Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYtarily relegated to a different university, then banned to teach, and finallysuspended of all of his duties. When the Austrian judiciary openedcriminal investigations against him for his article with German administrativeassistance due to alleged National Socialist re-engagement, Prof.Pfeifenberger saw not only his career and his reputation ruined, but healso faced a long-term imprisonment. Hence he committed suicideshortly thereafter. 244 This case of a conservative professor driven intosuicide due to societal and governmental persecution ran like a shockwave through conservative circles in Germany and Austria and drovethe message home to many academics exactly how dangerous even academicexpressions of opinions had become in the meantime. As a resultProf. Topitsch had become frightened that he might also become a victimof this new inquisition due to his preface. Hence he preferred towithdraw his fierce criticism of the state of affairs.The reactions I receive when asking historians to publicly take astand for the preservation or restoration of freedom of science duringthis trial demonstrate that this fear of governmental persecution is not asingle case. One example for the typical reaction is the letter of refusalsent by Prof. Dr. Franz W. Seidler, who had taught contemporary historywith focus on the Third Reich in Munich prior to his retirement. Hedeclined, but not by saying that he does not want to, but because, as heput it, he is a “coward.” In other words: he is afraid of the German judiciary.Instead of presenting an entire list of refusals with similar justifications,I may restrict myself to only one, namely the one by Prof. Dr.Werner Maser. Prof. Maser is considered to be one of the worldwidemost recognized experts on the history of the Third Reich. Since spring2005 I have been in contact with Prof. Maser due to his most recentbook Forgery, Fiction, and Truth about Hitler and Stalin. 245 Duringseveral phone calls Prof. Maser took the opportunity to complain clamorouslyabout the conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany, whichwould almost compare to those in the former communist “GermanDemocratic Republic,” because as a historian one could only tell liesand half-truths nowadays, if one did not want to go to prison. He alsowished me good luck with my attempt to obtain political asylum in the244 Rudi Zornig, “Zum Gedenken an Werner Pfeifenberger,” Vierteljahreshefte für freie Geschichtsforschung4(2) (2000), pp. 127-130.245 Werner Maser, Fälschung, Dichtung und Wahrheit über Hitler und Stalin, Olzog, Munich2004. Maser died in 2007 shortly after my trial had ended.199