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Himmler's
Office Diary and the Holocaust
Author:
H-German Editor Jay Lockenour <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 12:41:09 -0500
Reply-To:
H-NET List on German History <[email protected]>
Sender: H-NET List on German History <[email protected]>
1.
Submitted
by: Dan Rogers [email protected]
To add a
little further information to my note yesterday about
Christian Gerlach's reported discovery
in the Moscow archives, the New York Times
reported
at length
on the subject in its January 21 issue. Historians
Richard Breitman, Hans Mommsen, and Norbert Kampe are
quoted.
The
Times reports that "the documents supposedly
establish that Hitler did, indeed, make a personal
decision to put to death German and all other European
Jews under Nazi occupation," and "announced his decision
to a secret meeting of 50 Nazi Party loyalists on Dec.
12, 1941 -- a day after his declaration of war on the
United States."
Richard
Breitman of American University comments in the
Times that "this is an important find and Gerlach
and his colleagues are to be commended on their research
and discovery....But the jury is still out on the exact
interpretation of this meeting." The Times article
concludes with the statement that Hans Mommsen of Bochum
University "dismissed the meeting on Dec. 12, 1941, as a
routine affair. 'Hitler gave one of his usual
speeches....It was nothing special.'"
2.
Submitted by: Fabian Rueger [email protected]:
I
remember at least the Spiegel and the
Suddeutsche publishing an article on Gerlach's
work. If I remember correctly his basic argument is that
the Himmler-Hitler meeting at that date in the diary
might explain the change of date of the Wannsee
conference,
and thus gives for the first time a close hint to a
verbal command of Hitler to plan a "Final
Solution".--Yours,
Fabian
Rueger
3.
Submitted
by: Michael Kater [email protected]:
So
it looks as if David Irving can still not shell out
his money.Michael
H. Kater
Distinguished
Research Professor of History, The Canadian Center for
German and European Studies, 230 York Lanes, York
University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M3J 1P3
Tel. 905-845-7021
4.
Submitted
by: Herbert Mehrtens [email protected]:
Michael
Gerlach's paper on the question of the Hitler
decision about the extinction of the Jews is quite
convincing, but certainly not a 'proof'. To my impression
it presents a very good argument for a decisive meeting,
where Hitler accepted and ordered (i.e. decided) that the
extinction measures should be taken, following his own
line and following those who had urged and started those
actions. I find here a merger of intentionalist and
structuralist interpretations -- as one would expect --
of Hitler being moved and moving at the same time. That
is part of what makes the argument so convincing.
Prof.
Dr. Herbert Mehrtens
Historisches
Seminar, TU Braunschweig, Schleinitzstr. 13, D-38106
Braunschweig, Germany
Tel.: +531 391 3080, Sekretariat -3091, Fax -8162
priv. 1: Roggemannstr. 20 D-26122 Oldenburg Tel. &
Fax: +441 75190 priv. 2: Altstadtmarkt. 12 38100
Braunschweig Tel. 0531 43896
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