These numbers range from 9 million down to 73,137, the number that Bird asserts is the correct figure. In fact, these statistics are far from chronological. Although some background is offered as to the origin of each of these figures, the failure to use any actual citations makes the researchers job very difficult and the skeptics belief unchanged. Bird asserts that 73,137 inmates succumbed to the conditions at Auschwitz. This statistic, he claims comes from the German concentration camp records.
Bird states more than once that the statistics in the death books are both complete and authentic.
The problem of course is not the authenticity of the death books but with their completeness. January 1945 remain missing. Assuming all inmates at Auschwitz were accounted for in the concentration camp records, one would need to extrapolate the number of deaths for the missing years. Using this method, Butz estimated 125,000 deaths at Auschwitz. Bird appears to be satisfied with his conclusions regarding of the number of Auschwitz victims and moves quickly on to other topics.