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Interviews |
Dear Visitor!
thank you for visiting my personal web page. Here, I have revealed my deepest secrets, exposed my darkest hours and brightest moments in life. Alright, perhaps not all of them. But it sounds dramatic, doesn't it? I am a rebel. An intellectual one only, though. Yes, I am, and I started early, but not very intellectual then, I guess.... And here is, how it all started: When I was two weeks old -- wasn't I ugly??? -- I caused my mother some trouble when she nursed me, because I already had two of my incisor teeth. That is were all the trouble started... Anyway, my jaw was to weak, so those teeth eventually had to be removed (so claims the dentist), and I had to live without those two lower incisor teeth until I got the real ones at age six or so. At least those came out perfectly straight! :o) Then, at age of 8 months or so, my mother
was feeding me the usual baby meals with a plastic spoon. One of these days,
however, my mother pulled the spoon out of my mouth, but, surprise, surprise,
it was gone! I had bitten it off and swallowed it down. Can you
imagine the panic in my mother's face when she tried in vain to locate that
spoon in my mouth? My mother brought me to the
hospital, because she feared I I told you I am a rebel! I made my mother feed me with a proper spoon! No plastic baby spoons for me anymore! :o)))) Of course I do not remember any of this, that is just the kind of stories parents use to tell their kids as they get older. I skip the usual boy stories and rush to the next
picture to show you where I grew up. The second picture is the main entry to the town where I was born and
grew up until I turned 15: Camberg, 5,500 inhabitants, some 30 miles northwest of
Frankfurt, Germany (see map). This little town received tow My father was the managing director of a catholic vacation
resort in this town. My two siblings (my brother is one and a half year
younger, my sister a year older than I) and I enjoyed the huge yard that belonged to
this resort: two playgrounds, a small pool, woods, big lawns, lots of trees to climb on -- and
fall down from :-( . Later, my parents bought an old monastery, built in 1610, on top of a hill
outside of this town. From this hill with a chapel beside the monastery one can
overlook the entire valley, see next picture (the monastery, then a restaurant
of my parents, is hidden behind the trees to the right of the chapel. A little
bit of white of the walls can be seen through the trees). Though we were behaving sort of like "Crocodile Dundee in New York" during the first year there, it got us kids back into civilization. It took a while, though, and trees are still pretty much tempting today, but at least I can stay away from house facades pretty well. :o) In 1983 I started studying chemistry at Bonn university, graduating in 1989 with a master's degree. After that I had to join the German army as a draftee to serve my compulsory year. I was assigned to a ground missle defence unit of the Luftwaffe. After our basic training was over, I volunteered to give the draftee's speech to the recruits as we took our solemn vow to protect the freedom and the rights of the German people. This ceremony was held during the morning of 9th November 1989, which turned out to be quite a memorable event. In my speech I noted that the vow of the German soldier to defend the right and freedom of the German people presumes the will of political leaders to defend this right and freedom. One of the unfulfilled rights of the German people, however, was the reunification of all German people in one state and in freedom. At that time, unfree, communist East Germany still existed. For my urging the German reunification I was praised by the commanding officers, but criticized by some in the ranks. That very evening in Berlin the Wall fell, and every critic was silent ...
After my army year, I received a scholarship from the once world-famous Max-Planck-Society which is still considered Germany's finest research society, but the days of glory were definitely over after I started working there ... no, I mean after the end of WWII. :o) So it was a real blessing to get a scholarship from them so I could prepare an utterly useless PhD thesis in theoretical crystallography at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart -- I already hear my former PhD supervisor shriek: "You still don't understand the scope and importance of your own work!" Did I mention I am a rebel? Through all of my years at universities, I also was a member of Catholic student fraternities. These fraternities are a member of the Cartel-Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities (Cartell Verband, CV), at that time Europe's largest scholars' organization, to which many famous personalities belonged or belong, such as Josef Cardinal Höffner, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Friedrich Cardinal Wetter, Archbishop Johannes Dyba, Former Bavarian Minister President Franz-Josef Strauss, Former President of the German Parliament Philipp Jenninger, former German Attorney General Alexander von Stahl, and various other VIPs of German society. Since I was bored by my PhD thesis and the entire field it was embedded in, and also did not like the career path it was offering me -- and also because I was looking for distraction from an unhappy love affair (Anne-Marie, I blame it one you!) --, I started researching into a topic that had peeked my curiosity since summer 1989: The (in)famous Leuchter Report. The Leuchter Report was an expert report presented by Fred A. Leuchter jr. as evidence during a Canadian trial against German immigrant Ernst Zündel for denying the Holocaust. Leuchter, at that time America's sole expert in execution technologies, stated in his report, among other things, that the poison gas allegedly used in Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps to kill hundreds of thousands of victims should have left permanent chemical residues in the walls of the gas chambers, but his analysis of wall samples had shown that no significant traces could be found. based also on other findings, he concluded that the rooms claimed to have been used as mass execution gas chambers could not have been used as such. The historical and political dimension of such a finding, if it could be confirmed, would be tremendous. I wanted to know...
