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

1999, History  -   98 Comments
8.34
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Ratings: 8.34/10 from 38 users.

Mr. Death is a stylized documentary that deals with the life and work of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., a US Federal Court qualified expert in execution technology. On the basis of his qualifications, in 1988 Leuchter was commissioned by German-Canadian publisher Ernst Zundel to conduct the first thorough forensic examination of the alleged Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

After Leuchter testified that the alleged facilities were not -- and could not have been -- used for mass extermination, Jewish activists ruined his life. Leuchter comes across just as straightforward and guileless on film as he is in real life.

As a result, some viewers of earlier versions at the Sundance Festival, the Toronto Film Festival and Harvard University began to question the Holocaust extermination stories they'd been told, while others suspected that Morris himself might have been converted to Holocaust revisionism.

At the eleventh hour, Morris re-edited the film in an effort to emphasize his anti-revisionist point of view.

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Lexi Madison
Lexi Madison
11 years ago

'The bigger and vaguer the lie, the more people will believe it.' Hitler was aware of this during his rise and subsequent leadership through the war. Listen to his speeches-he lets his much practiced 'charisma' and naturally overflowing anger wash listeners into unwavering belief, yet never really says anything.
Know what, you cannot argue with crazy, and trying to argue against deniers is like the three year old who says, 'but why?' no matter what answer you give.
It's sick that in a few years, people will deny the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia-Hzersogovina and Kosovo, even the IRA and Al Qaeda...Darfur, the ongoing wars in the DPR of Congo...

jeffaral
jeffaral
11 years ago

Holocaustianity is a religion, it has nothing to do with facts. Those who don't believe it are subjected to persecution.

Mukind
Mukind
12 years ago

The only thing I don't get is the inefficiency of the gas chamber. Why would the Germans waste their time with gas chambers. Slave labor until your too weak to move sounds like a better option. With hunger or a bullet finishing you. Why herd people into a building and fill it up with corpses. Just to empty it out. Just doesn't make much sense........

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Some of these comments absolutely astound me. The movie is about a crazy, deluded, megalomaniac--how people could actually believe that director Errol Morris is on Leuchter's side is amazing. More evidence that the visual arts should be taught in school. Have we lost the ability to interpret everything less clear than a stop sign?

morons_ruin_the_world
morons_ruin_the_world
12 years ago

It is so amazing how some people can be so ridiculously stupid. Ow how I wish I was supermen so I could fly all of them to the moon and leave them there. Not only the jews who survived the camps claimed there were gas chambers to exterminate them (and others), German soldiers at the camps admitted it. And it is so incredibly clear that the rooms which you can SEE in so many concentration camps were used for this, evidence shows this so clearly that you simply have to be senile to disagree with this. This documentary is pathetic.

morons_ruin_the_world
morons_ruin_the_world
12 years ago

The whole documentary is such a load of bs. And some of the commentators here as well. The FACT that gas-chambers existed and were used is not just told by surviving Jews but also by German soldiers who were in the camps. Why the hell would they make that up, didn't they feel people were disgusted by them enough? And it is clear, evidential clear that the chambers were used to pump gas in, why the hell would they have rooms to pump gas inside if not for gassing the jews (and other campies).

wheelnut53
wheelnut53
12 years ago

Ok I see where this going . Its one of those I may not agree with what you say but I will fight for your right to say it . Ok say the mass gassing didn't happen I'm thinking enough killing went on to justify whatever punishment the German's got . the commenter Doctor Ron makes a lot of sense ,I always took for granted whatever was said about the Holocaust was the truth now add money to the mix and people will tell you any story you want to hear . !988 was a very modern time , a whole team of CSI agents should been in there . This guy Fred is not even a forensics expert .

Stephanie Lynn Rothenberg
Stephanie Lynn Rothenberg
12 years ago

It blows my mind that someone as educated as Fred Leuchter could deny the events of the Holocaust. Although this documentary was fascinating, the denial is nauseating.

morgmorg
morgmorg
12 years ago

nice doc!
though to me holocaust deniers are like intelligent design-proponentists.
both are claiming there's no proof of the holocaust/evolution and back up their claims with non-scientific "evidence".

also: not only jewish people were murdered in the camps.

