http://www.press.co.nz/2000/15/000415n08.htm

Massey backs historian

 PALMERSTON NORTH -- Massey
 University in Palmerston North has leapt
 to the defence of military historian Joel
 Hayward after he was accused of being a
 Holocaust denier. 

 Pro Vice-Chancellor Barrie Macdonald
 said on Thursday Dr Hayward was no
 longer involved in teaching, writing, or
 research related to the Holocaust, and
 was a respected member of Massey's
 academic staff. 

 A prominent Wellington Jew has
 condemned Canterbury University for
 condoning publication of a master's
 thesis by Dr Hayward that questioned
 the extent of the Holocaust. 

 The thesis, written in 1991 and 1992, is
 said to have claimed there were no gas
 chambers, far fewer than six million
 Jews were slain, and that there was no
 means to carry out a plan of mass
 murder. It was claimed Dr Hayward
 made it available to other revisionist
 historians who question the Holocaust. 

 Canterbury was asked to withdraw the
 thesis and cancel the degree it awarded
 Dr Hayward on the basis of the thesis. It
 refused. 

 Dr Hayward has reportedly told the New
 Zealand Jewish Chronicle that he made
 mistakes in the thesis and withdrew its
 main conclusions. 

 Professor Macdonald supported this,
 saying: "Dr Hayward has already stated
 his revised position on his thesis in a
 letter to the Jewish Chronicle and in an
 addendum to the thesis." 

 Dr Hayward is now co-ordinator of
 Massey's defence and strategic studies
 programme. 

      --NZPA

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor