Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYcontained a similar passage about the definition of genocide as the onequoted here from the Lectures. Since I feared that some of the contributingauthors would not agree with the text of my introduction, I did nottell them beforehand about its content. After all, it had already been sufficientlydifficult to keep all the authors on board of this project, sinceoccasional arguments had erupted during the preparational phase andsome authors had threatened to retract their contribution.When the co-authors finally received the finished book, I indeed receivedan angry letter from Johannes Peter Ney in which he accused meof making unnecessary concessions to the other side by admitting thateven from a revisionist point of view the National Socialist persecutionof the Jews amounted to genocide. Hence Herr Ney forbade me to everagain publish any contribution by him. This is also the reason why thecontribution by Herr Ney about the question of the authenticity of theWannsee Protocol is not included in the English edition of Grundlagen.175For both gentlemen mentioned here the motto “Wrong or Right, myCountry” was supreme, as they had pointed out to me. They demandedexpressly that I ought to subordinate truth to political considerations,and that simply won’t wash with me.I finally may address a pseudo-accusation which cannot be found inthe indictment but which can be found in Judge Meinerzhagen’s rulingabout the arrest warrant. According to this I am allegedly not interestedin discovering the truth, but only in helping my views to a breakthrough.As a matter of fact, both usually go hand in hand, because only hewho is convinced to have found the truth has the motivation and convictionto make it prevail – or at least wanting it to prevail – against somethingelse which he considers to be wrong. And besides, wishing for abreakthrough of one’s own views is absolutely legitimate, deeply human,and even necessary in the scientific process, because one needs amotivation to defend one’s theses against criticism, not to mention thatone needs much stronger motivations in order to stay true to one’sviews in the face of personal attacks and even societal persecution andgovernment prosecution. A scientist who caves in at the slightest resistanceisn’t any good.175 An English translation is posted online, though, see note 125.160