Ernie Allen
Ernie Allen
12 years ago

This guy is a DAMN WIERDO, whats even more wierd is, look at the snow when he is in Crematoria 2, when he's chipping brick, at exactly 53.45 minutes into the video he states he doesnt know if he's gonna see skeletons, the snow on the ground looks just like a head skeleton right after he says that. Kinda eerie, I think. Other wise I really enjoyed this documentary

Doctor Ron
Doctor Ron
12 years ago

A very informative documentary!

First and foremost, I'm not denying that a LOT of Jews were killed during WWII. The fact is though, most of them were either shot or died of typhus and cholera. Before hearing what was done to Leuchter I totally bought into the myth of mass gassings and the like. As a 40-year-old Jew growing up hearing about this all of my life by my family and in Synagogue, how could I not? After seeing Leuchter and his career wiped out by Zionists because of work he did as an expert witness I became more doubtful. I read "the Rudolph Report" and became more doubtful still. I then visited Auchwitz on a recent trip to Poland and now there is no doubt--NO gassings took place there! Granted, they have made many post-WWII changes to the camp to make is LOOK as if gassings took place but even those weren't close to realistic.

Who has the most to lose if mass gassings and the ridiculous 6M number are debunked? Who runs the World media? Once you answer these two questions you can see why it is a crime to even question the "Holocaust" in many countries. Israel uses "Shoah BUSINESS" (as they call the Holocaust) to rake in BILLIONS of dollars in reparations and other monies. In fact, its the principal reason for Israel existing at all. And make no mistake, as far as terrorism goes Al Queda has a LOT to learn from the Israelis! If not for the myth of the Holocaust this little terrorist regime would not be allowed to exist. I tell you this: Israel (and most Jews) will not be happy until every Gentile is wiped from the Earth, and only their little cabal is left. 178 Palestinians for every Israeli? Sounds like terrorism to me!

I have renounced my Judiasm because of this and am sickened (but NOT surprised--not at all) that my (former) OWN PEOPLE would continue to perpetrate this scam upon the World! They have no shame.

DocRon

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To Heather:
Bravo! Very well said.
You must know, by now, not all Jews are big-nosed, Christian-blood-sucking, money-chasing monsters...
I agree with your view that the denial is sickening, but that is why it must be confronted. Soon enough the few left survivors will have died and all that will be left are us, the evidence and the deniers.
In regards to N. Korea, I wouldn't forget the Armenians, the Curds, the conflict in Bosnia and many more places and people that demonstrate the monstrosities that we, the human race, are capable of.
Let us all hope and wish for the best, lets all do a bit in our surrounding for that good to arrive soon.

Heather
Heather
13 years ago

Seriously, who cares what religion they were? All I have to do is truly think about getting this treatment myself. Home broken into in the middle of the night, crowded into a filthy ghetto, food is scarce, disease is rampant. And then finally a nice train ride to be de-huminized, starved, and worked to death.

No one deserves this treatment, regardless of any defining characteristic.

I am still trying to understand Judaism myself, and probably never will since I haven't a drop of Jew blood or family. I want to understand all cultures, however, just because they are a mystery to most of us does not mean they are the reason for society's ills, or that they deserve to be rounded up and killed. (and I know it wasn't just Jews, but anyone the Germans found to be 'unfit'.)

The very discussion of Holocaust denial sickens me. Are the photos not enough? Are the stories not enough? Seems to be the most documented/ discussed war in history as far as I see. Must we continue to jab at this delicate wound? Let these people heal! They have a hard enough time trying to get on with thier lives, and people have to go and bring this rediculous argument to the fore.

If we all care so much, why does this very same thing go on today in North Korea? Do we deny that holocaust as well? If so, we are all guilty.

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To rtm

I will respond to you for the last time: Members of my family were murdered in the Holocaust, others lived to tell - including my grandmother who told me about the work camps and death camps she was in. I doubt my grandmother was "in cahoots" with the Rothschild family or any other "rich Jewish" stereotype for that matter.
Your pack of lies and misleading "facts" are fueled with ignorance and hatred and have no proof whatsoever.
I find you to be a racist, offensive person and therefor will avoid responding to your comments from now on.

