Birkenau

Boca Raton, FL, Nov. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In the face of resurgent antisemitism and Holocaust denial, philanthropist and businessman Elliott Broidy has announced his acquisition of a unique historical artifact: one of only two existing whiteprints of the original design of the crematoria for Auschwitz-Birkenau, conceived and drawn by SS architect Walter Dejaco under the direction of camp commandant Rudolf Höss.

Broidy published an op-ed about the acquisition in the pages of The Wall Street Journal.

The architectural drawing, created on October 24, 1941, after a two-day meeting to design much larger crematoria than the one that existed in Auschwitz, was authenticated by renowned Auschwitz historian Prof. Robert Jan van Pelt of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. It is a chilling and irrefutable piece of evidence documenting the start of the systematic, industrialized murder of millions of Jews that defined the Holocaust.

According to Professor van Pelt, the architectural design concept in the whiteprint evolved over time into Crematoria II and III, the main factories of death at Birkenau—the massive camp that was built adjacent to Auschwitz to handle the mass killing operations. Crematorium II became operational in the spring of 1943. The two buildings were equipped with gas chambers with a killing capacity of up to 2,000 people at one time and ovens with an official incineration capacity of 1,440 corpses per day.

Historically, the whiteprint’s date of creation serves as a missing piece of a puzzle central to the Holocaust. Both the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Yad Vashem possess revisions of this document, but not the actual first iteration of the planned crematoria at Birkenau. Only one other copy of this drawing is known to exist, and it resides in Moscow’s State Military Archive, currently inaccessible to Western researchers.

“This whiteprint is physical proof of humanity’s darkest capacity,” said Elliott Broidy, Chairman and CEO of Broidy Capital Holdings. “To behold it is to confront the deliberate design of evil. My most sincere wish is for this whiteprint to be memorialized as part of an irrefutable body of evidence that negates Holocaust denial and helps to forever silence malevolent revisionists while also educating new generations about the lessons of the Holocaust.”

Explaining why this Dejaco whiteprint is so significant, Prof. van Pelt said: “This first crematorium drawing captures the moment when Auschwitz entered the technological imagination: a design that became the prototype for the most lethal killing facilities in human history.”

Asked what it adds to our understanding of Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Prof. van Pelt said: “The October 1941 crematorium plan shows Auschwitz in motion—an architecture first shaped by the murder of Soviet POWs that was, through successive decisions, adapted into the machinery of destruction that resulted in the Holocaust.”

Prof. Michael Berenbaum of the American Jewish University, who was formerly Project Director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, said: “This is one of the most important visual documents showing how the crematoria were created, and showing also the intentionality and professionalism, the intricate detail and the substance, with which the crematoria were thought through.”

Broidy’s acquisition of the whiteprint was facilitated by Rabbi David Baron of the Temple of the Arts Synagogue in Beverly Hills, CA. The Temple acquired the document from the friend of a congregant who, years earlier, had purchased it at a Nazi memorabilia auction in Germany. In an act of remembrance and reverence, Broidy paid a sum matching the number of Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust—1.5 million—with all proceeds going toward Rabbi Baron’s development of a global early childhood curriculum promoting empathy, altruism, and anti-extremism.

The announcement comes amid renewed interest in the Nuremberg Trials—which first defined the crime of genocide—prompted by the 80th anniversary of their opening on November 20, 1945. Broidy’s acquisition of this historical whiteprint serves as a stark reminder of the real-world consequences of genocide, a word that is flagrantly misused in present-day political discourse.

Broidy plans to display the whiteprint at institutions and organizations dedicated to combating antisemitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust, before making a long-term gift of it to one institution.

The acquisition builds upon Broidy’s broader efforts to counter extremist ideologies, including his support of The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the creation of The Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization at the former home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss at 88 Legionów Street, adjacent to the concentration camp: ARCHER at House 88. The center focuses on fighting current antisemitism by disrupting the financial networks of extremist groups, using 21^st-century tools to eliminate violent extremist content on the internet, and advising governments on laws such as the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act that require platforms to take down violent extremist content. Broidy is one of a small group of philanthropists who made possible the recent purchase of this house from its private Polish owners, and he is one of the co-chairs of The Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism, and Hate, which raises funds for ARCHER at House 88.

Through his leadership of The Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism, and Hate and other endeavors, Broidy supports initiatives that use historical truth and modern technology to dismantle hate networks, promote intergroup understanding, and safeguard the memory of the Holocaust.

“The Nazis sought to erase the humanity of their victims and their very existence,” Broidy added. “This artifact—and the education it will support—reasserts that humanity, helps ensure the continuity of the Jewish people, and works to build ways for all people to see the good in others.”

About Elliott Broidy

Elliott Broidy is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist with a career spanning four decades. As Chairman and CEO of Broidy Capital Holdings, he has invested in over 160 companies across multiple industries. Since 9/11, his investments have focused on companies in the public safety and national security sectors. Through his philanthropic efforts, he has supported numerous organizations dedicated to countering antisemitism, hate and extremism, including The Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL), The George Washington University Program on Extremism, and StandWithUs.