http://www.press.co.nz/2000/15/000415n08.htm (page does not exist)
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