I only wish you could be brave enough to look for the truthful sources of knowledge, those that are clean and without prejudice... but a bigot reads propaganda and adopts it to his hart - prepared to fight for it as if it were the most sacred truth. You sir are undoubtedly a bigot and therefor will always believe in these false "facts" you spread.

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

@ Eli,

You say that my sources of information are false because they from TV and Internet. Where are you getting your sources from? Besides the two you mention, my sources are also from literature, witnesses, and common sense. You also mentioned the holocaust being a world wide event, and then in a following sentence reffered to is as being situated only in europe. So, which is it? Most of your rebbudles are emotionally charged and have very little actual facts.

"The National Socialist Party of Adolf Hitler gained 17,300,000 votes in the election and gained 288 seats in the Reichstag. On 30 January 1933 Hitler was legally appointed Chancellor of the German Reich by President Von Hindenberg. On 24 March 1933 the Reichstag elected by 441 votes to 94 to give full emergency powers to the new Reich Chancellor and the corrupt Weimar Republic ceased to exist.

On that same day, 24 March 1933, on the front page of the London Daily Express appeared the main headlines: "Judaea declares war on Germany: Jews of all the world unite", and followed with:

'The Israelite people of the entire world declare economic and financial war on Germany. The appearance of the Swastika as the symbol of the new Germany revives the old war symbol of the Jews. Fourteen million Jews stand as one body to declare war on Germany. The Jewish wholesale dealer leaves his business, the banker his bank, the shopkeeper his shop, the beggar his miserable hut in order to combine forces in the holy war against Hitler's people.'

The German government was removing Jews from influential positions and transferring power back to the German people. This declaration of war by the Jews on Germany was repeated throughout the world. The first boycott of Jewish business concerns came after this Jewish declaration of war in April 1933."
So who declared war on who? You say Hitler declared a World War against everyone, in actual fact he was soley concerned with the German sphere of interest(The old German Reich before the Versaille Treaty) at first, and was later forced to defend strategic positions around the world just as the British and Americans did in the Pacific, North Africa and the Meditterainian. In fact, exercising THEIR imperialistic ambitions.
In regards to your 'digust' that someone dare mention the the Rothschild's had anything to do with WW2, you are playing on emotions again by those very words. What DIDN'T they have to do with it? The world financiers had NOTHING to do with the outcome? Facts are, the Rothschild's (by their own admission, read their biography The Rothschilds: A Family of Fortune by Virgina Cowles, who is of jewish descent), had a lot to do with manipulating numerous wars and revolutions in history, funding both sides. Get real.
Hmmm, how dare anyone have a differing opinion? Just call them a neo-Nazi period.
Note to self: remember to remove my stick-on toothbrush moustache and Nazi uniform of before going into the virtual world.

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To Anton:
I am horrified by the mere fact that you believe all that - and what's worse is you felt compelled to share it with us...
I have personal acquittance with survivors of the camps. How can you claim that the war was a Jewish conspiracy and that "only" a few hundred thousands were killed, mostly by illness or hunger?! People were shot dead, hung, gassed, tortured or worked to death. My great grandfather was shot dead in front of a crowd of witnesses, many members of the family were killed in the camps (killed, not deceased of natural causes..).
Even if Hitler had a shred of Jewish blood, he was far from being a patsy. He and his regime brought upon the world one of the worst wars in history, ruthless and cruel, in which many civilians lost there homes, possessions and even their lives. The devastation in Europe in 1945 was immense.

How dare you blame all this on the Rothschild family? How dare you belittle the horrific numbers of murdered human beings, millions of people - amongst which six million were Jews?

You should check your sources... I'm guessing they're either white supremacy or neo-Nazis.

