Wednesday 8 April 2015

Hitler's War

Cover page: Hitler's War, David Irving
There are those who believe what they have been told. There are those who go with the flow.  There are those who contemplate. And then there are those who like to question and reason.

The early 20th century witnessed the rise of the Nazi regime which proliferated throughout the 20's and 30's until it wreaked havoc on the world, wiping away a major chunk of the human race and heritage. The Nazi ideologies were so widespread that it intimidated half the world about the consequences if it was left unchecked and would come to power.

Genocide has been an undeniable part of our history. For all that we've been taught during history lectures, the simple reason behind this Darwinistic idea of mass human extermination was ethnic cleansing; the wiping out of the less desirable, the less adaptable, and the less equipped to create a more superior and strong race. The most talked about among the many genocides that the world has witnessed is the holocaust; the horrifically unforgettable and appalling massacre of the European Jewry.

But did it really unfold as we know it? Was 'race' really the reason? A slightest implication of this idea would offend quite a large number of people and anyone saying so or even discussing the possibility may be termed as a pro-nazi; not a very desirable title. The book, Hitler's War audaciously tackles this very idea. While, it has been applauded by a new breed of thinkers called 'Holocaust Deniers', it has also been the subject of condemnation from holocaust survivors and independent political historians worldwide.

It is an unpretentious account of 'behind the scene' activity among the high ranking officials of the Nazi party, NSDAP, during World War II. It presents factual information aligning them with the timeline in the rule of the Third Reich and places them against the knowledge that we have about it till date. It exposes the thought process of Nazi Germany. It cultivates the idea that Adolf Hitler was oblivious to the happenings in the concentration camps mainly because he couldn't have been bothered with it when they were being attacked from all directions; when there were far more important things at stake than exercising his personal hatred for a group of people. It also sheds some light on Hitler's persona.

It may seem slightly biased towards clearing up the image of the Nazis that we have, yet it leaves ample cognitive space for the readers to draw their own conclusions.