The University of Goettingen will strip the author of a Nazi propaganda book of the doctoral degree he earned there in 1951. A university spokesman said the decision, by the Council of Deans, would be announced as soon as the author, Dr. Wilhelm Staeglich and his attorneys are officially informed of the action.
Staeglich, who lives in Hamburg and once served as a judge, is the author of “The Auschwitz Myth” which claims that the gas chambers and the murder of six million Jews during World War II was “Zionist atrocity propaganda” with no basis in fact. The book was published in 1979 by the Grabert Publishing House in Tuebingen and promptly became a best seller in neo-Nazi circles.
It was subsequently banned by a Stuttgart court which ordered the destruction of all copies in circulation and the printer’s plates. That verdict was confirmed by a higher federal court last January 26.
Prof. Norbert Kamp, president of Goettingen University, said Staeglich was not entitled to retain his degree because he misused it to give an aura of scholarship to blatant Nazi propaganda. Kamp said he was shocked by the volume of mail he has received from persons all over the world supporting Staeglich’s allegations.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