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To rtm

Let me begin and say that my intention behind mentioning I'm an Israeli and a Jew was merely to identify myself and the "group" I'm affiliated with.
I never said I hate anyone, I said I despise those who claim the Holocaust never happened.
You seem to lack, in my opinion, much needed knowledge to make the declarations you do...
The Holocaust differs from all other genocides in one major criteria: it was worldwide. All other genocides where either on a political or religious basis and happened in a certain country. The Holocaust took place in Europe, in many countries and regions, while it's goal was to exterminate the whole Jewish population regardless of where they were, not to mention the de-humanising of Jews and comparing them to rats etc.
I never have or will approve of any genocide or murder or racist acts of hatred.
Your view on the Israeli-Palestinian situation is very simplistic and probably due to what you see on the TV or Internet. It's not that simple and even in Israel views on the subject vary. Just to clarify: any military conflict has civilian victims - I strongly believe that the IDF is one of the more ethical military forces in the world and must not be judged for a few rotten apples, those who are in no way it's majority.
It is my true hope that a proper solution will be found to end the ongoing crisis here, but you must understand that there is not a clear good-bad situation in which Israel is a nation of "baby killers" and the Palestinians are all victims. Victims do not fire mortars and missiles on heavily populated civilian areas in hope of hitting a kindergarten etc. I doubt if you would justify them and their actions if they would target any other place in the world...

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

oops wrong doc lol

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

ok this doc sucks.

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

what sickens me the most is that its seems that white people sympathise and stand up for another race and culture more than their own. And at the same time allow their own race to be critisised and laughed at, degraded, absolutly dissgusting.

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

@ lil red hoodie,

I don't quite understand your point maybe you can clear it up for me , but if one was to take into account such exceptions by the constitution about freedom of speech then, where are we left in terms of freedom of speech? I mean, last time i checked its definition, I don't remember anything about limitions and caution signs.

oh and yes, in most cases women of any litirary study usually make an effort whenever they possibly can to throw something about a woman in their case. whether its relevant or not.

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

Oh p.s,
Right now Palastine has shrunk down to be smaller than ever. So when does the shrinking stop?

rtm
rtm
13 years ago

@ ELi,
You can say your an Isreali and a jew a hundred thousand times, and all that says to me is that your a person just like any other. You say you hate the people that deny the holocust, well I hate the people that deny that the nuremburg trials were a fraud. Don't forget that " History is written by the winner"( Napoleon), and WW2, WW1, and conquests of the Roman Empire, are only a few examples. Heres the deal eli, out of hundreds of genocides around the world the holocust is the only one that is recieving so much critasism, and why do you think that is? I personaly came from a culture that is old enough to know what propoganda is and how it is used, so I can say that what you read NOW on the internet and will read on the internet is unstoppable knowlege.

littleredhoodie
littleredhoodie
13 years ago

@ the few people mentioning the possibilities of jail sentences for questioning nuremberg or the holocaust in general :

First the legal system is different in Europe and we have a very different conception of freedom of speech than youse Americans; It is guaranted by the constitution but limitations are also allowed if there is any abuse of it (racism, homophobia,..)-up to the court to decide-.
Then, there is a law in France and similar ones in other countries which makes holocaust denial a crime, but it is very contested by all sorts of people, and part of a larger debate on whether it is the role of the state to make laws on historical matters or not.

Chomsky had a part to play in the debate when he supported holocaust denier Faurisson, which trial gave birth to the subsequent law.

@ the few people commenting on Morris being a Jew and his intent in making the documentary:

I'm a woman and happen to study history and took women as my subject of research; should I stop now because being a woman would make me bias?
Should northern Irish catholics not study the "troubles" for that same reason?
There could be many examples for the simple reason that there is probably always an emotional involvement when taking up a subject of study, and also intent, and this with the most serious scholars.
We can only expect the researcher no to be overwhelmed by it and use rigor and reasoning,-and of course never base ourselves on the work on one person only-.

Micheal
Micheal
13 years ago

Thankyou Artist
Slavery existed across the world for thousands of years. For the first 200 years, the USA and the Carribean had only white slaves (euphemistically called "indentured labourers") whose descendants are equally entitled to compensation.

Artist
Artist
13 years ago

wow, I just found out there are people in the world, that deny holocaust. Unbelievable. Being from Czech Republic I can just travel for 30 minutes to see concentration camps for myself and actually speak to some holacaust survivors, since they are still alive. I mean it is like denying that slavery existed in Europe

Dan Mcgrew
Dan Mcgrew
13 years ago

I don't see the need to have holocaust activists and educators on this, it's obvious what they'll say. He seems to just be a mild mannered man who was asked to do a job to the best of his ability. He did it and reported his findings.

