NMSU Professor Draws Flak for Role in Controversial Books That Dispute Holocaust Events

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | September 16, 2006 | Colleen Heild

[CedarDave]

As head of the New Mexico State University journalism department, Frank Thayer teaches a class in public opinion and propaganda.

In his private time, he has written forewords for and helped edit a series of revisionist books based on a purported postwar interview with the former head of Hitler's Gestapo, Heinrich Müller.

Now, Thayer is embroiled in a controversy ignited by a University of Texas faculty member who believes the books are phony and that Thayer was irresponsible to endorse them.

"I feel it's practically my duty to debunk this sort of fraudulent material for the purpose of people understanding what really happened in Nazi Germany, especially years from now (when victims of the Holocaust are no longer alive)," said Phillip Kushner, a mathematics lecturer at UT-Austin.

The books introduced by Thayer use Müller's interviews and other purported government documents to offer a view of history that runs counter to the mainstream:

• President Roosevelt had prior knowledge of the bombing of Pearl Harbor but didn't act.
• Far fewer than 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust, and many of those deaths were due to natural causes.
• Hitler didn't commit suicide in his bunker, but escaped to Spain.
• Instead of prosecuting Müller as a war criminal, the Americans made him a brigadier general in the U.S. Army to help fight the Cold War.

The "Gestapo Chief" books have been rejected almost unanimously by mainstream World War II historians, Jewish groups and even prominent Holocaust denier David Irving.

"We don't subscribe to any of those books," said Aaron Breitbart, senior researcher at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "They're not scholarly in the slightest."

Thayer, who has taught journalism at NMSU since 1986, said he initially had doubts about the authenticity of the purported 1948 interview with Müller, but was "converted."

[CedarDave]

Unbelievable! He would probably write a foreword to a book touting 9/11 conspiracy theories if given the chance. With professors like this, its no wonder that most of today's journalism school graduates have the skewed vision of history, politics and reality that they have.

The article is by an investigative reporter and is a lengthy read. You do not have to register or be a subscriber to the journal to read this article. You do need to view a 30-second commercial before being granted access to the site.

[msnimje]

A friend used to tell me we would find the Antichrist on a college campus.

[docbnj]

Even the IHR, usually billed as a bastion of "holocaust denial," has a very thorough and damning review of the Gestapo Chief books. See:

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v20/v20n2p40_Douglas.html

[brytlea]

Far fewer than 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust, and many of those deaths were due to natural causes.

Well, maybe they consider starvation, disease and gassing natural causes?

Idiot.

susie

[drhogan]

normally, universities don't take ph.d. candidates who received their b.a.'s at the same university. and usually, universities don't hire their own ph.d's as faculty members.
however, professor thayer got all three of his degrees at nmsu, and is now head of the journalism department there!

check out link below:

http://www.nmsu.edu/~jrnalism/faculty/thayer.html