A letter to the editor of a small newspaper about that issue put my name out there as an expert in chemistry interested in this issue. It didn't last long until I was contacted by a defence team that asked me to prepare an expert report on that issue. Here, to, the defendant was on trial for "Holocaust denial" (what ever that means). I eventually came up with results that were unwelcome -- I confirmed Leuchter's thesis -- and my results were published shortly before I was to finish my PhD thesis. My expert report created a major earthquake in German society. I also led the directorate of the very institute where I prepared my PhD to issue a press release condemning as immoral that I had asked, and sought answers to, specific questions about the How and How Much of my research topic. Figure that: A world-famous institute for exact sciences declares in public that asking questions about the circumstances and values of a certain research topic is morally reprehensible! Wow, what a statement! Any PhD student asking questions, and trying to find answers, about the Hows and How Muchs of their research objects will have to be called immoral from now on! No more exact data in science from then onward! No exploration into how things happen around us! That is, of course, the end of all science! And it came from the German Mother of All Sciences! Gee, what a bunch of hypocrites, fairies and sissies! And the best of it all was that behind closed doors, the then managing director of this institute, Prof. Dr. Arnd Simon, admitted that I was right in what I had done, and that even my result were probably correct, only one couldn't publish it when the topic is too controversial, and he admitted that he had to distance himself from it in order to preserve his career and position. After this, my patience with these hypocritical and arrogant ivory tower scientists was definitely over. What followed between June 1993 and early 1996 was a series of persecutorial measures by all members of the German society: my final PhD examination was first put on hold, then I was threatened that my thesis would be rejected if I would not withdraw it, using a Hitler law of 1939, still on the books in Germany today, that allowed to withhold academic degrees in case of lacking "academic dignity." My home was raided three times by the police and all computers, files, research papers, books I authored, and correspondence confiscated. Under massive pressure by media and Jewish lobby groups, two subsequent employers of mine had to dismiss me. Two landlords kicked me out of my apartment as a result of media smear campaigns. I was put on trial, because me expert report allegedly libels and insults the witnesses and victims of the Holocaust. Because my report allegedly makes people assume that some Jews lied when they testified after the war, the German courts also considered my expert report to incite the masses to hate Jews. I therefore was sentenced to 14 months in prison for inciting the masses to hate the Jews -- although the court had to admit that Jews aren't even mentioned in my expert report other then as objects of the historical events investigated, let alone that any judgment is made about them. Remember what I wrote at the top of my home page? Imagine an expert specializing in analyzing blood for its alcohol content. He is asked to analyze blood samples of a defendant on trial for drunk driving. The expert's tests show that the defendant was indeed drunk. With his testimony, however, the expert contradicts the statements of many witnesses who claim that the defendant was not drunk. Imagine the judge ruling not to admit the expert testimony because it makes spectators assume that the witnesses lied for sinister motives, which amounts to libel. Hence, the judge puts the expert witness on trial for libel and inciting the masses to hatred against the witnesses. He sentences the expert to 14 months in jail. Let me reword it: Imagine an expert specializing in analyzing building material for its cyanide content. He is asked to analyze wall samples of a buildings said to have been the place of a crime. The expert's tests show that the buildings were not the place of a crime. With his testimony, however, the expert contradicts the statements of many witnesses who claimed that these buildings were the place of a crime. Imagine the judge ruling not to admit the expert testimony because it makes spectators assume that the witnesses lied for sinister motives, which amounts to libel. Hence, the judge puts the expert witness on trial for libel and inciting the masses to hatred against the witnesses. He sentences the expert to 14 months in jail.