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To WakeUp:
Just to be honest - I am an Israeli and a Jew. I wish to comment on what you wrote.
The number of holocaust victims is known because of a few things: First, the Germans had a very organised system and kept lists of all those in Ghettos or in camps (concentration, work and extermination). Second, you have lists from the original places of birth of people and can confirm they didn't return from the war. In addition, you have testimonies of relatives that survived and saw what happened to their family. If you ask me, the sensible thought would be that maybe 6 million is inaccurate in the sense that there may have been more victims unaccounted for.
Now to your final punch-line: I think there is no comparison between the holocaust and the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. There has never been an Israeli decision to exterminate all Palestinians as a people, they are (in full contradiction to the common belief) free to pursuit their happiness and prosperity. They choose to remain victims and refugees due to political reasons. In Gaza there is no Israeli presence, yet Hamas prefers to rule with a strict hand over their own people and, believe it or not, they kill their own on religious ground or on political views - like tossing PLO people from roof tops.
It's easy to make Israel the target of public opinion but have you ever asked yourself what have the Palestinians done with all the funding they received from the EU, the USA, Arab nations etc.? They arm themselves and buy guns instead of books, building materials etc. Money and funds seem to "disappear" into top ranking official's bank accounts and the people remain hungry and unemployed. I am all for a viable and sustainable Palestinian state - but if they want independence, shouldn't they be capable of taking care of themselves? Why do they insist on working in Israel, the Israel they despise? Why do they keep saying we are wrong for keeping them out of Israel when all they want is to exterminate the Jewish state?

WakeUp
WakeUp
13 years ago

After reading all of these comments it's obvious that some people have only read one side of history. It really is true that history is written by the victors. To get a true sense of history you usually have to look at both sides and then the truth is in the middle somewhere. There's no doubt that Jews were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis. The only question is the number that was killed. To say six million Jews were killed was only a guess by a handful of Jews that wrote articles and testified at Nuremberg. It's true that there are hundreds of books that say that Six million was the correct number but when you see where they got that number it's always from the same few sources. The entire population of Israel right now is 7,308,800. That's including non-Jews. Six million is not that far off. So to get an idea of what and astronomical endeavor that would be killing that many people. It would be in a sense like killing every man woman and child in Israel now. To me that seems a bit much to believe. Whenever the question of how many gets brought up people always say, "How can you say that? Didn't you see the piles of bodies and the pictures of starving Jews?" Of course I have. Who hasn't. All that proves to me is that they were killed and persecuted by the Nazis, not how many. To this day no one has ever found mass graves that equal to close that number and there are people that have looked. But even in that point it doesn't seem to me that it should really matter. Jews were killed and persecuted horrifically by the Nazis. No matter how many. It did happen. That's the main point. Not how many but the fact that this atrocity even occurred. The Nazis killed a lot of people of different backgrounds. It should all be considered part of the Holocaust. It shouldn't be a "Jewish thing" but a "humanity thing". If you look at the pictures of what happened to people during WW2 you can't help but feel sorry for the Jews and everyone who had to live through that. At this point it shouldn't really matter how many Jews are said to have died. If they want the figure to say six million than so what? What does it really harm? Are people angry that they feel that Jews have gotten special treatment because of the amount that were persecuted? The amount just doesn't matter. The fact that it happened is all that really needs to be said. Now after saying that I feel the biggest travesty after all of this is how the Jews have handled having there own country in regards to Palestinians.

David
David
13 years ago

After reading all the posts regarding the documentary, it is very clear that a tiny bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
The Zundel case was not held to determine whether the holocaust happened or not!
The court intended to determine whether Zundel was exercising free speech or if his actions amounted to spreading hatred.
He was found guilty by the way. That means Zundel was not simply exercising free speech!!
I am astounded that some of you are able to dither over numbers as though the key to some truth were hidden within. Maybe you should sit down and look at pictures and footage of the death camps and try to count how many women, children, and men are in those piles of bodies. Don't forget to count the bodies that filled those large mass graves that were found by the allies before the Germans covered them over with dirt.
You might have some difficulty determining whether the bodies are male or female since they are so emaciated you cannot easily distinguish sex. I know you won't reach six million but what does that really matter? Is the number you come up with of no significance?
Maybe some of you have spent so much time watching action movies and playing first person shooter video games, that you are now insensitive to graphic photos like those taken by allies upon reaching the death camps.
It is very sad to know that images like those no longer shake your soul to the very core!
I am always left speechless by those pictures!

