Filling in the Gaps

...But—understandably, given the many absurdities and contradictions contained in that doctrine-political and military necessities led him eventually to pursue military objectives he originally had not anticipated or even desired...

...433 pp...

...Furthermore, Rich's succinct and authoritative summary is derived from a thorough knowledge of the best available sources, for he was one of the editors of the captured German documents...

...The notion of war aims—in the broad sense of the relation between the long-term ends for which a war is fought and the short-term means employed in conducting it—has only recently found favor with historians...

...Intent above all on disentangling Hitler from the myths and distortions accumulated over the decades, the author has collected and conscientiously evaluated more factual data than possibly any of his predecessors...

...Similarly, the book dwells perhaps too long on Hitler's youth—the period of his obscurity when his actions did not really matter...

...Some readers might be puzzled why, in discussing Hitler's expansionistic moves at that time, Rich uses the heading "security"—a term with defensive connotations...

...12.50...

...In particular, his largely improvised subjugation of Western Europe in 1940-41 created problems he was not prepared to handle...

...As a result, the book provides well-reasoned judgments on nearly all the numerous controversies about the Fuhrer's career—from his competence as a military strategist to his allegedly missing testicle...

...In the last analysis," he reminds us, ". . . Hitler did not depend on labyrinthine organizations, divide-and-rule tactics, or similar devices for his power...

...That is not the case with Hitler's War Aims, however, in part because Rich, applying historical methods of analysis, concentrates more on specific deeds than behavioral patterns...

...Few subjects in the history of the Third Reich have been more consistently misrepresented than the effects of factionalism and interagency rivalries upon policy...

...Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality By Werner Maser Translated by Peter and Betty Ross Harper & Row...

...Though Rich's book is the more successful of the two, Maser manages at least to clear away many common misunderstandings about the life and character of the Nazi dictator...

...Simplistic interpretations that either attribute such a man's actions to doctrinal fanaticism or, on the contrary, dismiss his beliefs as a mere fig leaf for realpolitik have been abundant...

...Undeniably, it is appropriate for Maser to point out that the German leader was quite sick during the latter period of the war, but to go so far as to imply that such crucial decisions as the "final solution of the Jewish question" or the "Commissar decree" may have been made in a condition of temporary insanity is rather dubious...

...Fortunately, both books reinforce the belief that the appearance, much less success, of another Hitler is most unlikely...

...Yet the word accurately conveys the Fiuhrer's distorted rationale for his actions...

...It is always a difficult task to comprehend the motivation of a leader who was as totally caught up in an all-encompassing ideology as was Hitler—or Stalin, too, for that matter...

...Rich evokes the peculiar circumstances enabling Hitler to subjugate Europeans in a manner that—for better or for worse—seems utterly impossible in our nuclear age...

...Rich's conclusions, incorporating the latest research, are both reliable and level-headed...

...Another, the question of Hitler's motives for going to war, is taken up in a new study by Norman Rich, Professor of History at Brown University...

...Yet the biographer's approach, as distinguished from that of the historian, has its pitfalls...

...The persistence of this division, owing to a stalemate rather than an imbalance of power, exemplifies the difference between our era and the one that produced the Nazi dictator...

...rather, the secret of his success was "one of the most forceful leadership personalities in recorded history...

...Readers interested primarily in that personality will find a wealth of fascinating detail in Maser's well-written biography...

...His impressive bibliography is a model of critical selection and logical organization...

...But most important, the excessive emphasis upon personality inevitably overshadows institutional, ideological and other factors in many instances when these were actually decisive...

...Reviewed by Vojtech Mastny Assistant Professor of History, Columbia University "In Germany," writes Werner Maser of the University of Munich, "historical research into the Second World War is not, as in Anglo-Saxon [sic] countries, generally acknowledged by scholars to be a field of study in its own right and . . . hence the gaps in this field...

...Nonetheless, its potential has been demonstrated by Fritz Fischer's impressive study of Germany's bid for world power in World War I. According to Rich's counterpart work for World War II, the Nazi doctrine as expressed in Mein Kampf and elsewhere provided Hitler with the conceptual framework for his actions...

...One of those gaps, the question of "why the German people fell for Hitler so hard," is the focus of Maser's biography, already a bestseller in Germany...

...Rich rightly devotes much attention to the way the institutional structure of the Nazi regime preconditioned Hitler's war aims...

...Maser shows how inextricably the excesses of Nazism were related to the extraordinary qualities of its leader and, in his conclusion, draws a link between Hitler's deeds and the division of postwar Germany...

...To be sure, political scientists have tried to define the elusive connection between ideology and policy, but their accounts have often been devoid of life...

...Thus, for example, Rich's exemplary analysis of the origins of Operation Barbarossa shows that Moscow's offensive moves in the second half of 1940 were indeed viewed by Hitler as a threat to Germany's "security," and accordingly determined the timing of his attack on the Soviet Union...

...The Fuhrer's ghost may continue to be exorcised in political polemics, yet reading about him today generates an unmistakable feeling of history—history as something unique and unrepeatable...

...For instance, Maser's ambitious effort to elucidate the dictator's personality by taking stands on so many issues—regardless of their importance—sometimes tends to blur the distinction between the essential and the trivial...

...The early part of the book, dealing with Hitler's prewar foreign policy, may seem familiar to those versed in the already voluminous literature on the subject, but it is indispensable for understanding the events that followed...