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German Quarterly Betrays American Ideal of a Free Press

By Bradley R. Smith ∙ October 1, 1984

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In the Winter 1984 issue of the German Quarterly, a publication of the Association of American Teachers of German (AATG), there was an advertisement for a book by Charles Weber titled: The Holocaust: 120 Questions and Answers. Dr. Weber is the former head of foreign languages at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa, a member of AATG, and is on the board of IHR.

The people at the Simon Wiesenthal Center probably didn't like the questions Dr. Weber asked in his book; I feel certain they did not like the answers, so they decided to squelch it. According to Heritage (Los Angeles, 24 March 1984):

“In a March 14 letter , Wiesenthal Center Director Dr. Gerald Margolis demanded that the German Quarterly publish a 'complete retraction of the ad and a repudiation [sic] of the Institute for Historical Review. The Simon Wiesenthal Center considers the inclusion of this advertisement in your significant publication to be offensive and an unwholesome statement to the academic community.”

According to the Wiesenthal Center publication Socialactionupdate (Spring/Summer issue), Mr. Margolis also demanded that the German Quarterly take the necessary steps to “remove the sheen of academic legitimacy” that it had bestowed on these “nea-nazi apologists.”

It is not reported what questions or answers to the “Holocaust” tales were so disturbing to the Wiesenthal Center, but in any case the German Quarterly clicked its heels together, bowed, and in the time-honored manner of Hollywood Germans, whimpered that “any journal that accepts an ad for any book that 'questions' Holocaust history should be morally condemmed.”

So the Simon Wiesenthal Center had done its real job once again, successfully suppressing a book without addressing its contents, which I suppose is the goal of successful book suppression everywhere.

I wrote to Dr. Margolis asking if the Wiesenthal Center would provide me with a statement of its policy regarding censorship and the right of free inquiry, but of course he's stonewalling me. The Center has a policy on censorship alright, but it isn't going to put it into writing.

With respect to the pathetic performance of the people at the German Quarterly, what words would you use to describe it?

Author

  • Bradley R. Smith

    Bradley R. Smith was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1930. At 18 he joined the army and in 1951 served with the infantry in Korea where he was twice wounded. After three decades of a variety of professional activities, it suddenly hit him: In 1979 he read a leaflet by Professor Robert Faurisson, "The Problem of the Gas Chambers." Then, Arthur Butz’s The Hoax of the Twentieth Century did it for him. He understood from the beginning that he would address the censorship, the suppression of independent thought, the taboo against publishing and debating revisionist arguments—not the arguments themselves. That has remained his position. In 1989, Smith founded Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH) dedicated to defending free speech and free inquiry into the Holocaust question. He handed over CODOH's helm in late 2014. He passed away on his 86th birthday, February 18, 2016. Read a series of obituaries here.

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Bibliographic information about this document: Prima Facie, no. 1, October 1984, pp. 7f.
Other contributors to this document: n/a
Editor’s comments: n/a

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