James
James
13 years ago

This documentary presents Leuchter as a rare expert in his field.
He is not alone as an expert in killing people. There are many companies and individuals who are considered experts regarding execution and machines used for execution.
Another fact that seems to be rarely pointed out which I believe allows Dr. Leuchter's, and other holocaust deniers, claims to fester is that the bulk of the holocaust occurred before the execution programs began at the famous death camps. Therefore it is easy to concoct evidence that the gas chambers may not have the capacity to exterminate the six million plus who lost their lives as a direct result of Nazi atrocities. It is a common falsity that the death camps were the primary centres of the holocaust. More than half of the holocaust occurred during the Balkan campaign and at labour camps well before the first death camps were in operation. The six million number is misleading as well since there were many more than that murdered by the Nazis which would not have been accounted in census comparisons that showed population numbers before and after WW2.
Dr. Leuchter woefully explains how a Jewish conspiracy put him out of business. The fact is his lack of credentials were exposed during a high profile case where his integrity would no doubt be scrutinized. What else did he think would happen? Any individual who goes public with evidence that challenges a commonly held belief can expect to have their legitimacy to make such a claim put to question. Who would not expect that kind of response? Apparently, he didn't!

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

To Belisarius:
There is one main difference - none of the nations you mentioned (which I agree have committed horrific acts in their past) had a meeting of high ranking officials that is equivalent to the Wanze convention in which the German high command made a list of all Jewish communities and had an estimate of how many they totaled - and above all - decided to exterminate them all!
Many nations mass-murdered but none had constructed an extermination machine intended to kill a people being systematical persecuted merely on a racial basis.
I hope this makes the difference more clear to you.

Belisarius
Belisarius
13 years ago

The holocaust debate is very strange to me as a history student. In Europe people get thrown in jail because of a doubt in numbers of deaths while the numbers have been changed multiple times since 1945, i believe that even in the eighties the death toll of Auschwitz was around 5 million. This was in every schoolbook and now just a little over 2 decades later it's a million and a half. History is written by the conquerer and they will do anything to justify themselves. Many people today forget that the war was never about the killing of innocents by the germans. What if we would really know and se how many people were killed and tortured under American, French, Chinese, Russian or above all British rule. What happened in Nazi Germany is something that happened consistently by these nations for centuries.

Fifi
Fifi
13 years ago

@ Anthony, thank you so much for your contribution. From your observation though, what do you think was Errol Morris' intent on making this documentary? I suppose you know he is Jewish and obviously that fact alone questions the credibility of the documentary.
My view on Fred:
- He is infatuated with death thus the personified name "Mr. Death".
- A pompous narcissist hungry for power and recognition
Though Errol Morris is a brilliant filmmaker, despite Fred's eerie character, i feel he was biased and his intent was to demean and exploit the man.
- Errol Morris chose the man, knowing well what he wanted to evoke from the audience.
I would have to disagree with your last statement though, though i totally disagree with how Errol portrayed him, i do believe he got what he deserved when he testified in Zundel's case.
@ Eli, my sympathies and thank you for your comments.
And please feel free to dispute whatever, its highly apreciated.

Eli
Eli
13 years ago

This film is, in my opinion, very good.
To all those who commented before me: I am a Jewish-Israeli and have recently been to visit the site of Auschwitz in Poland. My family origins are from Poland, many have been murdered by the Nazis, others emigrated from Poland before the war and I have a grandmother who survived the Warsaw ghetto and several camps, including Majdanek.
I despise all who claim that the Holocaust never happened. To many people witnessed it and testified to it - including Germans.
In regards to this film specifically, I find it problematic that the "expert" portrayed is, in fact, no expert at what he was hired to examine. He did not know how to conduct the right tests and ended up vandalizing a memorial to the millions murdered in Auschwitz and other camps. In the movie you can hear him say he was afraid of being caught - I think he should be prosecuted for his vandalism and pure lack of respect.
Maybe this man wasn't an anti-Semite, maybe he isn't even now - but he knew he was committing a crime when he chipped those walls!
I believe, all considered, that he got what he deserved... he could have said no, he could stop at any moment: in contrast to holocaust victims, he was not acting at gunpoint!
All those who think he was wrongly treated - shame on you for empowering a criminal who became so in love with himself and his self importance that it blinded him from seeing what he was really doing.

