The claim that the Germans experimented with a proto-atomic bomb recalls one of the more bizarre moments from the main Nuremberg trial, June 21, 1946, the American prosecutor's cross-examination of Albert Speer, the former Munitions Minister:

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And certain experiments were also conducted and certain researches conducted in atomic energy, were they not?

SPEER: We had not got as far as that, unfortunately, because the finest experts we had in atomic research had emigrated to America, and this had thrown us back a great deal in our research, so that we still needed another year or two in order to achieve any results in the splitting of the atom.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: The policy of driving people out who didn't agree with Germany hadn't produced very good dividends, had it?

SPEER: Especially in this sphere it was a great disadvantage to us.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, I have certain information, which was placed in my hands, of an experiment which was carried out near Auschwitz and I would like to ask you if you heard about it or knew about it. The purpose of the experiment was to find a quick and complete way of destroying people without the delay and trouble of shooting and gassing and burning, as it had been carried out, and this is the experiment, as I am advised. A village, a small village was provisionally erected, with temporary structures, and in it approximately 20,000 Jews were put. By means of this newly invented weapon of destruction, these 20,000 people were eradicated almost instantaneously, and in such a way that there was no trace left of them; that it developed, the explosive developed, temperatures of from 400š to 500š centigrade and destroyed them without leaving any trace at all.

Do you know about that experiment?

SPEER: No, and I consider it utterly improbable. If we had had such a weapon under preparation, I should have known about it. But we did not have such a weapon. It is clear that in chemical warfare attempts were made on both sides to carry out research on all the weapons one could think of, because one did not know which party would start chemical warfare first. 

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/06-21-46.htm

See too on the alleged German atomic bomb: Jackson/Speer exchange at

Nuremberg, and more, discussed here:

http://revforum.yourforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=1150

Tall tales for the gullible "Hitler had the atom bomb first but it was too ungainly for aerial deployment"- says a new book | In commentary, David Irving says: rubbish | Süddeutsche Zeitung belatedly agrees

The Times report on the same story

More on the story that Hitler "had the atom bomb first"

Washington Post: Book: Nazis Tested Crude Nuclear Device

 

David Irving's Hitler's War (free download)

David Irving's The German Atomic Bomb (The Virus House) (free download)

 

Haigerloch zieht Dankesworte an den Rechtsausleger David Irving nun doch sofort zurück (in German: in 2001, after protests from the usual quarters, the Haigerloch museum removed all references and thanks to Mr Irving who had provided them with all photographs on display).