By BRONWYN SELL and ALISON HORWOOD
Alleged neo-Nazi Hans Kupka has pulled out of his doctoral studies at Waikato University after months of complaints and protests on campus.
Students and Jewish people objected to German-born Mr Kupka studying at the university after he allegedly claimed on the Internet that Jews were using Germany as a "gold mine and a whipping boy."
The 55-year-old is also alleged to have suggested reports of the Holocaust were as credible as UFO sightings.
University Vice-Chancellor Professor Bryan Gould said yesterday that Mr Kupka had pulled out of his Doctor of Philosophy studies on Tuesday and would no longer have anything to do with the university.
Mr Kupka is believed to have left New Zealand before the furore erupted last year and has not returned.
He could not be contacted yesterday, but has previously told the Herald he is not a Holocaust denier and that the university had not found grounds to exclude him.
University spokesman Warwick Pitts said yesterday it could not ban Mr Kupka because he had broken no law.
"Therefore for us to stop him studying would be a breach of his human rights."
University lecturer and spokeswoman for the Waikato Jewish Association Sarah Shieff warned that Jewish academics and students upset with the university's handling of the case would not let the matter rest.
"It is a qualified victory because, with Kupka withdrawing, the onus has not gone off the university to look at how this could happen."
Meanwhile, Victoria University has postponed a controversial seminar on the Holocaust after pressure from Canterbury and Massey Universities.
Yesterday's seminar was to have focused on a now-discredited thesis by former Canterbury University student Joel Hayward questioning the existence of the gas chambers and forced labour.
Holocaust student ends varsity study
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