Anthony
Anthony
13 years ago

@Fifi, I too did a journal for Mr. Death but if it helps you to understand then my point of view is this:

Errol Morris is conveying two things about Mr. Death his Sanity and his Insanity, at the start of the film it is obvious that the Documentary portray Fred as a humanitarian that makes efficient execution devices till the point it is painless.

And then the holocaust the other half of the film, well it goes down hill from there, Fred's expertise is not exactly qualified to investigate the ruins of the gas chambers, but he did so anyways and earned a lot of protest.

During that length of the film, there was not even a single moment that Fred is on an interview until the last stretch of the film, then at last Fred was able to say something back.

The Documentary is edited quite frankly 30% good about Fred at the start and then 60% bad at the middle for Fred and then 10% good about Fred at the last parts. {That's how i see the film)

Fred just expressed his point of view even though it lacks a lot of things, he did not deserve such cruelty to an extent that his life that he build up went in tatters. (I support Fred's Determination to stick to his report, his freedom to express and his humanitarian views.)

Tas
Tas
13 years ago

What a creep.

Fifi
Fifi
13 years ago

Hey, if u all don't mind, i need your opinions on what you think Errol Morris was trying to convey in his documentary, his representation of Fred. Was he exploiting or victimizing the man. As evident from the comments everyone has a viewpoint about the holocaust. Was Errol Morris right to document Fred in the way he did? i need a parameter to work with to analyse this documentary.
Thanks in advance.

Gordon
Gordon
13 years ago

This was a really interesting documentary which showed what happens when you end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leuchter was asked to investigate on the strength of his un-related expertise in execution devices. He wasn't qualified to investigate or collect samples and that shows clearly in the scene where he's scooping up water with his bare hands.
As for those of you who are actually denying the holocaust you need to wake up and view the whole historical evidence. In the same way hundreds, if not thousands, of people saw planes hit the WTC but a few claim they saw missiles why would you choose to belive the mistaken/lying/deluded few over the majority?

30stones
30stones
13 years ago

Reba: Questioning how many jews were killed is not questioning a culture. You are very naive.
Have you really been researching this since you were eight years old? I find that hard to believe.
Propaganda in Germany was learned from American advertising and Hollywood. What ethnicity comes to mind when you think of Hollywood?
I have not researched the holocaust in great depth, this just came off the top of my head.

BA; I'm very sorry for your relatives who stayed behind in Poland. But I believe they may have died from a number of things including: malnutrition, overworking of the body, dehydration, machine gunned, typhus, and other diseases. However I doubt a single one of them was gassed.

David; insert collusion for conspiracy in your pearl statement. If debating over the way in which the Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, Homosexuals, and others were killed and the number people makes someone a holocaust denier in your book you are what you ********. As for the rest of your list you wrote I've never heard of any of them except for from you.

Anthony
Anthony
13 years ago

Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. isn't against Jews. what happened in this documentary is Fred failed to defend and prove his report, all I can see... is the world going down on him, he's not a bad individual infact he's a humanitarian the man YOU SHOULD be angry about is that guy who publish those fake history books.

Fred truly believe in his freedom to express his point of view and stick to it. that is not wrong. Human's are free to choose as they please. As, fred said "Obligation to the truth" you decode this and narrow it down, if you still come up with "fred is a worm, disappear from this world" you have misunderstood it.

It is just sad all those jews and in suit to influence bore ill-will agaisnt fred. If that is the people's choice, I will not jut you.

But honestly, Holocaust activist/survivors I'm starting to think your just a bunch of haters and fail to understand Fred is not someone you should hate. but I guess it's your choice to choose. who to hate and despise, just like fred choose to believe in logic on those chambers

david
david
13 years ago

9/11 never happened nobody died there it was all maid up. pearl harbor was a conspiracy. there is no such thing as the atom bomb. all americans are actually black but some are painted white.

