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Line 85: ===[[Posen speech]]=== On [[4 October]] [[1943]], Himmler referred explicitly to the extermination of the Jewish people during a secret SS meeting in the city of [[Poznań|Poznań (Posen)]]. The following are excerpts from a transcription of an [http://www.holocaust-history.org/himmler-poznan/ audio recording] that exists of the speech:<blockquote>I also want to mention a very difficult subject before you here, completely openly. It should be discussed amongst us, and yet, nevertheless, we will never speak about it in public. I am talking about the Jewish evacuation: the extermination of the Jewish people. It is one of those things that is easily said. “The Jewish people are being exterminated,” every Party member will tell you: “Perfectly clear, it’s part of our plans, we’re eliminating the Jews, exterminating them, ha!, a small matter.”</blockquote> Arthur R. Butz, in his book "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century" (see http://vho.org/GB/Books/thottc/10.html) cites the documents (NMT, vol. 13, 457-487) to indicate that the International Military Tribunal at Nüremberg accepted the speech ''prima facie'', which means “at first sight; accepted as so until proved otherwise”: “Judge Powers, Presiding: Well, I think that there is enough evidence here, prima facie, that the voice is the voice of Himmler to justify receiving the document in evidence. There is no evidence, however, that it was delivered at Poznan or any other particular place. The discs will be received in evidence as an indication of Himmler’s general attitude.” Also, according Arthur R. Butz and his above-cited book (pages 237-241), the recording was put into evidence during the testimony of defendant Gottlob Berger, SS General, at the IMT, but Berger denied that the speech was accurate, because he recalled that part of the speech had dealt with certain Belgian and Dutch SS leaders who were present at the meeting, and "[...] that is not contained in the transcript. I can say with certainty that he did not speak about the Ausrottung of the Jews, because the reason for this meeting was to equalize and adjust these tremendous tensions between the Waffen SS and the Police." == The Second World War == | |||