comparing this with documents on how the camps actually were run, It should be self-evident that gassings with cyanide were quite easy for the Nazis to carry out.

This document may be of a somewhat technical and detailed nature. It is also exceptionally long, much longer than I had anticipated. To remedy this, I also will write a shorter "reference sheet" that takes the major conclusions and points of this paper without all of the laborious calculations and explanations. I intended this document primarily as a reference resource rather than a document to be completely absorbed at one sitting.

II. Structure of the Paper

Part one: Physiological Basis of Cyanide Poisoning A. Cells and energy -- How cells use energy -- How the electron transport system works -- How oxidative phosphorylation provides energy B. Cytochromes in the Electron Transport System -- Different cytochromes, and hemoglobin B. How Cyanide Kills -- Poisoning the ETS -- Hemoglobin D. Data on Cyanide Part Two: Use of Zyklon B A. Extrapolate from Nuremburg doc N1-9912 B. A Hypothetical Gassing C. Compare to Existing Documents Conclusion

A Brief Aside: What is Cyanide?

Cyanide refers to a large number of compounds that contain the negatively charged cyanide ion: CN-. This ion consists of one carbon atom triple-bonded to one nitrogen atom. The negative charge primarily rests on the carbon atom. Cyanide can be found both as a gas and as a salt. When bound to hydrogen, it's referred to as hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and is a gas at room temperature. When bound to ions like sodium (Na+) or Potassium (K+), it's a salt and is a water soluble solid. Its name varies depending on the ion it binds. KCN is potassium cyanide, for example.

More information is presented in the "Data on Cyanide" section (see below).

Part One: The Physiological Basis of Cyanide Poisoning

A. Cells and Energy {1}.

Cells need energy to grow and maintain their function. In cells, energy is carried in the form of a transport molecule, namely Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). The metabolism of molecules such as glucose (sugar), lipids (fats), etc. release energy that is used to make more ATP. ATP is essentially an "energy carrier" that allows cells to utilize energy derived from food. Without ATP, a cell will die, as will the organism itself. If a chemical interrupts a cell's ATP producing machinery, that cell will die once it runs out of ATP. Cyanide eliminates a cell's ability to produce ATP. Before we can discuss how this happens, we must first deal with how cells produce ATP under normal conditions.

Almost all ATP is produced in the mitochondria, a small cellular organelle (literally "small organ"). The mitochondria are, in essence, the "power plants" of a cell. A mitochondrion has two membranes, an inner one and and outer one. The outer membrane is highly permeable, and it will allow just about anything through. The inner membrane, on the other hand, is very impermeable. Only carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O) and oxygen (O2) can pass through this membrane without transport proteins to carry them across{2}. The impermeable nature of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) will be important later.

Cells produce ATP through a combination of the electron transport system (ETS) and oxidative phosphorylation (OP), both in the mitochondrial inner membrane. The electron transport system can be compared to an electric motor, where current supplied to the motor allows work to be done. The current passing through an electric motor is just a stream of electrons, and the "current" passing through the ETS is no different. High energy molecules generated by metabolism like NADH and FADH2 supply the ETS with electrons, just as a battery would supply a motor with current. This current allows the ETS to do work. The "work" done is the pumping of positively charged hydrogen atoms (protons, H+) across the inner mitochondrial membrane. As I stated earlier, this membrane will not allow anything back across without help from a transport protein. At the end of the ETS, electrons have to "go somewhere" to keep the current flowing -- they must leave the ETS. In a battery, electrons go to the positive pole. In the ETS, electrons are dumped onto oxygen, in effect acting like an electron "sink". This is where oxygen is used in metabolism, and will be dealt with later.

After a certain time, a significant number of protons will be pumped out of the inner mitochondria, with many more protons outside the mitochondria than inside. As the protons are positively charged, the area outside the mitochondria will have a relative positive charge, and the inside will have a relative negative charge. There now exists a net potential across the membrane, much like a fully charged battery. This potential can be relieved to do work, namely the synthesis of ATP.

The positive charges outside the mitochondria will "want" to flow back in for two reasons: (1) the electrical potential between the inner mitochondrial membrane and the outer mitochondria. The positively charged H+ ions (protons) will flow, if allowed, into the more negatively charged inner mitochondria. This is much like how a battery works, but in reverse. (2) The chemical gradient across the membrane. Simply by random motions, molecules will flow from areas of high concentration (outside the mitochondria) to those of low concentration (inside the mitochondria). This is the same reason a drop of dye in water will spread out over time even if undisturbed. If molecules are prevented from diffusing by a barrier (the inner membrane), a net pressure will result from their impacts on the membrane, called the osmotic pressure. The combination of electrical potential and osmotic pressure is what provides the energy to make ATP in a cell {3}.

Oxidative phosphorylation (making ATP) requires a membrane-bound protein enzyme called ATP synthetase {4}. ATP synthetase allows H+ ions back across the membrane, relieving the pressure like letting air out a balloon. This flow of protons allows the enzyme to combine Adenosine Diphosphate (low E) and inorganic phosphate to make ATP (high energy). This type of ATP synthesis is called oxidative phosphorylation. It takes about two or three protons moving through the enzyme to make one ATP molecule. The enzyme requires a proton gradient across the membrane, with a higher concentration on the outside than the inside. If anything prevents the electron transport system from setting up this proton gradient, ATP synthesis will not occur and the cell will die.

-- Cyanide Poisoning

At the very end of the ETS, four electrons are added to an oxygen molecule (see above). These electrons are added to an oxygen molecule (O2), which combines with protons to make 2 water molecules. The ETS must dump electrons onto oxygen just to keep the steady flow of electrons going, otherwise electrons will "back up" and the current will stop. Metabolism has an absolute requirement for oxygen, and it will stop without it. If the ETS stops, the proton gradient will fade away, ATP synthesis will stop, and the cell with die. This last step, where electrons are given to oxygen to make water, is where our cells utilize oxygen in metabolism. Cyanide prevents the transfer of electrons to oxygen from the last protein in the electron transport system, called a cytochrome.

Cyanide reaches cells primarily through the blood, and readily diffuses across the lungs during normal breathing. Ingestion with food or drink is also lethal, as cyanide will diffuse across the stomach wall and small intestine. Cyanide will also very slowly diffuse across the skin, but this can take over an hour {5}. Therefore cyanide intake through the lungs and digestive tract is a very significant source of poisoning, but very little occurs from absorption through the skin.

B. Cytochromes in the ETS

Electrons passing through ETS are carried by three types of molecules: iron-sulfur proteins, ubiquinone, and cytochromes {6}. When talking about cyanide poisoning, the cytochromes are the most important. Cytochromes contain a very important structure called a porphyrin ring, which is an aromatic, planar carbon-based ring with an iron atom conjugated in the middle. A similar porphyrin ring structure is also the oxygen binding structure in hemoglobin, a vertebrate oxygen carrier protein in the blood. The iron has two oxidation, or "charge" states, +2 (when it holds and electron) and +3 (when it doesn't). The iron atom holds one electron at a time, and passes it on the next molecule in the ETS.

The iron atom, in addition to being bound by the porphyrin ring, is often conjugated by the amino acids histidine or cysteine. As the ring structure is planar, there are two faces that can be conjugated by amino acids:

His | ---- Fe(+3)-- Porphyrin molecule (side view) | His

Some cytochromes, however, are open on one of their two faces:

--- Fe(+3)--- | His

This open face is where hemoglobin in the blood cells and a specific cytochrome in the ETS (Cytochrome a3, to be exact) bind oxygen. Cytochrome a3 is the terminal cytochrome that passes on electrons to oxygen to make water:

O2 + (2)H2 + 4 electrons ----> (2)H20

Cyt a3 binds oxygen at its open face {7}:

02 | ---- Fe(+2)-- | His

When all works well, cytochrome a3 passes electrons to oxygen, producing water. Dumping electrons onto oxygen acts as a "sink" which allows electrons to flow continuously through the ETS. The only problem is, certain poisons bind to this cytochrome more strongly than oxygen, specifically cyanide and carbon monoxide {8}.

C. How Cyanide Kills

-- Poisoning the ETS

Cyanide binds cytochromes much in the same way that oxygen does, by conjugating at its open site. Unlike oxygen, cyanide cannot receive electrons from cytochrome a3.

-:C=N: (note - actually a triple bond between C and N) | ---Fe(+2)-- | His

With the ETS deprived of its electron "sink", the whole system backs up. Without the ETS, oxidative phosphorylation will dissipate the H+ gradient, ATP synthesis will stop, and the cell will die. Cyanide binds cytochromes more tightly than oxygen, and as a result is lethal at very low concentrations, at about 300 ppm. The effect also occurs at hemoglobin, as cyanide will bind to that too, preventing oxygen from reaching cells. In essence, this is how cyanide kills cells and whole organisms.

-- Hemoglobin

Cyanide is most effective on warmblooded animals such as mammals, but is less effective on insects. While insect mitochondria and vertebrate mitochondria are not radically different, one thing is: Hemoglobin. Vertebrates carry oxygen in their blood via hemoglobin, while insects do not carry oxygen in their blood at all. Instead, insects have air tubules that carry oxygen directly to all cells in their body. Because cyanide poisons hemoglobin too, animals that use it are all the more susceptible. Also (while I am not sure of this) insects may be more tolerant of anaerobic metabolism than vertebrates.

Since cyanide binds to hemoglobin much in the same fashion as it binds cytochrome a3, cyanide takes hemoglobin out of commission as well {9}. With their oxygen carrying molecules bound by cyanide, vertebrates die all the faster from asphyxiation. Mammals are also very dependent on oxygen- utilizing metabolism, and will die in minutes if it is shut off. Insects, lacking hemoglobin, die more slowly as their cells must be starved of ATP. Insects may also be able to survive longer on anaerobic (non-O2 utilizing) metabolism.

Cyanide kills by binding to cytochrome a3 in the electron transport system. As this site is usually bound by oxygen, the passage of electrons from the ETS to oxygen is prevented, backing up the system. Unable to maintain a proton gradient without a properly functioning ETS, ATP synthesis stops and the cell dies. In vertebrate organisms, cyanide also binds to the porphyrin ring in hemoglobin, exacerbating cyanide's toxic effects.

D. Data on Hydrogen Cyanide:

Here's what the 10th edition (1983) of the Merck Index had to say on Hydrogen Cyanide:

HYDROGEN CYANIDE: Hydrocyanic acid, Blauseare, prussic acid. [preparation info deleted] Colorless gas or liquid; characteristic odor; very weakly acidic; burns in air with a blue flame. INTENSELY POISONOUS EVEN MIXED WITH AIR. Gas density: 0.941 (air = 1) Liquid density: 0.687 [g/cm^3, I assume] melting point: -13.4 deg Celsius Boiling Point: 25.6 deg Celsius

The LC50 (lethal dose for 50% of animals) in rats -- 544 ppm (5min), mice 169 ppm (30 min), dogs 300 ppm (3 min). HUMAN TOXICITY: [..] exposure to 150 ppm for 1/2 to 1 hour may endanger life. Death may result from a few min. exposure to 300 ppm. Average fatal dose: 50 to 60 milligrams. USE: The compressed gas is used for exterminating rodents and insects in ships and for killing insects on trees, etc. MUST BE HANDLED BY SPECIALLY TRAINED EXPERTS.