If there was a holocaust you people denying it would be in the gas chambers with the jews because you are a bunch of retar**. And all this cr** about knowing history what is the point of learning history if you can just say its not true.

Selective bunch of id****. And if there is one country in the world that should never speak about the holocaust not happening it should be America. Your precious IBM created the code and form of identification with which we could then figure out who died. Amazing how stupid people can be. Kill yourself and earn a Darwin award you would do al of us a favor by removing yourselves from the gene pool.

Tracy
Tracy
13 years ago

Something needs to happen by where one group of _________ (insert your group here) doesn't continue to blame the ___________ (insert your group here) oppressors for events that had nothing to do with them personally albeit some vague color similarity or vague ethnicity label, etc. JUST STOP BLAMING. You want to inflict the biggest punishment on a 'denier' (of anything) then just ignore him/her/them. Give no credence.

As for this man from Mass, seems relatively straight forward. He sees an opportunity and accepts it. Upon arriving at said opportunity he does what he thinks is beneficial (ie gathering samples and having them tested). Testifies to what he believes is true and as he states, reluctantly adopts some new views ...and that's about it. One guys opinion on one subject in a land where that sort of thing is still allowed and is then punished for it. What I've learned from this is the same ole' thing over and over and over again...freedom of speech is just a relative term, a bait and switch tactic and woe be it to the middle class man/woman who exercises it to the chagrin of those with money and undue influence. Woe be it indeed.

Alexandrea
Alexandrea
13 years ago

Thank you Reba & Josip for your thought-provoking comments & responses. Makes me want to research & learn even more about this topic. I can definitely appreciate individuals who can have a diplomatic discussion about a sensitive topic without resorting to childish name calling. So unproductive. LOL.

P.S. @Reba, I now know who to refer to if I have questions! Thanks a bunch.

Frank C.
Frank C.
13 years ago

I should also add that before I watched this I believed in the holocaust but after seeing the only rebuttal the dutch researcher put forth was all emotional evidence where as Leuchter showed logical evidence I really don't know what to believe now. Also the music and flashbacks of Nazi cities and swastikas and him saying if mass death did in fact happen it would have made more sense to use another forms of execution coupled with the shot of the camp barb wire I think the directer wanted to show Leuchter as some sort of nazi scientist. Even the title is biased and the fact that Mr. Leuchter is in hiding today shows that you really do not have freedom of speech when it comes to hard questions.

Frank C.
Frank C.
13 years ago

I like him this re edit shows him as a monster but really he just wanted prisoners to die like human beings and not suffer more then intended.

Kudos to you Mr. Leuchter

Sirkots
Sirkots
13 years ago

It would be strange if the jewish director and producer of this documentary, Errol Morris, would try to show to the rest of the world something different than what is obvious....for him.

We had 'The greatest story ever told' and now we have 'The next greatest story ever told'. Among other 'charisma', these people are great storytellers, they have it in their blood.

disturbed
disturbed
13 years ago

This guy's no expert. He's an engineer. You need an archeologist and a toxicologist to do something like that. Not to mention having no permission to be there chipping off pieces of history.

Hilliard
Hilliard
13 years ago

jews complaining. i just discovered the wheel.....poor fred, i honestly feel bad for him. I can see in his eyes he knows he was used but rather than admit he was a tool, and probably enjoyed it, i mean who wouldn't like a lecture applause? god damn u jews when are you going to shut the f--k up. please shutup. learn that you're not the only people to die in horrific ways. they are only winning because they got the jew bling in the bank. by the way if you label me as slanted, your argument is instantly invalid. because your complaining about me complaining. the irony.

Syly1212
Syly1212
13 years ago

Al-Maeda [5:32] ".....if anyone slew a person?unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land? it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people....."

Weather one innocent person was killed (Jewish or otherwise) or it was 10 million, it was all equally evil, because all were equally innocent.

Fred A. Leuchter, Jr is another innocent victim. Not killed, at least not mortally, but still destroyed.

I don't believe Leuchter is an anti-Semite. I believe he did an honest job, with good intentions. Unfortunately, he, (like others have) found out our Constitutional right to Freedom Of Speech is really only a right as long as you don't offend someone. God help you if you do!