Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYcharacteristics of a chemical compound. With his typical sharp wit,the late Prof. von Schnering then remarked:“Man, you mustn’t believe that at all. Everyone around here hashis own shithouse slogan!” When we move into the field of historiography, statements by witnessesdo not become any more reliable. In fact, on account of greaterhuman and political emotions, they become even worse thanSchnering’s shithouse slogans. In the field of historiography, even documentary evidence is oftencircular, since every bureaucracy occasionally creates paperworkthat is designed not to document truth but rather to justify its ownpolitical activities. 103 And in addition, historical events cannot bereplicated.From what I have just explained, it necessarily follows that historicaltheories in principle have low levels of reliability compared with theoriesin natural sciences or even in the social sciences. This makes iteven more absurd that historical theses of all theses are declared to beself-evident and even prescribed by penal law.On the topic of the subjective convincedness of a witness, K. R.Popper very accurately remarked: 104“No matter how intense a feeling of conviction it may be, it cannever justify a statement. Thus I may be utterly convinced of thetruth of a statement; certain of the evidence of my perceptions;overwhelmed by the intensity of my experience: every doubt mayseem to me absurd. But does this afford the slightest reason for scienceto accept the statement? Can any statement be justified by thefact that K.R.P. is utterly convinced of the truth? The answer is,‘No’; and any other answer would be incompatible with the idea ofscientific objectivity. […] But from the epistemological point ofview, it is quite irrelevant whether my feeling of conviction wasstrong or weak; whether it came from a strong or even irresistibleimpression of indubitable certainty (or ‘self-evidence’), or merelyfrom a doubtful surmise. None of this has any bearing on the questionof how scientific statements can be justified.”In other words: no matter how convinced “Holocaust” witnessesmay be of the authenticity of their experiences, and no matter the extent103 Karl Popper, The Open…, op. cit. (note 70), vol. 2, pp. 265f.104 Karl Popper, Logic, op. cit. (note 78), p. 46.79