Here's what _Chemistry of Industrial Toxicology_ had to say about it (p94) [added emphasis is mine]:

"Hydrogen cyanide, or hydrocyanic or prussic acid, owes its toxicity not to its acidity but to the cyanide ion (CN-). Thus the soluble cyanides-- sodium, potassium,etc. -- are equally toxic in the same molar concentrations. Unlike carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide is a protoplasmic poison, killing insects and other lower [sic] forms of animal life. _It does not kill bacteria, however_. ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hydrogen cyanide acts by inhibiting tissue oxidation, that is, by preventing useful employment of oxygen carried by the blood.

Cyanides are very rapid in their effects, killing instantly if present in sufficient amounts. It is this speed of action, rather than the minuteness of the fatal dose, which accounts for the reputation of cyanide as the most powerful common poison [..]

Hydrogen cyanide is used as a fumigant in dwellings, warehouses, and ships. _Although such fumigations are potentially very dangerous, accidents can be avoided by proper precautions._

In high concentrations, hydrogen cyanide is absorbed through the skin; therefore complete reliance cannot be placed on a gas mask. After 1 hour exposure, 100 to 250 ppm of HCN are dangerous." [assumed the 100-250 ppm value is for absorption through skin]

Some things I'd like to point out:

Cyanide will not kill bacteria, and is completely useless for disinfecting a morgue or hospital. Its only medical use is to kill vermin (rats, mice, lice) that may harbor pathogens. Some Holocaust deniers claim that cyanide was used to disinfect "morgues" in Auschwitz. This is clearly a ludicrous notion.

The sources I listed make specific references to HCN's widespread use as a fumigant, and that it can be done easily with the right precautions.

Major Modes of Poisoning

HCN will pass through the skin, and poisoning can result. Absorption through the skin is a much slower process than through lungs, so a short exposure to skin is not very dangerous. It also takes a higher concentration of the gas {10}. Absorption of cyanide through the skin is not significant unless the concentration is high over a long exposure.

According to July 1993 issue of _American Family Physician_, cyanide poisoning through the skin is very rare:

" Cyanide is absorbed through the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and skin. Symptoms can occur within seconds of HCN [cyanide gas] inhalation; ....Cyanide is readily absorbed through the mucous membranes and the eyes. Clinical cases of cyanide poisoning after dermal exposure are rare and most often have involved burns with molten cyanide salts or immersion in cyanide solutions."

Cyanide poisoning through the skin is therefore not a significant mode of poisoning unless you have very high concentrations over a very long period of time.

PART TWO: The Use of Zyklon B

A) Nuremburg Document #NI-9912: The Degesch Manual

As mentioned above in the technical data section, hydrogen cyanide is often used as a fumigant for ships, warehouses, and dwellings. Cyanide can be used to kill vermin and insects, but it will not kill bacteria {11}. It is therefore useless for disinfecting anything, but it will eliminate vermin that harbor pathogens.

For fumigation purposes, a German firm called Degesch made a product called Zyklon B. Zyklon B consisted of liquid HCN adsorbed onto a carrier -- "wood fiber disks, dia gravel, or small blue cubes [sic]" {12}. Although toxic, cyanide was hard to detect alone, so an irritant was added to the Zyklon to warn people of exposure.

A "typical" can of Zyklon contained 200 grams of HCN adsorbed onto the carrier, and was stored in metal tins marked with a death's head and warning that read: "Giftgas!" (Deathly poisonous gas!) {13}. Zyklon-B shipments to Nazi Death camps had the warning indicator removed, which would prevent people from detecting the gas's presence before it was too late {14}.

The original Degesch set of instructions on using Zyklon-B for fumigation discuss the various precautions that must be taken, and under what conditions could Zyklon B be used. The primary means of protection was a gas mask, and many different structures and temperatures pose no problem for fumigation. The Degesch manual is also known as Nuremburg document NI- 9912. Information is taken from the English translation, but I have checked most of the quotes and information with the original German (I speak a little, and read a bit more). I won't quote the whole thing here, but I want to point out some noteworthy items {15}:

1) Properties of Prussic Acid [HCN, cyanide]:

"Prussic acid is a gas which is generated by evaporation... the liquid evaporates easily." "Danger of explosion: 75 grams of HCN in 1 cubic meter of air. Normal application approx. 8-10 g per cubic meter, therefore not explosive" "....one mg per kg of body weight is sufficient to kill a human being..."

2) Protection against gas. "Each member must at all times carry with him: 1. his own gas mask 2. at least 2 special filter inserts against Zyklon Prussic acid [for use in gas mask] 3. The leaflet 'First aid for prussic acid poisoning' 4. work order 5. Authorization certificate

Each disinfestation[sic] squad must at all times carry: 1. at least 3 special inserts as extra stock. 2. one gas detector 3. 1 instrument for injecting Lobelin. 4. Cardiazol, Voriazol tablets 5. 1 lever or pickhammer for opening cans of Zyklon [etc.. warning signs, material to reseal cans]"

NOTE: No measure of personal protection other than a gas mask, special filter, a gas detector, and antidote drugs are mentioned. No precautions are taken to prevent HCN from seeping through the skin. One can only assume that there wouldn't be a high enough concentration of gas or there wouldn't be enough time for the gas to seep in. Therefore, a gas mask with special filters alone would be sufficient to protect a user against the gas.

3) Buildings to be fumigated:

A wide variety of structures are mentioned, with all types of contents. Detailed descriptions are given on how to handle pets, bedding, clothing, and other domestic items inside of a building to be fumigated. Also, recommendations for sealing and ventilating various building types are given. Form these instructions, it is clear that Zyklon-B was used to fumigate any number of buildings, including residential dwellings. Buildings did not have to be designed specifically for Zyklon's use.

4) Working Temperature:

The instructions discuss using Zyklon at low temperatures, even below five degrees Celsius. To fumigate a building, it will take 8g of prussic acid per cubic meter for 16 hours at temperatures above five degrees Celsius. Even warmer temperatures need only 6 hours fumigation time. If the temperature is below five degrees Celsius, the fumigation time is to be extended to 32 hours.

These times are for flies, lice, fleas, etc. with eggs, larvae and chrysalises. I can only guess it would take less time for warm blooded mammals like rats and mice, unless the "etc." refers to them as well.

Since Zyklon can be effectively used at temperatures close to freezing, it seems that even cold temperatures did not prevent the use of Zyklon as fumigant (or the case of the Holocaust, as a murder weapon).

Let me summarize the points taken from the Degesch documents: (1) the HCN liquid evaporates easily, and is highly toxic; (2) normal working concentrations are well below (10X) explosive amounts; (3) the only protection needed on each person was a gas mask with special filters; (3) a whole variety of structures can be fumigated, including dwellings containing clothing and bedding; and (4) Zyklon can be effectively used at temperatures below five degrees Celsius. Taking all of this into account, it would seem that murdering large numbers of people with Zyklon-B in specially constructed rooms would be relatively simple, given that the gas is highly toxic and fairly easy to use for fumigation.

The fact that the irritant indicator was removed from shipments to Nazi death camps is another curious feature, as one would wonder why an obvious safety feature would be removed from a product if its intended use was purely benign. Eyewitness accounts from individuals such as Fillip Mu"ller and documents describing the use of Zyklon-B in the gas chambers themselves are all the more damning.

B) A Hypothetical Gassing

In order to answer the question "How easy would it have been to gas people with Zyklon-B?", I will carry out some calculations to show just how feasible such a process would be. Specifically, I will use an "average" size gas chamber to see how many people could be fit into one, and how many could have been killed in 18 months at a camp like Auschwitz, which had four large chambers (Krema I and Bunkers I and II will not be considered for reasons of simplicity). I will also discuss how much Zyklon B would be needed to reach lethal concentration in the room, and how fast 1 kilo of Zyklon would have to evaporate to reach the lethal concentration of 300 ppm in ten minutes.

Imagine a room with 210 square meters of floor space. I chose this value as it was mentioned as a typical size of a gas chamber in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the Leuchter report FAQ routinely posted by Ken Mcvay {16}. I'll simply assume that the walls are 2.5 meters high, so the building will have a total volume of 525 cubic meters, or 5.25 X 10^5 liters.

The structure would be fitted with vents on the ceiling for pouring in the Zyklon, and exhaust fans would be be used to clear the room once gassing was completed. This structure would be largely below ground, to help maintain a constant temperature using the earth as insulation. (Not all of the gas chambers at Auschwitz were below ground, in fact Kremas IV and V were above ground structures.) Keeping the chambers below ground would also allow easy access to the roof. The perpetrators could pour gas in through the roof while wearing gas masks. Camp inmates could be used to remove the bodies and transport them to the crematoria once the gassing was complete and the room had been cleared of gas. In reality, a quite simple operation.

Also, imagine that there are four such buildings in the camp (representing Kremas II, III, IV, and V at Auschwitz), and that each has a crematoria to go with it. For the sake of simplicity, each gas chamber will carry out only one gassing per day, and the gas chambers will be forcibly ventilated for at least one hour.

For the specifics of the gassing, let's look at just one chamber. A building with 210 m^2 of floor space can easily accommodate four people per square meter (my calculations based upon how many people I could fit in one square meter, it wasn't even a tight fit) As I said earlier, the empty volume of the room is 525 m^3. By my calculations, a human person will take up 0.081 cubic meters {17}. At four people per square meter, that's 840 people in one room, which take up 68.04 m^3 of space. That leaves a free volume of 456.96 m^3 (457 m^3 from now on.)

To show (1) how much Zyklon it would take to reach the lethal 300 ppm level, and (2) how fast 1 kilo of Zyklon would have to evaporate to reach 300 ppm in ten minutes, we need to know how much volume one kg of air takes up. Ideal gas assumptions say that one mole (6.021 X 10^23 molecules) of gas occupy 22.4 liters at 25 deg Celsius {18}. One mole of gas is 21% oxygen an 79% nitrogen (ignore the 1% of other gases and assume they're not there.) Multiply this times the molecular weight of the gases (grams per mole of gas, 28g for N2, 32g for O2) and the weight of one mole of gas is (0.21)*32 + (.79)*28 = 28.84 grams, or 0.02884 kg per 22.4 liters (the vol. of one mole of gas). One kilogram of gas will therefore occupy 776 liters of volume.

How much Zyklon-B will be needed to reach a concentration of 300 ppm? 300 ppm HCN corresponds to 300 milligrams of HCN per kilogram of air. For 457 cubic meters of air, you need to do some manipulations:

457 m^3 = 4.57 X 10^5 liters * (1 kg air/ 776 liters) = 589 kilos of air.

(0.300 grams HCN/ kg air)*(589 kg air) = 176.7 grams HCN.

...less HCN than is contained in one can of Zyklon-B. In reality, if only 176 grams of HCN are poured into such a room,they may have to wait some time before everyone is dead. What if you pour in a whole kilogram of HCN?