That is what happened. It did neither take long, nor a rocket scientist -- or a Max-Planck-Scientist for that sake -- to figure out that Germany is not the country where intellectual rebels are welcome. So my wife and I finally decided to leave Germany and never look back -- at least not voluntarily. In 1996, we settled with our two small children at England's beautiful sunshine coast in the west of East Sussex. There I established a small publishing house for rebellious literature... I told you! Actually, one of its main focuses is the critical forensic and documentary analysis of what is generally called "the Holocaust." Paradise in England did not last long, though, because it was only a matter of time when Germany would demand my extradition from England. Even though I had committed no crime under British law, extradition would be automatic due to legal agreements between Germany and the UK. I therefore lived under an assumed identity in hiding, a life my then wife disliked to the point that in early 1999 she left me with our two children and filed for a divorce in late 1999.
Also in late 1999, the British media made a big fuss about my presence in Britain, leading to the long-expected German demand to have me extradited. By that time I had published many more books and papers deemed illegal under Germany's tough censorship laws, meaning that I would not only have to spend the 14 months I was already sentenced to, but probably many more years to come. I therefore decided not to wait for the police but to reach out for a safe haven: I went to the United States of America, where I applied for political asylum in late 2000. Parallel to my efforts to gain permanent legal residence in the U.S., I immediately started expanding my publishing activites to the U.S., now also including English language material. Initially I resided in Alabama, but in September 2002, I relocated to the Chicago area. In 2004 I married a US citizen, and in late February 2005 we had our first child. Considering the permanent financial drain caused by my ongoing legal struggle to receive permanent residence in the U.S., my publishing company was doing relatively well until early 2005, when big-time lawyer bills hit me. I then had to dissolve my office and fire my last secretary. With the help of supporters, however, things are now (Aug. 2005) slowly getting back to normal. But the ongoing attempts of the U.S. authorities to deport me back to Germany are hanging like a sword of Damokles over me all the time.
So much about the story of my life. Now let me tell you a little about other passions of mine: I am a passionate (and enduring) dancer: be it just free style in a disco, or Blues, ChaCha, Foxtrot, Jife (=Swing), Rock'n Roll, Rumba, Samba, Tango, Twist, Waltz in a ballroom (if it sounds European, that is because I am European :o). This dancing passion comes also with a passion for danceable music (so hard rock, techno, hip-hop... is not for me). I am also very romantic when it comes to music, meaning that I prefer soothing over aggressive music. I am a very active person. I used to be a passionate racing cyclist, but one flat tire a week and an accident have told me that Chicago is not a place where that kind of activity is advisable. But Chicago has more to offer than crammed roads: The beach made me reconsider my habits, and so you can frequently find me at the beach playing volleyball or on the lake in a sailing boat during the summer. And then there are, of course, my friends from the College of Complexes, fearless free-thinkers and ferocious defenders of all people having eccentric views, because most of them share that feature. As I figured out after two years of discussing all sorts of topics, I am not only a libertarian, but actually a pretty radical left-winger, if you would try to place me on the political map using U.S. coordinates. German authorities and media, of course, disagree with that, because in their minds everybody disagreeing on certain historical topics is a "Nazi." Well, God forgot to equip those Germans with brains. Merci be upon them... I also would like to tell you a bit about my family. They are actually all living in Germany. Both of my parents are still alive and kicking, retired (my mother in early retirement), extremely active, athletic, and healthy. My brother, an engineer currently living in western Germany, married in 1999 and has two kids. My sister, a paralegal working for local authorities, married in 2004 and has no kids. Since I am convinced that much of a man's character can be revealed by showing the relationship he has with his family, I have prepared a few extra pages about this, one focusing primarily on my father and me, another on my sister and my mother, a third on my brother and me, and then there is an entire series of autobiographical essays from and about me:
I hope you enjoyed it! |
Art that I love: A. Renoir, C. Monet, C.D. Friedrich, E. Gärtner, C.-F. Blechen. F. Marc Enjoy!
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