David
Irving replies: IT is an intriguing
question. There were up to ten men in that room
at the moment of Himmler's death, all most
suspiciously listed by name, full rank, and
initials, in the Second Army's report.
It has been retyped
. That looks to me
like stage-setting: they were the unwilling
witnesses of something they did not know they
were actually witnessing -- a high-level murder.
Very clever.
How many officers, if
any, were actually privy to the plot in that
house? A key question.
The actual killing
method needs some common-sense examination. Note
that the autopsy report omits the cause of
death. Can we really believe that a doctor --
fake or otherwise -- would take the risk of
pushing a fragile glass phial of cyanide into a
Nazi's mouth? It was big, and Himmler would have
seen it coming a second or two ahead of the
insertion. You don't fool around with potassium
cyanide. Suppose Himmler had spat it out into
the "doctor's" face, held only inches away for
the "mouth examination". But a syringe?
Unlikely, the witnesses would have seen it.
Perhaps we need more
information on the killing methods available to
the British Special Forces in May 1945: exotic
poisons, nerve gases, and the like.
I have today posted
the war
diary of the British
Second Army commander (General Dempsey)
covering the period. Note the visits to
Westertimke (where Himmler and his adjutants
were identified) and Bremervörde (where he
was captured).
David Irving