The question now becomes, If 1 kg of HCN (5 cans) are poured into our gas chamber, how fast will the HCN have to evaporate to reach a lethal concentration in ten minutes? For this example, I will assume a constant rate of evaporation on a per gram basis. The rate of evaporation will be:

176.7 grams HCN/10 minutes = 17.67 grams/minute (17.67 grams HCN/minute)/(1000 g HCN) X 100 = 1.76%

Only 1.76% of the HCN will have to evaporate per minute. Actually, the numbers would be slightly different as there will be less HCN each minute, so 1.76% won't be as much HCN after eight minutes as it was in the first. Taking this loss of material into account, even a constant 1.76% evaporation rate takes only 12 minutes. For a substance that is normally a gas at room temperature, an evaporation rate this slow seems quite probable. As HCN boils at 26 degrees Celsius, it is quite likely that the gas will evaporate much faster than 1.76% per minute.

I have searched for experimental kinetic data on HCN evaporation to no avail. If anyone knows where I get some data (short of doing the expts myself), let me know. This information would be particularly useful in answering the question: "How fast HCN would actually evaporate?"

With only one gassing a day, plenty of time will be left for ventilating the gas chamber and moving the bodies to the crematoria for combustion. The next question is, given one gassing a day and four gas chambers at the camp, how many people can be killed in a time period of one and one half years (18 months)? I chose this time period since the four large extermination facilities at Auschwitz-Birkenau were in operation from 1943 until their destruction by the fleeing Nazis in November 1944 {19}. For the sake of argument, I'll say that's about 1 1/2 years (May 1943 to Nov. 1944).

If the gas chambers were in operation for 548 days (1 1/2 yrs), the total dead would be:

(840)*(4)*(548) = 1,841,280 dead from gassing alone.

Most estimates say that 1 to 2 million died at Auschwitz altogether, including deaths from starvation, torture, summary execution, and medical experiments. Clearly then, based upon my largely hypothetical example, it was both possible and feasible to murder that many, even in a fairly short time scale of 584 days with just four working gas chambers. In the case of Auschwitz, an even shorter time of operation would be necessary as not all of the 1.6 million were murdered in the four main gas chambers. Executions by firing squad and gassings in the makeshift Bunkers I and II were also carried out. Also, many more died from starvation, torture, and disease.

The only limiting factor would be the crematoria for disposing of the bodies, as one could conceivably produce bodies much faster via gassing than could be cremated. Given the number actually killed at Auschwitz this may not have been a problem -- see the letter to SS Gen. Kammler below (also ref 24).

C) Relate to Existing Documents on the Holocaust

Many documents discussing the operation of the gas chambers at Auschwitz exist. The testimony of Hanz Stark is an excellent example {20}. Hanz Stark was connected with Auschwitz's "Political Department", and was responsible for registering new arrivals to the camp. He was also responsible for observing executions carried out in a room next to Krema I, initially carried out with a small caliber rifle. The terminology used for people dispatched in this manner was Sonderbehandlung -- special treatment in English. Prisoners who had received "special treatment" were said "to have been found special lodgings." Stark was quite explicit that this meant execution.

Later on, "experimental" gassings took place in the execution room adjoining Crematoria I. Stark was also a witness to gassings that took place there, and his description is quoted here (in English, typos are mine):

"As I have already mentioned, the first gassing was carried out in the small crematoria in autumn 1941. Grabner ordered me to go to the crematorium in order to check numbers, just as I had had[sic] to do with the shootings. About 200- 250 Jewish men, women, and children of all ages were standing at the crematorium. There may also have been babies there

[....] Nothing was said to the Jews. They were merely ordered to enter the gas chamber, the door of which was open. While the Jews were going into the room, medical orderlies prepared for the gassing. Earth had been piled up against one of the external walls of the gassing room so that the medical orderlies could get onto the roof of the room. After all the Jews were in the chamber, the door was bolted and the medical orderlies poured Zyklon-B through the openings..."

And as he later describes in a gassing he participated in personally:

" As the Zyklon-B - as already mentioned - was in granular form, it trickled down over the people as it was being poured in. They then started to cry out terribly for they now knew what was happening to them [...] After a few minutes there was silence. After some time had passed, it may have been ten to fifteen minutes, the gas chamber was opened. The dead lay higgeldy piggeldy all over the place. It was a dreadful sight."

Note that these gassings took place at Krema I, a much smaller structure than the homicidal gas chambers constructed at the Birkenau complex (Krema II, III, IV, V). This explains why the chamber had a much smaller capacity, and earth had to be piled up along side the room to allow access to the roof. Other than that, the process is similar to the one I described in the "hypothetical gassing" section.

The testimony of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Ho"ss is also very useful {21}. With regards to the gassing process, he describes both gassings in the large chambers in the Birkenau complex and ones carried out in the makeshift Bunkers I and II. Bunkers I and II were used while the major extermination facilities were under construction, and had a capacity of about 200-300 people at once. The process in the bunkers was similar to that in Krema I (see above). The extermination chambers was somewhat different, as Hoess mentions that they where equipped with an electric ventilation system to quickly ventilate the rooms, and an electric lift to quickly transport bodies to the Krema ovens for incineration. Here the gas chambers were located underground, which allowed easy access for pouring Zyklon-B into the chambers.

Aerial photographs of the camps taken by allied reconnaissance planes during the war corroborate Hoess testimony, particularly with regards to the architecture of the underground gas chamber in Krema II {22

I will not deal directly with the claims of Leuchter and Luftl here, rather I hope to provide the knowledge necessary to take on Holocaust denier's claims directly, so they can easily be discredited by anyone. As I hope to show, a little knowledge of physiology and chemistry is all that is required to see through their fabrications.

In this paper, I will discuss how cells make and use energy via aerobic metabolism. Then, I will show exactly how cyanide kills by shutting down aerobic (oxygen-using) metabolism in organisms, including how much cyanide can kill, and why warm blooded mammals are the most susceptible to cyanide poisoning. The supporting biochemical and toxicological data will set the context for the next section, which discusses how the gassing of people could be carried out. I will extrapolate from the Degesch manual on Zyklon B to show that Zyklon cloud be used quite easily in a number of situations, even at very low temperatures. I will then present a "hypothetical gassing", where I will run some basic calculations showing how easily a large number of people (about 1.8 million) could be killed in one and one half years with only one gassing a day. Comparing this with documents on how the camps actually were run, It should be self-evident that gassings with cyanide were quite easy for the Nazis to carry out.

This document may be of a somewhat technical and detailed nature. It is also exceptionally long, much longer than I had anticipated. To remedy this, I also will write a shorter "reference sheet" that takes the major conclusions and points of this paper without all of the laborious calculations and explanations. I intended this document primarily as a reference resource rather than a document to be completely absorbed at one sitting.

II. Structure of the Paper

Part one: Physiological Basis of Cyanide Poisoning A. Cells and energy -- How cells use energy -- How the electron transport system works -- How oxidative phosphorylation provides energy B. Cytochromes in the Electron Transport System -- Different cytochromes, and hemoglobin B. How Cyanide Kills -- Poisoning the ETS -- Hemoglobin D. Data on Cyanide Part Two: Use of Zyklon B A. Extrapolate from Nuremburg doc N1-9912 B. A Hypothetical Gassing C. Compare to Existing Documents Conclusion

A Brief Aside: What is Cyanide?

Cyanide refers to a large number of compounds that contain the negatively charged cyanide ion: CN-. This ion consists of one carbon atom triple-bonded to one nitrogen atom. The negative charge primarily rests on the carbon atom. Cyanide can be found both as a gas and as a salt. When bound to hydrogen, it's referred to as hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and is a gas at room temperature. When bound to ions like sodium (Na+) or Potassium (K+), it's a salt and is a water soluble solid. Its name varies depending on the ion it binds. KCN is potassium cyanide, for example.

More information is presented in the "Data on Cyanide" section (see below).

Part One: The Physiological Basis of Cyanide Poisoning

A. Cells and Energy {1}.

Cells need energy to grow and maintain their function. In cells, energy is carried in the form of a transport molecule, namely Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). The metabolism of molecules such as glucose (sugar), lipids (fats), etc. release energy that is used to make more ATP. ATP is essentially an "energy carrier" that allows cells to utilize energy derived from food. Without ATP, a cell will die, as will the organism itself. If a chemical interrupts a cell's ATP producing machinery, that cell will die once it runs out of ATP. Cyanide eliminates a cell's ability to produce ATP. Before we can discuss how this happens, we must first deal with how cells produce ATP under normal conditions.

Almost all ATP is produced in the mitochondria, a small cellular organelle (literally "small organ"). The mitochondria are, in essence, the "power plants" of a cell. A mitochondrion has two membranes, an inner one and and outer one. The outer membrane is highly permeable, and it will allow just about anything through. The inner membrane, on the other hand, is very impermeable. Only carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O) and oxygen (O2) can pass through this membrane without transport proteins to carry them across{2}. The impermeable nature of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) will be important later.

Cells produce ATP through a combination of the electron transport system (ETS) and oxidative phosphorylation (OP), both in the mitochondrial inner membrane. The electron transport system can be compared to an electric motor, where current supplied to the motor allows work to be done. The current passing through an electric motor is just a stream of electrons, and the "current" passing through the ETS is no different. High energy molecules generated by metabolism like NADH and FADH2 supply the ETS with electrons, just as a battery would supply a motor with current. This current allows the ETS to do work. The "work" done is the pumping of positively charged hydrogen atoms (protons, H+) across the inner mitochondrial membrane. As I stated earlier, this membrane will not allow anything back across without help from a transport protein. At the end of the ETS, electrons have to "go somewhere" to keep the current flowing -- they must leave the ETS. In a battery, electrons go to the positive pole. In the ETS, electrons are dumped onto oxygen, in effect acting like an electron "sink". This is where oxygen is used in metabolism, and will be dealt with later.

After a certain time, a significant number of protons will be pumped out of the inner mitochondria, with many more protons outside the mitochondria than inside. As the protons are positively charged, the area outside the mitochondria will have a relative positive charge, and the inside will have a relative negative charge. There now exists a net potential across the membrane, much like a fully charged battery. This potential can be relieved to do work, namely the synthesis of ATP.

The positive charges outside the mitochondria will "want" to flow back in for two reasons: (1) the electrical potential between the inner mitochondrial membrane and the outer mitochondria. The positively charged H+ ions (protons) will flow, if allowed, into the more negatively charged inner mitochondria. This is much like how a battery works, but in reverse. (2) The chemical gradient across the membrane. Simply by random motions, molecules will flow from areas of high concentration (outside the mitochondria) to those of low concentration (inside the mitochondria). This is the same reason a drop of dye in water will spread out over time even if undisturbed. If molecules are prevented from diffusing by a barrier (the inner membrane), a net pressure will result from their impacts on the membrane, called the osmotic pressure. The combination of electrical potential and osmotic pressure is what provides the energy to make ATP in a cell {3}.

Oxidative phosphorylation (making ATP) requires a membrane-bound protein enzyme called ATP synthetase {4}. ATP synthetase allows H+ ions back across the membrane, relieving the pressure like letting air out a balloon. This flow of protons allows the enzyme to combine Adenosine Diphosphate (low E) and inorganic phosphate to make ATP (high energy). This type of ATP synthesis is called oxidative phosphorylation. It takes about two or three protons moving through the enzyme to make one ATP molecule. The enzyme requires a proton gradient across the membrane, with a higher concentration on the outside than the inside. If anything prevents the electron transport system from setting up this proton gradient, ATP synthesis will not occur and the cell will die.

