Letter to The Editor - The essence of academic freedom within the field of history is the right to challenge previously asserted facts and opinions

To THE AUSTRALIAN          You have published an editorial titled ‘Holocaust must not be denied.’ As you have not published any editorial claiming that the divinity of Jesus must not be denied, or the authority of the Koran, I am wondering to what power you are bending the knee in making this sweeping claim. It is astonishing that, as a newspaper given to defence of free speech, you quote the comment of the Israeli prime minister denouncing the new Polish law as ‘an attempt to rewrite history’ without condemning it.

     The essence of academic freedom within the field of history is the right to challenge previously asserted facts and opinions. Glibly you assume that ‘Holocaust denial’ in any form is wrong. Surely you know that in fact the nature and extent of German wrongdoing during World War Two has been extensively debated by many highly intelligent dissidents whose revisionist interpretations cannot be ignored, let alone dismissed, without dishonour. The very term itself is not immune to intellectual challenge.
  NJ, Belgrave, Vic