In Hitler's shadow : West German historians and the attempt to escape from the Nazi past

Discusses the "historians' debate, " analyzing and refuting the theses of Nolte and Hillgruber. Contends that Hitler's antisemitism dated from before World War I and there is no evidence that it was influenced by the Russian Revolution. Demonstrates that Nolte's attempts to legitimize Hitler's view of the Jews as wartime enemies are absurd. Argues that Hillgruber takes a line similar to Nolte's in describing the German war in the East as a war of defense, which somehow relativizes guilt for the Holocaust. Disputes Hillgruber's attribution of the planned extermination of the Jews solely to Hitler. States that the Final Solution was, from the beginning, a part of Nazi ideology to which most Nazis were committed. also describes changing German opinion in the postwar years and the reciprocal influences between revisionist history and a rightist trend in politics, but warns against overreaction as in the cases of Waldheim and Jenninger. 1st ed. x, 196 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm