The Moral Obligation of Forensic Examination

Does it really matter how many Jews lost their lives in the German sphere of influence during the Second World War Is it so important, after so many years, to attempt painstakingly to investigate just how they died After all, it is surely morally correct that even one victim is one too many and nobody seriously denies that many Jews died. 

To affirm these things, however, is not to raise a valid objection— moral or otherwise—to the scientific investigation of a crime held to be unique and unparalleled in the history of mankind. Even a crime that is alleged to be uniquely reprehensible must be open to a procedure that is standard for any other crime namely, that it can be—must be—subject to a detailed material investigation. Further whoever pos- 

To demonstrate just what kind of double standard is being applied to the Holocaust (generally defined as the purposeful annihilation, chiefly by gassing, of millions of Jews by the National Socialists), let us note the international reaction to several recent examples of mass murder or crimes against humanity.  

During the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, rumors about mass killings by Serbs spread around the world. After the fighting was over, an in- 

72 Michael D. Kelleher, C. L. Kelleher, Murder Most Rare The Female Serial Killer, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 1998. 

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