-- Cyanide Poisoning

At the very end of the ETS, four electrons are added to an oxygen molecule (see above). These electrons are added to an oxygen molecule (O2), which combines with protons to make 2 water molecules. The ETS must dump electrons onto oxygen just to keep the steady flow of electrons going, otherwise electrons will "back up" and the current will stop. Metabolism has an absolute requirement for oxygen, and it will stop without it. If the ETS stops, the proton gradient will fade away, ATP synthesis will stop, and the cell with die. This last step, where electrons are given to oxygen to make water, is where our cells utilize oxygen in metabolism. Cyanide prevents the transfer of electrons to oxygen from the last protein in the electron transport system, called a cytochrome.

Cyanide reaches cells primarily through the blood, and readily diffuses across the lungs during normal breathing. Ingestion with food or drink is also lethal, as cyanide will diffuse across the stomach wall and small intestine. Cyanide will also very slowly diffuse across the skin, but this can take over an hour {5}. Therefore cyanide intake through the lungs and digestive tract is a very significant source of poisoning, but very little occurs from absorption through the skin.

B. Cytochromes in the ETS

Electrons passing through ETS are carried by three types of molecules: iron-sulfur proteins, ubiquinone, and cytochromes {6}. When talking about cyanide poisoning, the cytochromes are the most important. Cytochromes contain a very important structure called a porphyrin ring, which is an aromatic, planar carbon-based ring with an iron atom conjugated in the middle. A similar porphyrin ring structure is also the oxygen binding structure in hemoglobin, a vertebrate oxygen carrier protein in the blood. The iron has two oxidation, or "charge" states, +2 (when it holds and electron) and +3 (when it doesn't). The iron atom holds one electron at a time, and passes it on the next molecule in the ETS.

The iron atom, in addition to being bound by the porphyrin ring, is often conjugated by the amino acids histidine or cysteine. As the ring structure is planar, there are two faces that can be conjugated by amino acids:

His | ---- Fe(+3)-- Porphyrin molecule (side view) | His

Some cytochromes, however, are open on one of their two faces:

--- Fe(+3)--- | His

This open face is where hemoglobin in the blood cells and a specific cytochrome in the ETS (Cytochrome a3, to be exact) bind oxygen. Cytochrome a3 is the terminal cytochrome that passes on electrons to oxygen to make water:

O2 + (2)H2 + 4 electrons ----> (2)H20

Cyt a3 binds oxygen at its open face {7}:

02 | ---- Fe(+2)-- | His

When all works well, cytochrome a3 passes electrons to oxygen, producing water. Dumping electrons onto oxygen acts as a "sink" which allows electrons to flow continuously through the ETS. The only problem is, certain poisons bind to this cytochrome more strongly than oxygen, specifically cyanide and carbon monoxide {8}.

C. How Cyanide Kills

-- Poisoning the ETS

Cyanide binds cytochromes much in the same way that oxygen does, by conjugating at its open site. Unlike oxygen, cyanide cannot receive electrons from cytochrome a3.

-:C=N: (note - actually a triple bond between C and N) | ---Fe(+2)-- | His

With the ETS deprived of its electron "sink", the whole system backs up. Without the ETS, oxidative phosphorylation will dissipate the H+ gradient, ATP synthesis will stop, and the cell will die. Cyanide binds cytochromes more tightly than oxygen, and as a result is lethal at very low concentrations, at about 300 ppm. The effect also occurs at hemoglobin, as cyanide will bind to that too, preventing oxygen from reaching cells. In essence, this is how cyanide kills cells and whole organisms.

-- Hemoglobin

Cyanide is most effective on warmblooded animals such as mammals, but is less effective on insects. While insect mitochondria and vertebrate mitochondria are not radically different, one thing is: Hemoglobin. Vertebrates carry oxygen in their blood via hemoglobin, while insects do not carry oxygen in their blood at all. Instead, insects have air tubules that carry oxygen directly to all cells in their body. Because cyanide poisons hemoglobin too, animals that use it are all the more susceptible. Also (while I am not sure of this) insects may be more tolerant of anaerobic metabolism than vertebrates.

Since cyanide binds to hemoglobin much in the same fashion as it binds cytochrome a3, cyanide takes hemoglobin out of commission as well {9}. With their oxygen carrying molecules bound by cyanide, vertebrates die all the faster from asphyxiation. Mammals are also very dependent on oxygen- utilizing metabolism, and will die in minutes if it is shut off. Insects, lacking hemoglobin, die more slowly as their cells must be starved of ATP. Insects may also be able to survive longer on anaerobic (non-O2 utilizing) metabolism.

Cyanide kills by binding to cytochrome a3 in the electron transport system. As this site is usually bound by oxygen, the passage of electrons from the ETS to oxygen is prevented, backing up the system. Unable to maintain a proton gradient without a properly functioning ETS, ATP synthesis stops and the cell dies. In vertebrate organisms, cyanide also binds to the porphyrin ring in hemoglobin, exacerbating cyanide's toxic effects.

D. Data on Hydrogen Cyanide:

Here's what the 10th edition (1983) of the Merck Index had to say on Hydrogen Cyanide:

HYDROGEN CYANIDE: Hydrocyanic acid, Blauseare, prussic acid. [preparation info deleted] Colorless gas or liquid; characteristic odor; very weakly acidic; burns in air with a blue flame. INTENSELY POISONOUS EVEN MIXED WITH AIR. Gas density: 0.941 (air = 1) Liquid density: 0.687 [g/cm^3, I assume] melting point: -13.4 deg Celsius Boiling Point: 25.6 deg Celsius

The LC50 (lethal dose for 50% of animals) in rats -- 544 ppm (5min), mice 169 ppm (30 min), dogs 300 ppm (3 min). HUMAN TOXICITY: [..] exposure to 150 ppm for 1/2 to 1 hour may endanger life. Death may result from a few min. exposure to 300 ppm. Average fatal dose: 50 to 60 milligrams. USE: The compressed gas is used for exterminating rodents and insects in ships and for killing insects on trees, etc. MUST BE HANDLED BY SPECIALLY TRAINED EXPERTS.

Here's what _Chemistry of Industrial Toxicology_ had to say about it (p94) [added emphasis is mine]:

"Hydrogen cyanide, or hydrocyanic or prussic acid, owes its toxicity not to its acidity but to the cyanide ion (CN-). Thus the soluble cyanides-- sodium, potassium,etc. -- are equally toxic in the same molar concentrations. Unlike carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide is a protoplasmic poison, killing insects and other lower [sic] forms of animal life. _It does not kill bacteria, however_. ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hydrogen cyanide acts by inhibiting tissue oxidation, that is, by preventing useful employment of oxygen carried by the blood.

Cyanides are very rapid in their effects, killing instantly if present in sufficient amounts. It is this speed of action, rather than the minuteness of the fatal dose, which accounts for the reputation of cyanide as the most powerful common poison [..]

Hydrogen cyanide is used as a fumigant in dwellings, warehouses, and ships. _Although such fumigations are potentially very dangerous, accidents can be avoided by proper precautions._

In high concentrations, hydrogen cyanide is absorbed through the skin; therefore complete reliance cannot be placed on a gas mask. After 1 hour exposure, 100 to 250 ppm of HCN are dangerous." [assumed the 100-250 ppm value is for absorption through skin]

Some things I'd like to point out:

Cyanide will not kill bacteria, and is completely useless for disinfecting a morgue or hospital. Its only medical use is to kill vermin (rats, mice, lice) that may harbor pathogens. Some Holocaust deniers claim that cyanide was used to disinfect "morgues" in Auschwitz. This is clearly a ludicrous notion.

The sources I listed make specific references to HCN's widespread use as a fumigant, and that it can be done easily with the right precautions.

Major Modes of Poisoning

HCN will pass through the skin, and poisoning can result. Absorption through the skin is a much slower process than through lungs, so a short exposure to skin is not very dangerous. It also takes a higher concentration of the gas {10}. Absorption of cyanide through the skin is not significant unless the concentration is high over a long exposure.

According to July 1993 issue of _American Family Physician_, cyanide poisoning through the skin is very rare:

" Cyanide is absorbed through the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and skin. Symptoms can occur within seconds of HCN [cyanide gas] inhalation; ....Cyanide is readily absorbed through the mucous membranes and the eyes. Clinical cases of cyanide poisoning after dermal exposure are rare and most often have involved burns with molten cyanide salts or immersion in cyanide solutions."

Cyanide poisoning through the skin is therefore not a significant mode of poisoning unless you have very high concentrations over a very long period of time.

PART TWO: The Use of Zyklon B

A) Nuremburg Document #NI-9912: The Degesch Manual

As mentioned above in the technical data section, hydrogen cyanide is often used as a fumigant for ships, warehouses, and dwellings. Cyanide can be used to kill vermin and insects, but it will not kill bacteria {11}. It is therefore useless for disinfecting anything, but it will eliminate vermin that harbor pathogens.

For fumigation purposes, a German firm called Degesch made a product called Zyklon B. Zyklon B consisted of liquid HCN adsorbed onto a carrier -- "wood fiber disks, dia gravel, or small blue cubes [sic]" {12}. Although toxic, cyanide was hard to detect alone, so an irritant was added to the Zyklon to warn people of exposure.

A "typical" can of Zyklon contained 200 grams of HCN adsorbed onto the carrier, and was stored in metal tins marked with a death's head and warning that read: "Giftgas!" (Deathly poisonous gas!) {13}. Zyklon-B shipments to Nazi Death camps had the warning indicator removed, which would prevent people from detecting the gas's presence before it was too late {14}.

The original Degesch set of instructions on using Zyklon-B for fumigation discuss the various precautions that must be taken, and under what conditions could Zyklon B be used. The primary means of protection was a gas mask, and many different structures and temperatures pose no problem for fumigation. The Degesch manual is also known as Nuremburg document NI- 9912. Information is taken from the English translation, but I have checked most of the quotes and information with the original German (I speak a little, and read a bit more). I won't quote the whole thing here, but I want to point out some noteworthy items {15}:

1) Properties of Prussic Acid [HCN, cyanide]:

"Prussic acid is a gas which is generated by evaporation... the liquid evaporates easily." "Danger of explosion: 75 grams of HCN in 1 cubic meter of air. Normal application approx. 8-10 g per cubic meter, therefore not explosive" "....one mg per kg of body weight is sufficient to kill a human being..."

2) Protection against gas. "Each member must at all times carry with him: 1. his own gas mask 2. at least 2 special filter inserts against Zyklon Prussic acid [for use in gas mask] 3. The leaflet 'First aid for prussic acid poisoning' 4. work order 5. Authorization certificate

Each disinfestation[sic] squad must at all times carry: 1. at least 3 special inserts as extra stock. 2. one gas detector 3. 1 instrument for injecting Lobelin. 4. Cardiazol, Voriazol tablets 5. 1 lever or pickhammer for opening cans of Zyklon [etc.. warning signs, material to reseal cans]"

NOTE: No measure of personal protection other than a gas mask, special filter, a gas detector, and antidote drugs are mentioned. No precautions are taken to prevent HCN from seeping through the skin. One can only assume that there wouldn't be a high enough concentration of gas or there wouldn't be enough time for the gas to seep in. Therefore, a gas mask with special filters alone would be sufficient to protect a user against the gas.

