Does the changing of the number of deaths on the Plaque at Auschwitz counts as historical revisionism?

Question

Until 1990, a memorial plaque at Auschwitz read: "Four Million People Suffered and Died Here at the Hands of the Nazi Murderers Between the Years 1940 and 1945."

During a 1979 visit to the camp, Pope John Paul II stood before this memorial and blessed the four million victims.

http://www.revisionists.com/revisionism.html

Then the amount of deaths on plaque at Auschwitz was lowered from 4 million to only 1.5 million, but despite 2.5 million people disappearing, we all are still required to say 6 million.

Are the lowering of deaths considered historical revisionism/denial by holocaust promoters?

Answer 1

@Hatmanone gave the details.



Ironically, Pope's 1979 speech explicitly warns against deniers like you (see speech below)!



The scholar-determined murders of 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews was based on pre-&post war censuses & Nazi documentation. Actual scholars don't get their data off memorial plaques... and sometimes plaques are mistaken.



Your site calls Nazis liars... since Nazis informed us of their gas chambers... and your site says the chambers didn't exist.



The Vatican keeps it's speeches online. Yet, your site claiming to "uncover" words in it... but doesn't reference the Pope's speech. So, if it did, it would show what, that they are afraid of?



You aren't questioning the 5 million non-Jews murdered. Your focus is on Jews. The same as for every Holocaust denier.



-----------------------



From the Polish American Congress:

http://www.pacwashmetrodiv.org/events/holoc04/preisler.htm

http://www.pacwashmetrodiv.org/



"Pope John Paul II visiting Auschwitz on June 7, 1979 said, I quote:



“I have come and I kneel on this Golgotha of the modern world, on these tombs, largely nameless, like the great tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I kneel before all the inscriptions that come one after another bearing the memory of the victims of Auschwitz in the languages: Polish, English, Bulgarian, Romany, Czech, Danish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Flemish, Servo-Croat, German, Norwegian, Russian, Romanian, Hungarian and Italian”.



Today we are beginning to hear voices that say that the Holocaust never took place… that there weren’t any death camps… that gas chambers never existed… that everything is a hoax. Auschwitz is a symbol of martyrdom of the Polish nation. Leaving Auschwitz, I left behind me the biggest international cemetery – but with no graves. The names of those who perished there are only known to God. Today, we pay tribute to all innocent victims of this Holocaust tragedy… no exception as to nationality nor religion.



I am standing before you as a Polish Roman Catholic survivor of Auschwitz-an eyewitness to history… a victim in one of mankind’s ugliest moments...to tell the truth of what happened in those camps. The subject is not a pleasant one, but we must remind the world that these camps really did exist – that the gas chambers were real, and that millions of people were murdered in a brutal way. "

Answer 2

No. It isn't.



And changing the numbers on the plaque has nothing to do with the 6 Million figure.



1. The 6 Million figure has nothing to do with the plaque.



The 6 M figure was calculated through two diff methods



A) assessing the population figures and identifying how many people disappeared (population - emmigration)



B) German records.



2. The plaque original estimate was done by a group independent of any of those estimating the total number killed. And at the time, those other groups said that the number on the plaque was wrong and an overestimation.



So, changing it now is meaningless for the 6M total figure.

Answer 3

The plaque at Auschwitz that said 4 millions was NEVER part of the official death count. This plaque was erected by Soviet Union, who were the camp liberators,has propaganda to show how they defeated the evil Nazis. The official numbers killed at Auschwitz has always been around 1.5 million, and the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust ALWAYS estimated around 1 million died in Auschwitz.



With the fall of communism in Poland and the Soviet Union, the plaque was changed so that is reflected the official numbers. Therefore the official million now makes more sense as the Auschwitz plaque is consistent with how many died there.

Unfortunately though the revisionists (who, despite what they say are usually really deniers) distort what happened and now try to claim the official numbers have to be lowers now, despite the fact that the Soviet 4 million were never part of the official 6 million.



The changing of the plaque was just to bring it into line with what were always the official number. It is further proof that all care is taken in ensuring the accuracy of the numbers records as killed in the Holocaust. And these numbers are based on records kept by the Nazis themselves, and not some plaque taken out of context by the deniers.



Edit

Your link uses the "Leuchter report" as supposed proof. Anyone who references that report instantly loses any credibility as that report has been so discredited that people who were involved have distanced themselves from it. Leuchter used fraudulent unscientific methods, which was not surprising considering he was a liar who claimed he had an engineering degree when he did not, and lied about being a gas chamber expert. In fact he was thrown into jail for fraud, and has become somewhat of a laughing stock. Deniers worship Leuchter as if he has uncovered the holy grail, when the truth is all he does is prove how much deniers lie in order to try to rewrite history. Same goes for all the misquotes and quotes out of context in your link.

Answer 4

I am no longer so certain your rambling made much sense (or, as a minimum, I had to learn it over to truly find the division between the background know-how and the area subject), but as for the query, it's a topic of bias. There's no real way to assess the prior, simplest, at the easiest kind, a set of "pleasant practices" that we try to comply to so to understand the most about our historical past as we are able to in as correct a form as we can. Ultimately, some individuals take potential of that, and i do consider you there, that taking abilities of historical past for an agenda is ridiculously inane and bothersome. Again, although, how do you evaluation a truth to be authentic? Oftentimes you must rely on some pretty unreliable sources.

Answer 5

No, I don't think it is. Nobody knows for sure exactly how many people died at the hand of the Nazis. Historical Revisionism has to do more with distorting facts to serve a political purpose or some other agenda.

Answer 6

It keeps changing because they find more dead. The Nazis murdered countless people and destroyed their bodies to hid their crimes so it's hard keep track of the victims.