In Hitler’s Shadow: West German Historians and the Attempt to Escape from the Nazi Past

Description

In Hitler's Shadow by noted historian Richard J. Evans, is a study of recent attempts by some West German historians to free the German conscience from guilt about its Nazi past. These new revisionists argue that Germans have no more to be ashamed of than other peoples: Auschwitz, they say, does not stand alone in history; it was merely one of a number of similar crimes, from Stalin's purges to the mass murders committed by Pol Pot. The German army was not trying to impose a genocidal dictatorship; it was fighting to prevent a Communist takeover of Europe. These theses are advanced not by fanatics or extremists, but by senior West German politicians and internationally respected historians. In Hitler's Shadow examines the debate, placing it within the context of West German politics, and tries to reach a balanced and reasoned conclusion. The new revisionism does not, Evans argues, succeed in making its case, and many of the neoconservative theses bear a disturbing resemblance to arguments first put forward by the Nazis themselves. The survival and strengthening of democracy in West Germany, Evans argues, require an honest and open confrontation with the Nazi past.