Foundations of Contemporary History

A Handbook on Controversial Questions
of the Twentieth Century

by Ernst Gauss

Introduction to the Online Version

By Richard A. Widmann

   Foundations of Contemporary History was the first entire book posted to CODOHWeb back in 1998.  At the time, revisionists around the world were very disturbed by the actions of the Federal Republic of Germany.  The original edition of this book, published in German as Grundlagen zur Zeitgeschichte was made illegal in Germany.  Police raided the publisher, printer, editor, distributors, wholesalers, and even multi-copy purchasers.  A judge ordered that all copies be confiscated and burned.  The editor, Germar Rudolf adopted the nom de plume Ernst Gauss, in order to avoid arrest.

RIGHT: The infamous book, banned and ordered burned in Germany in 1995, Grundlagen zur Zeitgeschichte: Ein Handbuch über strittige Fragen des 20. Jarhrhunderts.

   What was so horrible, so outrageous about this volume that the German government would violate human rights to squash it?  Grundlagen was in fact the most up-to-date collection of leading revisionist theory on the Holocaust.  Clearly the English-speaking world needed to read what was contained in this volume-- both for the sake of the history of the Holocaust and for the sake of intellectual freedom.

   A small team set to work on the task. Work was required translating, proof reading, and coding  a 400 page volume into HTML. Nothing like this had ever been done before. Piece by piece, article by article the work was completed. In its entirety, Grundlagen rose like a phoenix and was given new life on the Internet. The battle for free speech was in full swing. The book burners in Germany would face a cyber-challenge from across the Atlantic.

   Since that time, this work was revised, re-edited and published in an expanded version under the title, Dissecting the Holocaust: The Growing Critique of 'Truth' and 'Memory' by the Theses & Dissertations Press. Although that handsome edition, of a truly banned and burned book deserves a place in the library of everyone who cherishes freedom, there is still a place for this early edition as well.

LEFT: In July 2000, a handsome English language edition of Grundlagen was finally made available.  Retitled, Dissecting the Holocaust, the new edition revised and includes several additional articles.

   Today with the cooperation of the American government, Germar Rudolf is in custody in Germany for having edited and published this title as well as several additional works of Holocaust revisionism. Some may criticize the translation, the text, even the arguments contained in this edition of Foundations. It may in fact be imperfect, but no more so than the freedoms of the great Western tradition. As you read this book, remember those who sit in jail-cells, those who have risked their reputation, and even their lives, not for any nefarious purpose, but rather to put right the errors of this tragic period of history.

This work was translated from the
original German by Victor Diodon except as noted.
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ROBERT FAURISSON
Preface (23K)
translation from the French by Tom Kerr

ERNST GAUSS
The Controversy about the Extermination of the Jews: An Introduction (105K)

WERNER RADEMACHER
The Case of Walter Lüftl or: Contemporary History and the Justice System (79K)

MANFRED KÖHLER
The Value of Testimony and Confessions Concerning the Holocaust (166K)

ROBERT FAURISSON
Witnesses to the Gas Chambers of Auschwitz
translation from the French by Daniel Desjardins

CLAUS JORDAN
Politics and Justice: A Case Study (118K)

GERMAR RUDOLF
Holocaust Victims: A Statistical Analysis
W. Benz and W. N. Sanning - A Comparison (127K)

JOHANNES PETER NEY
The Wannsee Conference Protocol: Anatomy of a Fabrication (57K)

INGRID WECKERT
The Gas Vans: A Critical Assessment of the Evidence

UDO WALENDY
" Do Documentary" Photographs Prove the National Socialist Extermination of the Jews? (47K)

JOHN CLIVE BALL
Air Photo Evidence (Large Graphics) (37K + 1M or more graphics)

Air Photo Evidence (Text w/Graphics Links) (35K)

GERMAR RUDOLF
The "Gas Chambers" of Auschwitz and Majdanek (107K)

CARLO MATTOGNO AND FRANCO DEANA
The Crematoria Ovens of Auschwitz and Birkenau (161K)
Translation by Victor Diodon. "Author's Note" translated from the Italian by Russ Granata

FRIEDRICH PAUL BERG AND GERMAR RUDOLF
The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth Within a Myth (87K)

ARNULF NEUMAIER
The Treblinka Holocaust (111K)

HERBERT TIEDEMANN
Babi Yar: Critical Questions and Comments (100K)

ERNST GAUSS
Wood Preservation Through Fumigation With Hydrogen Cyanide:
Blue Discoloration of Lime- and Cement-Based Interior Plaster

ERNST GAUSS
Epilogue