文档介绍：Introduction i
David Irving
Hitler’s
Wa r
and The War Path
‘Two books in English stand out from the vast literature of the
Second World War: Chester Wilmot’s The Struggle for Europe,
published in 1952, and David Irving’s Hitler’s War’
john keegan, Times Literary Supplement
F
FOCAL POINT
ii Hitler’s War
Twenty years still to go: Wealthy benefactor Lotte Bechstein took this snapshot of
Adolf Hitler, then , at the balustrade of the villa that became the Berghof, after
his release from Landsberg prison in (author’s collection)
Introduction i
A Doctor quotes Hitler on Biographers, in August
a foreigner, said Hitler, ‘probably finds it easier to pass judgment on a statesman,
provided he is familiar with the country, its people, its language, and its archives.
‘“Presumably,” I said, “Chamier didn’t know the Kaiser personally, as he was still
relatively young. But his book not only shows a precise knowledge of the archives and
papers, but relies on what are after all many personal items, like the Kaiser’s letters
and written memoranda of conversations with friends and enemies.”
‘“Hitler then said that for some time now he has gone over to having all impor-
tant discussions and military conferences recorded for posterity by shorthand writers.
And perhaps one day after he is dead and buried an objective Englishman e
and give him the same kind of impartial treatment. The present generation neither
can nor will.”’– The Diary of Dr Erwin Giesing, on a discussion with Hitler
about the Kaiser’s English biographer J. D. Chamier (author’s collection)
David Irving is the son of a Royal mander. Imperfectly
educated at London’s Imperial College of Science & Technology and
at University College, he subsequently spent a year in Germany
working in a steel mill and perfecting his fluency in the language.
Among his thirty books (including three in German), the best-known
include Hitler’s War; The Trail of the Fox: The Life of Fi