Word: staeglich
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...West German court last week ordered the destruction of the printing plates and all available copies of The Auschwitz Myth. The court's reaction is understandable. Staeglich is, after all, a liar whose work could make the outlawed Nazi party's existence more palatable, or at least stir up the belligerence of its present members. Few West Germans who remember the horrors of Nazi rule would welcome either prospect. One can also see the rationale behind the University of Goettingen's recent decision to revoke the doctoral degree Staeglich earned in 1951 for his law studies. The president...
...Staeglich's book maintains that the Nazi murder of six million European Jews is nothing more than "Zionist atrocity propaganda." Because this thesis is so obscene, so repugnant to any sentient 20th century human. Staeglich and his book--and the recent reaction to both in West Germany--raise the kinds of question about intellectual freedom one hopes never to encounter outside an ethics class...
...actions of the court and the University neglect two considerations which would favor another course. First, on a practical level, banning the book and stripping Staeglich of his degree could provoke and unintended response. The neo-Nazis may try to make Staeglich a martyr, calling him the victim of a conspiracy. A silenced Staeglich may win more Nazi sympathizers than a vocal one. Perhaps a more pragmatic way to combat the propaganda would be pointedly to refute its premise and its "evidence...
...COULD HOPE, of course to win over the Nazis: Paranoids who see Jewish conspiracies behind every personal misfortune are notoriously impervious to facts. Most of the Nazis who bought Staeglich's book have ignored the incontrovertible fact that Hitler tried to commit genocide and came dangerously close to succeeding. In The Auschwitz Myth they seek new excuses to justify their long-held beliefs. But for the rational people whose curiosity might be piqued by a book banning, better to criticize the book than forbid...
...States, the Germans have much to fear from Nazi propaganda. But book burning has no place in a democracy. Moreover, for a university to revoke its degrees because of the beliefs of the holder strikes a heavy blow at intellectual freedom. Yet few could mourn the disappearance of Dr. Staeglich's book from the face of the earth--that is why the case is so difficult. But that is also why it is so important. Making distinctions between acceptable and unacceptable ideas is a dangerous task. The Nazis themselves taught the world that freedoms can erode quickly. Oliver Wendell Holmes...