3) Buildings to be fumigated:

A wide variety of structures are mentioned, with all types of contents. Detailed descriptions are given on how to handle pets, bedding, clothing, and other domestic items inside of a building to be fumigated. Also, recommendations for sealing and ventilating various building types are given. Form these instructions, it is clear that Zyklon-B was used to fumigate any number of buildings, including residential dwellings. Buildings did not have to be designed specifically for Zyklon's use.

4) Working Temperature:

The instructions discuss using Zyklon at low temperatures, even below five degrees Celsius. To fumigate a building, it will take 8g of prussic acid per cubic meter for 16 hours at temperatures above five degrees Celsius. Even warmer temperatures need only 6 hours fumigation time. If the temperature is below five degrees Celsius, the fumigation time is to be extended to 32 hours.

These times are for flies, lice, fleas, etc. with eggs, larvae and chrysalises. I can only guess it would take less time for warm blooded mammals like rats and mice, unless the "etc." refers to them as well.

Since Zyklon can be effectively used at temperatures close to freezing, it seems that even cold temperatures did not prevent the use of Zyklon as fumigant (or the case of the Holocaust, as a murder weapon).

Let me summarize the points taken from the Degesch documents: (1) the HCN liquid evaporates easily, and is highly toxic; (2) normal working concentrations are well below (10X) explosive amounts; (3) the only protection needed on each person was a gas mask with special filters; (3) a whole variety of structures can be fumigated, including dwellings containing clothing and bedding; and (4) Zyklon can be effectively used at temperatures below five degrees Celsius. Taking all of this into account, it would seem that murdering large numbers of people with Zyklon-B in specially constructed rooms would be relatively simple, given that the gas is highly toxic and fairly easy to use for fumigation.

The fact that the irritant indicator was removed from shipments to Nazi death camps is another curious feature, as one would wonder why an obvious safety feature would be removed from a product if its intended use was purely benign. Eyewitness accounts from individuals such as Fillip Mu"ller and documents describing the use of Zyklon-B in the gas chambers themselves are all the more damning.

B) A Hypothetical Gassing

In order to answer the question "How easy would it have been to gas people with Zyklon-B?", I will carry out some calculations to show just how feasible such a process would be. Specifically, I will use an "average" size gas chamber to see how many people could be fit into one, and how many could have been killed in 18 months at a camp like Auschwitz, which had four large chambers (Krema I and Bunkers I and II will not be considered for reasons of simplicity). I will also discuss how much Zyklon B would be needed to reach lethal concentration in the room, and how fast 1 kilo of Zyklon would have to evaporate to reach the lethal concentration of 300 ppm in ten minutes.

Imagine a room with 210 square meters of floor space. I chose this value as it was mentioned as a typical size of a gas chamber in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the Leuchter report FAQ routinely posted by Ken Mcvay {16}. I'll simply assume that the walls are 2.5 meters high, so the building will have a total volume of 525 cubic meters, or 5.25 X 10^5 liters.

The structure would be fitted with vents on the ceiling for pouring in the Zyklon, and exhaust fans would be be used to clear the room once gassing was completed. This structure would be largely below ground, to help maintain a constant temperature using the earth as insulation. (Not all of the gas chambers at Auschwitz were below ground, in fact Kremas IV and V were above ground structures.) Keeping the chambers below ground would also allow easy access to the roof. The perpetrators could pour gas in through the roof while wearing gas masks. Camp inmates could be used to remove the bodies and transport them to the crematoria once the gassing was complete and the room had been cleared of gas. In reality, a quite simple operation.

Also, imagine that there are four such buildings in the camp (representing Kremas II, III, IV, and V at Auschwitz), and that each has a crematoria to go with it. For the sake of simplicity, each gas chamber will carry out only one gassing per day, and the gas chambers will be forcibly ventilated for at least one hour.

For the specifics of the gassing, let's look at just one chamber. A building with 210 m^2 of floor space can easily accommodate four people per square meter (my calculations based upon how many people I could fit in one square meter, it wasn't even a tight fit) As I said earlier, the empty volume of the room is 525 m^3. By my calculations, a human person will take up 0.081 cubic meters {17}. At four people per square meter, that's 840 people in one room, which take up 68.04 m^3 of space. That leaves a free volume of 456.96 m^3 (457 m^3 from now on.)

To show (1) how much Zyklon it would take to reach the lethal 300 ppm level, and (2) how fast 1 kilo of Zyklon would have to evaporate to reach 300 ppm in ten minutes, we need to know how much volume one kg of air takes up. Ideal gas assumptions say that one mole (6.021 X 10^23 molecules) of gas occupy 22.4 liters at 25 deg Celsius {18}. One mole of gas is 21% oxygen an 79% nitrogen (ignore the 1% of other gases and assume they're not there.) Multiply this times the molecular weight of the gases (grams per mole of gas, 28g for N2, 32g for O2) and the weight of one mole of gas is (0.21)*32 + (.79)*28 = 28.84 grams, or 0.02884 kg per 22.4 liters (the vol. of one mole of gas). One kilogram of gas will therefore occupy 776 liters of volume.

How much Zyklon-B will be needed to reach a concentration of 300 ppm? 300 ppm HCN corresponds to 300 milligrams of HCN per kilogram of air. For 457 cubic meters of air, you need to do some manipulations:

457 m^3 = 4.57 X 10^5 liters * (1 kg air/ 776 liters) = 589 kilos of air.

(0.300 grams HCN/ kg air)*(589 kg air) = 176.7 grams HCN.

...less HCN than is contained in one can of Zyklon-B. In reality, if only 176 grams of HCN are poured into such a room,they may have to wait some time before everyone is dead. What if you pour in a whole kilogram of HCN?

The question now becomes, If 1 kg of HCN (5 cans) are poured into our gas chamber, how fast will the HCN have to evaporate to reach a lethal concentration in ten minutes? For this example, I will assume a constant rate of evaporation on a per gram basis. The rate of evaporation will be:

176.7 grams HCN/10 minutes = 17.67 grams/minute (17.67 grams HCN/minute)/(1000 g HCN) X 100 = 1.76%

Only 1.76% of the HCN will have to evaporate per minute. Actually, the numbers would be slightly different as there will be less HCN each minute, so 1.76% won't be as much HCN after eight minutes as it was in the first. Taking this loss of material into account, even a constant 1.76% evaporation rate takes only 12 minutes. For a substance that is normally a gas at room temperature, an evaporation rate this slow seems quite probable. As HCN boils at 26 degrees Celsius, it is quite likely that the gas will evaporate much faster than 1.76% per minute.

I have searched for experimental kinetic data on HCN evaporation to no avail. If anyone knows where I get some data (short of doing the expts myself), let me know. This information would be particularly useful in answering the question: "How fast HCN would actually evaporate?"

With only one gassing a day, plenty of time will be left for ventilating the gas chamber and moving the bodies to the crematoria for combustion. The next question is, given one gassing a day and four gas chambers at the camp, how many people can be killed in a time period of one and one half years (18 months)? I chose this time period since the four large extermination facilities at Auschwitz-Birkenau were in operation from 1943 until their destruction by the fleeing Nazis in November 1944 {19}. For the sake of argument, I'll say that's about 1 1/2 years (May 1943 to Nov. 1944).

If the gas chambers were in operation for 548 days (1 1/2 yrs), the total dead would be:

(840)*(4)*(548) = 1,841,280 dead from gassing alone.

Most estimates say that 1 to 2 million died at Auschwitz altogether, including deaths from starvation, torture, summary execution, and medical experiments. Clearly then, based upon my largely hypothetical example, it was both possible and feasible to murder that many, even in a fairly short time scale of 584 days with just four working gas chambers. In the case of Auschwitz, an even shorter time of operation would be necessary as not all of the 1.6 million were murdered in the four main gas chambers. Executions by firing squad and gassings in the makeshift Bunkers I and II were also carried out. Also, many more died from starvation, torture, and disease.

The only limiting factor would be the crematoria for disposing of the bodies, as one could conceivably produce bodies much faster via gassing than could be cremated. Given the number actually killed at Auschwitz this may not have been a problem -- see the letter to SS Gen. Kammler below (also ref 24).

C) Relate to Existing Documents on the Holocaust

Many documents discussing the operation of the gas chambers at Auschwitz exist. The testimony of Hanz Stark is an excellent example {20}. Hanz Stark was connected with Auschwitz's "Political Department", and was responsible for registering new arrivals to the camp. He was also responsible for observing executions carried out in a room next to Krema I, initially carried out with a small caliber rifle. The terminology used for people dispatched in this manner was Sonderbehandlung -- special treatment in English. Prisoners who had received "special treatment" were said "to have been found special lodgings." Stark was quite explicit that this meant execution.

Later on, "experimental" gassings took place in the execution room adjoining Crematoria I. Stark was also a witness to gassings that took place there, and his description is quoted here (in English, typos are mine):

"As I have already mentioned, the first gassing was carried out in the small crematoria in autumn 1941. Grabner ordered me to go to the crematorium in order to check numbers, just as I had had[sic] to do with the shootings. About 200- 250 Jewish men, women, and children of all ages were standing at the crematorium. There may also have been babies there

[....] Nothing was said to the Jews. They were merely ordered to enter the gas chamber, the door of which was open. While the Jews were going into the room, medical orderlies prepared for the gassing. Earth had been piled up against one of the external walls of the gassing room so that the medical orderlies could get onto the roof of the room. After all the Jews were in the chamber, the door was bolted and the medical orderlies poured Zyklon-B through the openings..."

And as he later describes in a gassing he participated in personally:

" As the Zyklon-B - as already mentioned - was in granular form, it trickled down over the people as it was being poured in. They then started to cry out terribly for they now knew what was happening to them [...] After a few minutes there was silence. After some time had passed, it may have been ten to fifteen minutes, the gas chamber was opened. The dead lay higgeldy piggeldy all over the place. It was a dreadful sight."

Note that these gassings took place at Krema I, a much smaller structure than the homicidal gas chambers constructed at the Birkenau complex (Krema II, III, IV, V). This explains why the chamber had a much smaller capacity, and earth had to be piled up along side the room to allow access to the roof. Other than that, the process is similar to the one I described in the "hypothetical gassing" section.

The testimony of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Ho"ss is also very useful {21}. With regards to the gassing process, he describes both gassings in the large chambers in the Birkenau complex and ones carried out in the makeshift Bunkers I and II. Bunkers I and II were used while the major extermination facilities were under construction, and had a capacity of about 200-300 people at once. The process in the bunkers was similar to that in Krema I (see above). The extermination chambers was somewhat different, as Hoess mentions that they where equipped with an electric ventilation system to quickly ventilate the rooms, and an electric lift to quickly transport bodies to the Krema ovens for incineration. Here the gas chambers were located underground, which allowed easy access for pouring Zyklon-B into the chambers.

Aerial photographs of the camps taken by allied reconnaissance planes during the war corroborate Hoess testimony, particularly with regards to the architecture of the underground gas chamber in Krema II {22

Zyklon B was used in the concentration camps initially for delousing to control typhus. The chemical used in the gas chambers was deliberately made without the warning odorant.

