London, Monday, August 1, 2005
Himmler
forgeries book still on sale By Ben Fenton THE publishers of a book that
accuses British intelligence of murdering
Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the SS in
Nazi Germany, say they will not withdraw the work
even though its claims are based on forged
documents. Himmler's Secret War, by Martin
Allen, is not only still on sale in bookshops
but until last Friday was advertised on the website
of Chrysalis Books as a "staff recommendation" to
readers. A month ago The Daily Telegraph revealed
that the papers on which Mr Allen relied were not
written in 1945, as he claimed, but were recent
forgeries smuggled into the National Archives by
unknown hands. In the face of all this, Chrysalis's website
says that, among the "numerous explosive
revelations" in the book, the "most dramatic of all
is previously unseen evidence that sheds new light
on the circumstances of Himmler's death". Mr Allen did not reply to a written question
from the Telegraph last week asking him
about withdrawal of the book. Not only the claim about the murder but also the
central thesis of the book -- that Himmler held
secret peace talks with Britain -- have been
undermined by relying on forgeries. The archives have confirmed
as forged two letters allegedly written by
Brendan Bracken, the wartime information
minister, setting the scene for the alleged talks
via Britain's embassy in Sweden. Andrew Roberts, a biographer of
Winston Churchill and
a leading historian of the
period, said: "The behaviour of the
publishers seems to me to be shameful." © Copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited 2005. -
Our
dossier on the suspect and genuine documents on
Himmler's death
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Our dossier of genuine documents on Heinrich
Himmler
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PRO
confirms documents planted in Himmler files as
forgeries
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