A detailed attempt to establish, with new evidence, that Hitler was
directly involved in the Final Solution - contrary to the
contentions of David Irving (Hitler's War) and other
"revisionists." Saul Friedlander's introduction explains what's at
issue: was there a straight line from Hitler's anti-Semitic
ideology to Nazi persecution of Jews to the Final Solution, as the
"intentionalists" maintain, or were decisions made expediently,
without a master plan or central direction, as the "functionalists"
claim? In this context, Friedlander characterizes Fleming (Univ. of
Sussex) as an "ultra-intentionalist" - without dissenting from his
specific findings. These are presented in kaleidoscope fragments,
within a rough chronological framework. First comes discussion of
Hitler's personal anti-Semitism, during his schooldays in Linz and
youth in Vienna - a section that rests much on inference. The major
motif of Hitler's "deceptiveness" is then introduced: the use of
code languages, and other camouflage, to shield first the
euthanasia program and then the Final Solution - because "Hitler
was politically too shrewd to assume that a majority of Germans
would, in the last analysis, share his unbounded hatred for the
Jews." A second major motif, also linked to the non-existence of a
written liquidation order, is the interpretation, at all levels, of
"the Fuhrer's wish" as an order. "Did individual Einsatz commandos
ask Himmler who it was that bore the responsiblity for the mass
extermination of the Jews?" Fleming quotes individuals: "Himmler
categorically stated that this measure had been personally ordered
by Hitler." He dwells particularly on the mass shooting of Jews
outside Riga in November and December 1941 (before the fateful
Wannsea Conference) - tracing the transmission of an eyewitness
report of the "atrocities" (detrimental to army morale), confirming
Hitler's reported words to Canaris, "You're getting soft. I have to
do it, because after me no one else will." He quotes specific,
later examples of cover-up: a request that "'special treatment of
the Jews' be mentioned nowhere in the document"; a directive that
"only written Fuhrer-orders concerning the Final Solution were also
subject to strict secrecy." There is reason behind the position of
Fleming and other intentionalists that Hitler's anti-Semitism was a
major impetus; and he has gone further than previous historians to
document Hitler's close connection with certain salient events.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Fleming is the only scholar given access to the interrogations of
the German civilian crematoria engineers lying inaccessible, until
a few months ago, in Moscow. This historically important
information finally places the last stone in the mosaic of
Auschwitz-Berkenau.
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