In January or February 1940, 250 Gypsy children from Brno in the Buchenwald concentration camp were used as guinea pigs for testing the Zyklon B gas.[5] On September 3, 1941, 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners were gassed with Zyklon B at Auschwitz camp I; this was the first experiment with the gas at Auschwitz. The experiments lasted more than 20 hours.

According to Rudolf Höß, commandant of Auschwitz, bunker 1 held 800 people, and bunker 2 held 1,200. Once the chamber was full, the doors were screwed shut and solid pellets of Zyklon-B were dropped into the chambers through vents in the side walls, releasing a toxic gas. Those inside died within 20 minutes; the speed of death depended on how close the inmate was standing to a gas vent, according to Höß, who estimated that about one third of the victims died immediately. Joann Kremer, an SS doctor who oversaw the gassings, testified that: "Shouting and screaming of the victims could be heard through the opening and it was clear that they fought for their lives." When they were removed, if the chamber had been very congested, as they often were, the victims were found half-squatting, their skin colored pink with red and green spots, some foaming at the mouth or bleeding from the ears Was that to long or not?

Some Jews settled along parts of the Main and Neckar in Roman times.

There have been Jews in the Rhineland since the reign of Charlemange (around the year 800). In other parts of the German-speaking lands Jews were recorded in later medieval times. In the Middle Ages, Jews were somtimes expelled by some of the German states and usually moved eastwards to Poland, which at that time was tolerant.

Obviously, this doesn't mean that in, say 1930, all Jews in Germany had lived there for centuries.

Jews were otherwise free to follow any occupation open to their fellow citizens and were engaged in agriculture, trade, industry, and gradually money-lending. These conditions at first continued in the subsequently established Germanic kingdoms under the Burgundians and Franks, for ecclesiasticism took root slowly. The Merovingian rulers who succeeded to the Burgundian empire were devoid of fanaticism and gave scant support to the efforts of the Church to restrict the civic and social status of the Jews.

Jews of Germany, 13th century

The status of the German Jews remained unchanged under Charlemagne's successor Louis the Pious. Jews were unrestricted in their commerce; however, they paid somewhat higher taxes into the state treasury than did the Christians. A special officer, the Judenmeister, was appointed by the government to protect Jewish privileges. The later Carolingians, however, followed the demands of the Church more and more. The bishops continually argued at the synods for including and enforcing anti-Semitic decrees of the canonical law, with the consequence that the majority Christian populace mistrusted the Jewish unbelievers. This feeling, among both princes and people, was further stimulated by the attacks on the civic equality of the Jews. Beginning with the 10th century, Holy Week became more and more a period of anti-Semitic activities. Yet the Saxon emperors did not treat the Jews badly, exacting from them merely the taxes levied upon all other merchants. Although they were as ignorant as their contemporaries in secular studies, they could read and understand the Hebrew prayers and the Bible in the original text. Halakhic studies began to flourish about 1000.

At that time, Rav Gershom ben Judah was teaching at Metz and Mainz, gathering about him pupils from far and near. He is described in Jewish historiography as a model of wisdom, humility, and piety, and has been praised as a "lamp of the Exile". He first stimulated the German Jews to study the treasures of their religious literature.

This continuous study of the Torah and the Talmud produced such a devotion to Judaism that the Jews considered life without their religion not worth living; but they did not realize this clearly until the time of the Crusades, when they were often compelled to choose between life and faith.

For the next 400 years, Mainz attracted many Jews as trade flourished. The greatest Jewish teachers and rabbis flocked to the Rhine. Their teachings, dialogues, decisions and influence propelled Mainz and neighboring towns along the Rhine into world-wide prominence. Their fame spread, rivaling that of other post-Diaspora cities such as Bagdhad. Western European- Ashkenazic or Germanic- Judaism became centered in Mainz, breaking free of the Babylonian traditions. A Yeshiva was founded in the 10th century by Gershom ben Judah.[7]"

According to historian John Man, "Mainz was the capital of European Jewry"; "it had its own Jewish academy for over 300 years"; "it was revered as the home of Gershom ben Judah, the 'Light of the Diaspora,' who in the eleventh century was the first to bring copies of the Talmud to Western Europe and whose directives helped Jews adapt to European practices. Gershom's school attracted Jews from all over Europe, including the famous biblical scholar Rashi; "[8] and "in the mid-fourteenth century, it had the largest Jewish community in Europe, some 6,000 citizens."[9]:16 "In essence," states the City of Mainz web site, "this was a golden age as area bishops protected the Jews resulting in increased trade and prosperity."[7]

Heiliger Sand, the Jewish Cemetery (Worms)

Jews (identifiable by the Judenhut they were required to wear) were killed by Christian knights during the First Crusade in France and Germany. French Bible illustration from 1250.

The First Crusade began an era of massacres of Jews in Germany[citation needed]. The wild excitement of Crusading, to which the Germans had been driven by exhortations to take the cross, first broke upon the Jews, the nearest representatives of an execrated opposition faith. Entire communities, like those of Trier, Worms, Mainz, and Cologne, were slain, except where the slayers were anticipated by the deliberate self-destruction of their intended victims[citation needed]. The Jewish community of Speyer was saved by the bishop, but 800 were slain in Worms. About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhenish cities alone between May and July 1096. These outbreaks of popular passion during the First Crusade influenced the status of the Jews for the next few centuries, and perhaps beyond. The Christians brought accusations against the Jews to argue that the Jews had deserved their fate. Alleged crimes, like desecration of the host, ritual murder, poisoning of wells, and treason, brought hundreds to the stake and drove thousands into exile. Jews were alleged to have caused the inroads of the Mongols, even though they suffered equally with the Christians. When the Black Death swept over Europe in 1348-49, Christians accused Jews of poisoning wells. In the wake of this accusation, a general slaughter began throughout the empire, which triggered a massive exodus east to Poland. Nonrestrictive government policies and public attitudes towards Jews helped the Jewish immigrants to Poland to form the foundations of what would become the largest Jewish community in Europe.

Etching of the expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt on August 23, 1614. The text says, "1,380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate."

The legal and civic status of the Jews underwent a transformation. Jewish people found a certain degree of protection with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who claimed the right of possession and protection of all the Jews of the empire. A justification for this claim was that the Holy Roman Emperor was the successor of the emperor Titus, who was said to have acquired the Jews as his private property. The German emperors apparently claimed this right of possession more for the sake of taxing the Jews than of protecting them.

There was a variety of such taxes. Ludwig the Bavarian was a prolific creator of new taxes. In 1342 he instituted the "golden sacrificial penny" and decreed that every year all the Jews should pay to the emperor one kreutzer in every gulden of their property in addition to the taxes they were paying to the state and municipal authorities. The emperors of the house of Luxembourg devised other means of taxation. They turned their prerogatives in regard to the Jews to further account by selling at a high price to the princes and free towns of the empire the valuable privilege of taxing and mulcting the Jews. Charles IV, via the Golden Bull, granted this privilege to the seven electors of the empire when the empire was reorganized in 1356.

From this time onward, for reasons that also apparently concerned taxes, the Jews of Germany gradually passed in increasing numbers from the authority of the emperor to that of the lesser sovereigns and of the cities. For the sake of sorely needed revenue the Jews were now invited, with the promise of full protection, to return to those districts and cities from which they had shortly before been expelled. However, as soon as Jewish people acquired some property, they were again plundered and driven away. These episodes thenceforth constituted a large portion of the medieval history of the German Jews. Emperor Wenceslaus was most expert in transferring to his own coffers gold from the pockets of rich Jews. He made compacts with many cities, estates, and princes whereby he annulled all outstanding debts to the Jews in return for a certain sum paid to him. Emperor Wenceslaus declared that anyone helping Jews with the collection their debts, in spite of this annulment, would be dealt with as a robber and peacebreaker, and be forced to make restitution. This decree, which for years allegedly injured the public credit, is said to have impoverished thousands of Jewish families during the close of the 14th century.

A Jew of Swabia

Nor did the 15th century bring any amelioration. What happened in the time of the Crusades happened again. During the war upon the Hussite heretics became the signal for the slaughter of the unbelievers. The Jews of Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia passed through all the terrors of death, forced baptism, or voluntary immolation for the sake of their faith. When the Hussites made peace with the Church, the Pope sent the Franciscan monk Capistrano to win the renegades back into the fold and inspire them with loathing for heresy and unbelief; forty-one martyrs were burned in Breslau alone, and all Jews were forever banished from Silesia. The Franciscan monk Bernardine of Feltre brought a similar fate upon the communities in southern and western Germany. As a consequence of the fictitious confessions extracted under torture from the Jews of Trent, the populace of many cities, especially of Ratisbon, fell upon the Jews and massacred them.

The end of the 15th century, which brought a new epoch for the Christian world, brought no relief to the Jews. They remained the victims of a religious hatred that ascribed to them all possible evils. When the established Church, threatened in its spiritual power in Germany and elsewhere, prepared for its conflict with the culture of the Renaissance, one of its most convenient points of attack was rabbinic literature. At this time, as once before in France, Jewish converts spread false reports in regard to the Talmud. But an advocate of the book arose in the person of Johannes Reuchlin, the German humanist, who was the first one in Germany to include the Hebrew language among the humanities. His opinion, though strongly opposed by the Dominicans and their followers, finally prevailed when the humanistic Pope Leo X permitted the Talmud to be printed in Italy.

German Jews of the upper Rhine, 16th century

The Jews had kept their piety and their intellectual activity. They were devoted to the study of the Halakah. In the 11th century[10] Rabbi Gershom's pupils had been the teachers of Rashi, and his commentaries on the Bible and Talmud marked out new paths for learning. The German Jews contributed much to the spread and completion of these commentaries. Beginning with the 12th century they worked independently, especially in the fields of Haggadah and ethics. R. Simon ha-Darshan's Yalḳuṭ (c. 1150), the Book of the Pious by R. Judah ha-Ḥasid of Ratisbon (c. 1200), the Salve-Mixer (Rokeaḥ) of R. Eleasar of Worms (c. 1200), the halakic collection Or Zarua of R. Isaac of Vienna (c. 1250), the responsa of Rabbi Meïr of Rothenburg (died 1293), are enduring monuments of German Jewish industry. Even the horrors of the Black Death could not completely destroy this literary activity. Profound and wide scholarship was less common after the middle of the 14th century, which led to the institution of allowing only those scholars to become rabbis who could produce a written authorization to teach (hattarat hora'ah), issued by a recognized master. To this period of decline belong also a number of large collections of responsa and useful commentaries on earlier halakic works. The customs and ordinances relating to the form and order of worship were especially studied in this period, and were definitely fixed for the ritual of the synagogues of western and eastern Germany by Jacob Mölln (Maharil) and Isaac Tyrnau. As it was difficult to produce any new works in the field of the Halakah, and as the dry study of well-worn subjects no longer satisfied, scholars sought relief in the interpretations and traditions embodied in the Cabala. There arose a new, ascetic view of life that found literary expression in the Shene Luḥot ha-Beritby Rabbi Isaiah Horovitz of Frankfurt am Main (died 1626), and that appealed especially to the pietistic German Jews. The end and aim of existence were now sought in the aspiration of the soul toward its fountainhead, combined with the endeavor to saturate the earthly life with the spirit of God. By a continuous attitude of reverence to God, by lofty thoughts and actions, the Jew was to rise above the ordinary affairs of the day and become a worthy member of the kingdom of God. Every act of his life was to remind him of his religious duties and stimulate him to mystic contemplation.

