Austin App
Encyclopedia
Austin Joseph App was a controversial German-American professor of medieval English literature who taught at the University of Scranton
and La Salle University
. App defended Germans and Nazi Germany
vehemently http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/a/ftp.py?people/a/app.austin/app.001. Austin has spoken in front of audiences alleging that the holocaust was a hoax.
He is known for his work on the Holocaust, and he has been accused of Holocaust denial
by mainstream historians.
In 1973 App laid out eight "axiom
s", or what he described as "incontrovertible assertions" about the Holocaust in his 1973 pamphlet The Six Million Swindle:
App’s work inspired the Institute for Historical Review
, the California center of Holocaust denial founded in 1978. The Institute’s chief spokesman in the UK is David Irving
, an admirer of Adolf Hitler
. (Irving 1977). Irving’s nemesis has been the American Jewish historian Deborah Lipstadt
, who has spearheaded the scholarly battle against Holocaust deniers and wrote the book Denying the Holocaust
. Irving lost his libel
suit against Lipstadt and her publisher. (Lipstadt 1993, 2005; Evans 2001).
App "inundated" magazines, newspapers and politicians with Anti-Semitic letters complaining about Frankin D Roosevelt entering World War II
without which Hitler could have won the war. App equated Communists and Jews, and blamed both for post war problems rather than Nazi Germany
which did not start the war. He blamed Germany's post war problems on a plan which was not put into effect. Few of the letters were published.
He worked to get Germans and Austrians the chance to emigrate to the United States
instead of holocaust survivors.
University of Scranton
The University of Scranton is a private, co-educational Catholic and Jesuit university, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the northeast region of the state. The school was founded in 1888 by Most Rev. William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. It was elevated to a...
and La Salle University
La Salle University
La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2008 the school has approximately 7,554...
. App defended Germans and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
vehemently http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/a/ftp.py?people/a/app.austin/app.001. Austin has spoken in front of audiences alleging that the holocaust was a hoax.
He is known for his work on the Holocaust, and he has been accused of Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
by mainstream historians.
In 1973 App laid out eight "axiom
Axiom
In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proven or demonstrated but considered either to be self-evident or to define and delimit the realm of analysis. In other words, an axiom is a logical statement that is assumed to be true...
s", or what he described as "incontrovertible assertions" about the Holocaust in his 1973 pamphlet The Six Million Swindle:
- Emigration, not extermination, was the German NaziNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
plan for dealing with GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
’s "Jewish problem". - No Jews were gassed in any German concentration campsNazi concentration campsNazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
and not at AuschwitzAuschwitz concentration campConcentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
either. - Jews who disappeared during the years of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and have not been accounted for did so in territories under SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, rather than German, control. - The majority of Jews who were killed by the Nazis were people whom the Nazis had every right to "execute" as subversives, spies, and criminals.
- If the Holocaust claims have any truth, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
would have opened its archives to historians. - All evidence to support the "hoax" of six million dead rests upon misquotes of Nazis and Nazi documents.
- It is incumbent upon the accusers to prove the six million figure.
- Jewish historians and other scholars have great discrepancies in their calculations of the number of victims. (App 1973, 1977).
App’s work inspired the Institute for Historical Review
Institute for Historical Review
The Institute for Historical Review , founded in 1978, is an American organization that describes itself as a "public-interest educational, research and publishing center dedicated to promoting greater public awareness of history." Critics have accused it of being an antisemitic "pseudo-scholarly...
, the California center of Holocaust denial founded in 1978. The Institute’s chief spokesman in the UK is David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, an admirer of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. (Irving 1977). Irving’s nemesis has been the American Jewish historian Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
, who has spearheaded the scholarly battle against Holocaust deniers and wrote the book Denying the Holocaust
Denying the Holocaust
Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth & Memory is a 1993 book by Deborah Lipstadt which led to a libel action when David Irving objected to Lipstadt calling him a Holocaust denier, see Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt. The book gives a detailed and perceptive explanation of how...
. Irving lost his libel
Slander and libel
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander , and libel —is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image...
suit against Lipstadt and her publisher. (Lipstadt 1993, 2005; Evans 2001).
App "inundated" magazines, newspapers and politicians with Anti-Semitic letters complaining about Frankin D Roosevelt entering World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
without which Hitler could have won the war. App equated Communists and Jews, and blamed both for post war problems rather than Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
which did not start the war. He blamed Germany's post war problems on a plan which was not put into effect. Few of the letters were published.
He worked to get Germans and Austrians the chance to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
instead of holocaust survivors.
See also
- Denying the HolocaustDenying the HolocaustDenying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth & Memory is a 1993 book by Deborah Lipstadt which led to a libel action when David Irving objected to Lipstadt calling him a Holocaust denier, see Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt. The book gives a detailed and perceptive explanation of how...