Germar Rudolf

Germar Rudolf, also known as Germar Scheerer, born 29 October 1964, is a German chemist and a convicted Holocaust denier.

Background

Rudolf was born in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse. In 1983 he took his Abitur in Remscheid, then studied chemistry in Bonn, graduating in 1989 with a Master's degree. As a student, he joined the A.V. Tuisconia Königsberg zu Bonn and the K.D.St.V. Nordgau Prag zu Stuttgart, Catholic fraternities belonging to the Cartellverband. After supporting the CSU/CDU, he became a member of the Republicans.

After his military service with the Luftwaffe, in October 1990 he joined the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research at Stuttgart, where he prepared a PhD thesis.

Rudolf was a believer in the story of gas chambers at Auschwitz until he examined the sites and made his own analysis. He then began to challenge the accepted history. In 1991 he began to write a paper entitled Report on the formation and verifiability of cyanide compounds in the Auschwitz "gas chambers" on behalf of the Düsseldorf attorney Hajo Herrmann, a former Luftwaffe pilot. In 1993 this work was reported in the media, and Rudolf was told not to enter the Max Planck Institute again without permission. When he did so, his employment was terminated without notice. In 1994 this dismissal was converted into a termination by mutual agreement. In 1996, the University of Stuttgart asked Rudolf to withdraw his application for a final PhD examination, or it would be denied, rendering his PhD thesis worthless. The legal basis for this is a German law which allows universities to deny or withdraw academic degrees where the candidate has used his academic credentials or knowledge to commit a crime. Rudolf subsequently withdrew his application.