16th century drawing of two Jews from Worms, each wearing the required yellow badge, and the man holding a moneybag and a garlic bulb

A youthful enthusiasm for new ideals at that time pervaded the entire civilized world; all religions were recognized as equally entitled to respect, and the champions of political freedom undertook to restore the Jews to their full rights as citizens. The humane Austrian Emperor Joseph II was foremost in espousing these new ideals. As early as 1782 he issued the Patent of Toleration for the Jews of Lower Austria, thereby establishing the civic equality of his Jewish subjects.

Before 1806, when general citizenship was largely non-existent in the Holy Roman Empire, its inhabitants were subject to different estate regulations. Varying from one territory of the Empire to another, these regulations classified inhabitants into different groups, such as dynasts, members of the court entourage, other aristocrats, city dwellers (burghers), Jews, Huguenots (in Prussia a special estate until 1810), free peasants, serfs, peddlers and Gypsies, with different privileges and burdens attached to each classification. Legal inequality was the principle.

The concept of citizenship was mostly restricted to cities, especially free imperial cities. There was no general franchise, which remained a privilege for the few, who inherited the status or acquired it when they reached a certain level of taxed income or could afford the expensive citizen's fee (Bürgergeld). Citizenship was often further restricted to city dwellers affiliated with the locally dominant Christian denomination (Calvinist, Catholic or Lutheran). City dwellers of other denominations or religions and those who lacked the necessary wealth to qualify as citizens were considered as mere inhabitants who lacked political rights and were sometimes subject to revocable staying permits.

Most Jews then living in German locales, that allowed their settlement, were automatically defined as mere indigenous inhabitants, depending on permits that were typically less generous than those granted to Gentile indigenous inhabitants (Einwohner, as opposed to Bürger, which means citizen). In the 18th c. some Jews and their families (such as Daniel Itzig in Berlin) gained equal status with their fellow Christian city dwellers, but had a different status than noblemen, Huguenots, or serfs. They often did not enjoy the right to freedom of movement across territorial or even municipal boundaries, let alone enjoy the same status in the new place as in the old.

With the abolition of legal status differences in the Napoleonic era and its aftermath citizenship was established as a new franchise generally applying to all former subjects of the monarchs. Prussia conferred citizenship upon the Prussian Jews in 1812, though this by no means included full equality with other citizens. While Jewish emancipation did not eliminate all forms of discrimination against Jews, who often remained barred from holding official positions with the State. The German federal edicts of 1815 merely held out the prospect of full equality; but it was not realized at that time, and even the promises which had been given were modified. However, such forms of discrimination were no longer the guiding principle for ordering society, but a violation of it. In Austria many laws restricting the trade and traffic of Jewish subjects remained in force until the middle of the 19th century, in spite of the patent of toleration. Some of the crown lands, as Styria and Upper Austria, forbade any Jews to settle within their territory; in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia many cities were closed to them. The Jews were, in addition, burdened with heavy taxes and imposts.

In the German kingdom of Prussia, also, the government modified materially the promises made in the disastrous year 1813. The promised uniform regulation of Jewish affairs was time and again postponed. In the period between 1815 and 1847 there were no less than 21 territorial Jews' laws in the older eight provinces of the Prussian state, each having to be observed by a part of the Jewish community. There was at that time no official authorized to speak in the name of all Prussian Jews, or the Jewry of most of the other 41 German states, let alone for all German Jews.

Nevertheless, a few men came forward to maintain their cause, foremost among them being Gabriel Riesser (d. 1863), a Jewish lawyer of Hamburg, who demanded full civic equality for his race from the German princes and peoples. He aroused public opinion to such an extent that this equality was granted in Prussia on April 6, 1848, in Hanover and Nassau on September 5 and on December 12, respectively and also in his home state of Hamburg, then domicile to the second biggest Jewish community in Germany.[11] In Württemberg equality was conceded on December 3, 1861; in Baden on October 4, 1862; in Holstein on July 14, 1863; and in Saxony on December 3, 1868. After the establishment of the North German Confederation by the law of July 3, 1869, all remaining statutory restrictions imposed on the followers of different religions were abolished; this decree was extended to all the states of the German empire after the events of 1870.

wrote a scholarly manual of the Hebrew language; Julius Fürst and David Cassel compiled Hebrew dictionaries; Fürst and Bernhard Bär

compiled concordances to the entire Bible; Wolf Heidenheim and Seligmann Baer edited correct Masoretic texts of the Bible; Solomon Frensdorff subjected the history of the Masorah[disambiguation needed

] to a thoroughly scientific investigation; the Bible was translated into German under the direction of Zunz and Salomon; Ludwig Philippson, Solomon Hirschheimer, and Julius Fürst wrote complete Biblical commentaries; H. Grätz and S.R. Hirsch dealt with some of the Biblical books; Zacharias Frankel and Abraham Geiger investigated the Aramaic and Greek translations. Nor was the traditional law neglected. Jacob Levy compiled lexicographical works to the Talmud and Midrashim. Michael Sachs and Joseph Perles investigated the foreign elements found in the language of the Talmud. Numerous and, on the whole, excellent editions of halakic and haggadic midrashim were issued-for instance, Zuckermandel's edition of the Tosefta and Theodor's edition of Midrash Rabbah to Genesis. Zacharias Frankel wrote an introduction to the Mishnah and to the Jerusalem Talmud, and David Hoffmann and Israel Lewy investigated the origin and development of the Halakah.

Religio-philosophical literature was also assiduously cultivated, and the original Arabic texts of Jewish religious philosophers were made accessible. M.H. Landauer issued Saadia Gaon's works, and H. Hirschfeld the works of Judah ha-Levi. M. Joel and I. Guttmann investigated the works of Jewish thinkers and their influence on the general development of philosophy, while S. Hirsch attempted to develop the philosophy of religion along the lines laid down by Hegel, and Solomon Steinheim propounded a new theory of revelation in accordance with the system of the synagogue

In general, it was easier to agree upon the means of training children for the Reformed worship and awakening the interest of Jewish affairs in adults. The religious schools were an outcome of the desire to add religious instruction to the secular education of Jewish children prescribed by the state. As the Talmudic schools, still existing in Germany in the first third of the 19th century, were gradually deserted; rabbinical seminaries were founded, in which Talmudic instruction followed the methods introduced by Zacharias Frankel in the Jewish Theological Seminary opened at Breslau in 1854. Since then special attention has been devoted to religious literature. Textbooks on religion and specifically on Biblical and Jewish history, as well as aids to the translation and explanation of the Bible and the prayer-books, were compiled to meet the demands of modern pedagogics. Pulpit oratory began to flourish as never before, foremost among the great German preachers being M. Sachs and M. Joël. Nor was synagogal music neglected, Louis Lewandowski especially contributing to its development.

The public institutions of the Jewish communities served to supplement the work of teachers and leaders, and to promote Jewish solidarity. This was the primary object of the Jewish press, created by Ludwig Philippson. In 1837 he founded the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, which has been followed by a number of similar periodicals. They had succeeded in preserving a certain unity of religious opinion and conviction among the Jews, with the gratifying result of unity of action for the common good. Societies for the cultivation of Jewish literature were founded, as well as associations of teachers, rabbis, and leaders of congregations.

Walter Rathenau, Jewish industrialist and Foreign Minister of Germany, was a proponent of Jewish assimilation until his assassination by right-wing nationalists in 1922

Map showing the distribution of Jews in the German Empire in the 1890s

Napoleon emancipated the Jews across Europe, but with Napoleon's fall in 1815, growing nationalism resulted in increasing repression. In 1819, Hep-Hep riots destroyed Jewish property and killed many Jews. The Revolution of 1848 swung the pendulum back towards freedom for the Jews. A noted reform rabbi of that time was Leopold Zunz, a contemporary and friend of Heinrich Heine. In 1871, with the unification of Germany by Bismarck, came their emancipation, but the growing mood of despair among assimilated Jews was reinforced by the anti-Semitic penetrations of politics. In the 1870s anti-Semitism was fueled by the financial crisis and scandals; in the 1880s by the arrival of masses of Ostjuden, fleeing from Russian territories; by the 1890s it was a parliamentary presence, threatening anti-Jewish laws. In 1879 the Hamburg anarchist pamphleteer Wilhelm Marr introduced the term 'anti-Semitism' into the political vocabulary by founding the Anti-Semitic League.[12] Anti-Semites of the völkisch movement were the first to describe themselves as such, because they viewed Jews as part of a Semitic race that could never be properly assimilated into German society. Such was the ferocity of the anti-Jewish feeling of the völkisch movement that by 1900, anti-Semitic had entered German to describe anyone who had anti-Jewish feelings. However, despite massive protests and petitions, the völkisch movement failed to persuade the government to revoke Jewish emancipation, and in the 1912 Reichstag elections, the parties with völkisch-movement sympathies suffered a temporary defeat.

Jews experienced a period of ostensible legal equality from 1848 until the rise of Nazi Germany. In the opinion of historian Fritz Stern, by the end of the 19th century, what had emerged was a Jewish-German symbiosis, where German Jews had merged elements of German and Jewish culture into a unique new one. However, statutory equality and actual practice did not coincide. As Walter Rathenau found out, even in 1905 there was hardly any chance of a Jew receiving a judgeship, and even then only if the Jewish candidate renounced his faith and converted to Christianity.[13]

A leaflet published in 1920 by the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (German Jewish veterans organization) in response to accusations of lack of patriotism. Inscription on the tomb: "12,000 Jewish soldiers died on the field of honor for the fatherland

A higher percentage of German Jews fought in World War I than that of any other ethnic, religious or political group in Germany; some 12,000 died for their country.[14][15] Ironically, it was a Jewish lieutenant, Hugo Gutmann, who awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, to a 29-year-old corporal named Adolf Hitler. After Hitler came to power, Gutmann was incarcerated by the Gestapo, but was later released and moved to Brussels, subsequently escaping to the USA after the war began[16][17]

In October 1916, the German Military High Command administered Judenzählung (census of Jews). Designed to confirm accusations of the lack of patriotism among German Jews, the census disproved the charges, but its results were not made public.[18] Denounced as a "statistical monstrosity",[19] the census was a catalyst to intensified antisemitism and social myths such as the "stab-in-the-back legend" (Dolchstosslegende).[20][21]

Many German Jews received high political positions such as foreign minister and vice chancellor in the Weimar Republic. The Weimar constitution was the work of a German Jew, Hugo Preuss, who later became minister of the interior. Marriages between Jews and non-Jews became somewhat common from the 19th century; for example, the wife of German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann was Jewish.

Jewish history

Responsibility[show]

Early policies[show]

Victims[show]

Ghettos[show]

Atrocities[show]

Camps[show]

Resistance[show]

Allied response[show]

Aftermath[show]

Lists[show]

Resources[show]

Remembrance[show]

• v
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The boycott of April 1, 1933

Synagogue at Nuremberg, c. 1890-1900. The structure was destroyed in 1938.

