No Mention of Gas Chambers In 1956 Encyclopaedia Britanica? Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006
I recently came across this in David Duke's book Jewish Supremacism (p.277):
Quote: (...) the first thing I did was pull out my much-thumbed volumes of the 1956 Encylopaedia Brittanica. It had only one reference to Nazi atrocities against the Jews. The extensive Second World War article made no mention of Nazi pogroms against the Jews. The edition also has no articles devoted to the "Holocaust". In an article titled "Jews," there was a short section on the Jews during the war. This article, written by Jacob Marcus, perhaps the preeminent Jewish historian in the world at that time, cited many Jewish writers and authorities as sources, including Encyclopedia Judaica, Judishe Lexicon, the Jewish Encyclopedia, and the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia. A pro-Jewish perspective dominated the article, and Marcus described Jewish conditions under the Nazis with these words:
"In order to effect a solution of the Jewish problem in line with their theories, the Nazis carried out a series of expulsions and deportations of Jews, mostly of original east European stock, from nearly all European states.
Men frequently separated from their wives, and others from children, were sent by the thousands to Poland and western Russia. There they were put into concentration camps, or huge reservations, or sent into the swamps, or out on the roads, into labour gangs. Large numbers perished under the inhuman conditions which they labored. While every other large Jewish center was being embroiled in war, American Jewry was gradually assuming a position of leadership in world Jewry." [found in the 1947, 52 and 56 editions]
Duke claims that this is the only description of what is known today as the "Holocaust" in the 1947, 1952 and 1956 editions of the respected encyclopedia and that nothing about gas chambers or the figure of 6 million dead Jews can be found in them. Quite remarkable if true.
Since I don't have the possibility to check up on this myself (I don't live in an English speaking country, so the only 1956 EB edition available in a public library is probably many hundred miles away from me) could someone please answer me whether what Duke claims is correct or not?