The firing of historian Tom Alter from Texas State University is drawing attention as part of a broader right-wing war against free speech. But the attack on Alter is also of note for relying on video circulated by a far-right influencer — who appeared this month on Fox News — that has made outrageous claims about Nazis and Jews, claiming the public was “lied to about World War II” and that “Hitler went to heaven.”

Alter, a tenured professor, was fired earlier this month and accused by Texas State University President Kelly Damphouse of “inciting violence” for a recent speech at a socialist conference. Far-right activist Karlyn Borysenko had posted a clip of Alter, misleadingly shorn of context, of him describing a confrontational strain of anarchist thought that arose in connection with

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