Further information: Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany

In Germany, according to the historian [Hans Mommsen], there were three types of antisemitism. In a 1997 interview, Mommsen was quoted as saying:

"One should differentiate between the cultural antisemitism symptomatic of the German conservatives - found especially in the German officer corps and the high civil administration - and mainly directed against the Eastern Jews on the one hand, and völkisch antisemitism on the other. The conservative variety functions, as Shulamit Volkov has pointed out, as something of a "cultural code." This variety of German antisemitism later on played a significant role insofar as it prevented the functional elite from distancing itself from the repercussions of racial antisemitism. Thus, there was almost no relevant protest against the Jewish persecution on the part of the generals or the leading groups within the Reich government. This is especially true with respect to Hitler's proclamation of the "racial annihilation war" against the Soviet Union.

Besides conservative antisemitism, there existed in Germany a rather silent anti-Judaism within the Catholic Church, which had a certain impact on immunising the Catholic population against the escalating persecution. The famous protest of the Catholic Church against the euthanasia program was, therefore, not accompanied by any protest against the Holocaust.

The third and most vitriolic variety of antisemitism in Germany (and elsewhere) is the so-called völkisch antisemitism or racism, and this is the foremost advocate of using violence.":[22]

In 1933, persecution of the Jews became active Nazi policy, but at first laws were not as rigorously obeyed or as devastating as in later years. Such clauses, known as Aryan paragraphs, had been postulated previously by antisemites and enacted in many private organizations.

On April 1, 1933, Jewish doctors, shops, lawyers and stores were boycotted. Only six days later, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was passed, banning Jews from being employed in government. This law meant that Jews were now indirectly and directly dissuaded or banned from privileged and upper-level positions reserved for "Aryan" Germans. From then on, Jews were forced to work at more menial positions, beneath non-Jews, pushing them to more labored positions.

On August 25, 1933, the Haavara Agreement was signed, which allowed 60,000 German Jews to emigrate to Palestine by 1939.

On August 2, 1934, President Paul von Hindenburg died. No new president was appointed; instead the powers of the chancellor and president were combined into the office of Führer. This, and a tame government with no opposition parties, allowed Adolf Hitler totalitarian control of law-making. The army also swore an oath of loyalty personally to Hitler, giving him power over the military; this position allowed him to easily create more pressure on the Jews than ever before.

In 1935 and 1936, the pace of persecution of the Jews increased. In May 1935, Jews were forbidden to join the Wehrmacht (Armed Forces), and that year, anti-Jewish propaganda appeared in Nazi German shops and restaurants. The Nuremberg Racial Purity Laws were passed around the time of the Nazi rallies at Nuremberg; On September 15, 1935, the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor was passed, preventing marriage between any Jew and non-Jew. At the same time the Reich Citizenship Law was passed and was reinforced in November by a decree, stating that all Jews, even quarter- and half-Jews, were no longer citizens (Reichsbürger) of their own country (their official status became Reichsangehöriger, "subject of the state"). This meant that they had no basic civil rights, such as that to vote. (But at this time the right to vote for the non-Jewish Germans only meant the obligation to vote for the Nazi party.) This removal of basic citizens' rights preceded harsher laws to be passed in the future against Jews. The drafting of the Nuremberg Laws is often attributed to Hans Globke.

In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from exerting any influence in education, politics, higher education and industry. Because of this, there was nothing to stop the anti-Jewish actions which spread across the Nazi-German economy.

After the Night of the Long Knives, the Schutzstaffel (SS) became the dominant policing power in Germany. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was eager to please Hitler and so willingly obeyed his orders. Since the SS had been Hitler's personal bodyguard, its members were far more loyal and skilled than those of the Sturmabteilung (SA) had been. Because of this, they were also supported, though distrusted, by the army, which was now more willing to agree with Hitler's decisions than when the SA was dominant.[citation needed]

Jews emigrating from Berlin to the United States, 1939

All of this allowed Hitler more direct control over government and political attitude towards Jews in Nazi Germany. In 1937 and 1938, new laws were implemented, and the segregation of Jews from the true "Aryan" German population was started. In particular, Jews were penalized financially for their perceived racial status.

On June 4, 1937, a young German Jew, Helmut Hirsch, was executed for being involved in a plot to bomb the Nazi party headquarters in Nuremberg.

As of March 1, 1938, government contracts could no longer be awarded to Jewish businesses. On September 30, "Aryan" doctors could only treat "Aryan" patients. Provision of medical care to Jews was already hampered by the fact that Jews were banned from being doctors or having any professional jobs.

Beginning August 17, 1938, Jews with first names of non-Jewish origin had to add Israel (males) or Sarah (females) to their names, and a large J was to be imprinted on their passports beginning October 5. On November 15 Jewish children were banned from going to normal schools. By April 1939, nearly all Jewish companies had either collapsed under financial pressure and declining profits, or had been forced to sell out to the Nazi German government. This further reduced Jews' rights as human beings; they were in many ways officially separated from the German populace.

The increasingly totalitarian, militaristic regime which was being imposed on Germany by Hitler allowed him to control the actions of the SS and the military. On November 7, 1938, a young Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, attacked and shot two German officials in the Nazi German embassy in Paris. (Grynszpan was angry about the treatment of his parents by the Nazi Germans.) On November 9 the German Attache, vom Rath, died. Goebbels issued instructions that demonstrations against Jews were to be organized and undertaken in retaliation throughout Germany. The SS ordered the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) to be carried out that night, November 9-10, 1938. The storefronts of Jewish shops and offices were smashed and vandalised, and many synagogues were destroyed by fire. Approximately 91 Jews were killed, and another 30,000 arrested, mostly able bodied males, all of whom were sent to the newly formed concentration camps. In the following 3 months some 2000-2500 of them died in the concentration camps, the rest were released under the condition that they leave Germany. Many Germans were disgusted by this action when the full extent of the damage was discovered, Hitler ordered it to be blamed on the Jews. Collectively, the Jews were made to pay back one billion Reichsmark in damages, the fine being raised by confiscating 20 per cent of every Jewish property. The Jews also had to repair all damages at their own cost.

Of the 522,000 Jews living in Germany in January 1933, only 214,000 were left by the eve of World War II.[1]

Main article: The Holocaust

The Nazi persecution of the Jews culminated in the Holocaust, in which approximately 6 million European Jews were deported and murdered during World War II. On May 19, 1943, Germany was declared judenrein (clean of Jews; also judenfrei: free of Jews).[citation needed]

American historian Bryan Mark Rigg argues that approximately 150,000 German Jews had served in the German Wehrmacht, including decorated veterans and high-ranking officers, even generals and admirals. A great many of these men did not even consider themselves Jewish and had embraced the military as a way of life, eager as devoted patriots to serve a revived German nation. In turn, they had been embraced by the Wehrmacht, which prior to Hitler had given little thought to the race of these men but which was now forced to look deeply into the ancestry of its soldiers.[23]

Main article: History of the Jews in East Germany

The Jewish community of East Germany, a Communist country, numbered only a few hundred active members. Most Jews who settled in the German Democratic Republic did so either because their pre-1933 homes had been in eastern Germany or because they had been politically leftist before the Nazi seizure of power and, after 1945, wished to build an antifascist, socialist Germany. Most such politically engaged Jews were not religious or active in the official Jewish community. They included writers Anna Seghers, Stefan Heym, Jurek Becker, Stasi General Markus Wolf, composer Hanns Eisler, and politician Gregor Gysi. Many Jews made Aliyah to Israel in the 1970s.

Partly owing to the deep similarities between Yiddish and German, Jewish studies has become a very popular subject for academic study, and many German universities have departments or institutes of Jewish studies, culture, or history. Active Jewish religious communities have sprung up across Germany, including in many cities where the previous communities were no longer extant or were moribund. Several cities in Germany have Jewish day schools, kosher facilities, and other Jewish institutions beyond synagogues. Additionally, many of the Russian Jews were alienated from their Jewish heritage and unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Orthodox Judaism. Thus American-style Reform Judaism, led by the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany, has emerged as a powerful and popular force in Germany, even though the Central Council of Jews in Germany and most local Jewish communities officially adhere to Orthodoxy. The unresolved tension between the re-emerging Reform movement in Germany and the official Orthodoxy is one of the most pressing issues facing the community at present.

Public Hanukkah celebrations are held at Karlsruhe, with representatives of the Federal Constitutional Court

An important step for the renaissance of Jewish life in Germany occurred when, on January 27, 2003, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder signed the first-ever agreement on a federal level with the Central Council, so that Judaism was granted the same elevated, semi-established legal status in Germany as the Roman Catholic and Evangelical Church in Germany, at least since the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949.

The following paragraph: This is way off - read the Basic Law Section 7 Para 130 sub para (3) this section deals with Sedition. You might say, one can get in trouble promoting Nazism and likely will if it is done in public however, it has to "disturb the public peace". If it never does this, such as a private conversation. It is not likely to be prosecuted to begin with.

In regard to the ref, wiki is filled with bogus references that are persuasional in nature. You need to go to college and learn how to perform, critical writing.

I'm not here to grade your papers or check your refs, please do what wiki asks of you, and be accurate. We all thank you for your contribution. You make many good points.

In Germany it is a criminal act to deny the Holocaust or that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust (§130 StGB); violations can be punished with up to five years of prison.[31] In 2007, the Interior Minister of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, pointed out the official policy of Germany: "We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism."[32] Although the number of right-wing groups and organisations grew from 141 (2001)[33] to 182 (2006),[34] especially in the formerly communist East Germany,[32][35][36] Germany's measures against right- wing groups and antisemitism are effective: according to the annual reports of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution the overall number of far-right extremists in Germany has dropped in recent years from 49,700 (2001),[33] 45,000 (2002),[33] 41,500 (2003),[33] 40,700 (2004),[34] 39,000 (2005),[34] to 38,600 in 2006.[34] Germany provided several million euros to fund "nationwide programs aimed at fighting far-right extremism, including teams of traveling consultants, and victims' groups".[37] Despite these facts, Israeli Ambassador Shimon Stein warned in October 2006 that Jews in Germany feel increasingly unsafe, stating that they "are not able to live a normal Jewish life" and that heavy security surrounds most synagogues or Jewish community centers.[37] Yosef Havlin, Rabbi at the Chabad Lubavitch in Frankfurt, does not agree with the Israeli Ambassador and states in an interview with Der Spiegel in September 2007 that the German public does not support far-right groups; instead, he has personally experienced the support of Germans, and as a Jew and rabbi he "feels welcome in his (hometown) Frankfurt, he is not afraid, the city is not a no-go-area".[38]

A flagship moment for the burgeoning Jewish community in modern Germany occurred on November 9, 2006 (the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht), when the newly constructed Ohel Jakob synagogue was dedicated in Munich, Germany.[39][40] This is particularly crucial given the fact that Munich was once at the ideological heart of Nazi Germany. Jewish life in the capital Berlin is prospering, the Jewish community is growing, the Centrum Judaicum and several synagogues-including the largest in Germany[41]-have been renovated and opened, and Berlin's annual week of Jewish culture and the Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, held for the 21st time, featuring concerts, exhibitions, public readings and discussions[42][43] can only partially explain why Rabbi Yitzhak Ehrenberg of the orthodox Jewish community in Berlin states: "Orthodox Jewish life is alive in Berlin again. ... Germany is the only European country with a growing Jewish community."[2]