BERLIN–German historian Werner Maser, considered one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, died Thursday at a hospital in Speyer, his family said yesterday.
Maser won international acclaim with a biography of the late Nazi dictator titled Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality. Published in 1971, it was translated into 22 languages.
Another work, Hitler's Letters and Notes, gave insight into the Führer's thoughts and theories.
Maser, 84, was praised for his painstaking research. He tracked down Hitler's medical records from 1905 to 1945 which, for decades, were believed lost and was the first historian to assert, rightly, that purported diaries of Hitler published by Stern magazine in 1983 were forgeries.
His credibility was compromised, however, when he claimed in the late 1970s to have tracked down Hitler's illegitimate son, allegedly born of an 18-month liaison with a peasant girl.
Maser also wrote of the Nuremberg trials.
Controversially, he claimed Soviet troops were poised to invade the Third Reich in 1941.
Agence France-Presse
I have a problem however when they say
Controversially, he claimed Soviet troops were poised to invade the Third Reich in 1941.
Many German soldiers who had doubts about invading Russia soon changed their minds when they saw the huge buildup of Russian troops on the border.
However, according to what I've read, Stalin actually had no plans to invade prior to 1943.
Arguably (and gosh knows we argued about this!) the invasion of Russia was a pre-emptive strike. But given Hitler's political goals that might be stretching things just a bit!
If the invasion of Russia was a preemptive strike, it was several decades in the making!
You are right, also, to say "Russia" rather than "USSR". Hitler was after "lebensraum" in the East whatever the political complexion of the opposing regime.
I am quite prepared to believe that Stalin had in mind a war of conquest at some stage, but I agree with you that Hitler's war wasn't in any way contingent on that. "Coming, ready or not!" was Hitler's motto.
Aw common Sid. You'll spoil the whole anti-bolshevik crusade thing!
I think you are half right on this but only half - Hitler remembered well the battles between Nazi and Red in the streets of Germany and figured there was only room for one ideology in his neck of the woods. And he reckoned it was up to him to define "his neck of the woods."
Actually I believe there is a Stalin quote somewhere I'll have to do some digging but he said the USSR should be ready for war in 41 but he knew with his industrialization policies it wouldn't be till 43. I also don't think its a stretch at all for Stalin to attempt an invasion of Germany this is the same Stalin that backed Communist Elements in Germany prior to Hitler coming to power.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Then again how much of that big buildup near the old Polish border was fear of Germany....or units returned to their old pre-September 1939 bases rather than just stationed in the field? Remember, the Russians kept HUGE forces there...because they were paranoid about the POLES, after they whipped their proverbial @rses in 1919! For the majority of units that took part in the 1939 offensive and occupation opf Eastern Poland, these would have been their home depots and not much reason to move out of them except up to the new border IF they had got word from Moscow to do so.
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
If Stalin only reckoned that he would be ready for war in 1941 and his industrialisation policies in place by 1943, then he was 2-4 years off the pace being set by Hitler.
I agree that Stalin was perfectly capable of invading Germany, but we can't hold him culpable for things that he did not, in fact, do.
Hitler was going East regardless of the political complexion of the regimes there. The Poles had a more proven record of consistent hostility to the Soviet Union than Hitler did, but it didn't stop him completely annihilating their state and withdrawing any recognition from them as a people. Lebensraum trumped anti-Communism.
And whereas we can speculate about Stalin's intentions and timetable, we know from the passage of events what Hitler's were. Hitler was on a course that was not contingent on Stalin's actions.
Personally I see both Stalin and Hitler as totalitarian twins and the real alternative was not between the two of them, but between Liberal Democracy and Totalitarianism.
The USSR's pre-war defence had been on the Stalin Line, running along the western border. The acquisitions of the Baltic States, Eastern Poland and Basarabia (in collaboration with Hitler, one should point out) had pushed this border far to the Stalin Line's west.
The Stalin Line had therefore been decommissioned and a new defensive line was being built along the new border. It can be argued that Stalin felt vulnerable at this time and so packed the border areas with troops pending the new line's completion.
Its been years now since I read it, so I couldn't my hands on it readily, but I remember a comment once that Stavka withdrew a lot of its forces back into depots in the USSR to prevent german aerial reconnaissance.
But of course they had reckoned without the long distance/high altitude photo-recce Ju88 version with the pressurised cabin and oxygen-injected diesel engines that the Luftwaffe used over the Western UK and Ireland in 1940-41....
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
Packed forward yes, but not to the 30th September 1939 stopline. Up to the point Stalin thought was comsensurate with heeding SOME of the West's warnings and his own sources, yet not adopting a "threatening posture". Plonker had NO idea of the range of an He111 or Ju88!
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
Stalin actually had some men arrested who had spotted German preparations because what they saw with their eyes did not agree with what felt in his heart.
Stalin with a heart? interesting concept! Particularly for a wretch who had a man executed for allowing his dog to bark while the generalissimo was napping!
I did have a young fellow look at me in horror as we were setting up an L shaped ambush. I had just told everybody to wait to fire until we could see their backs. "shoot them in the back?!" He asked!
I told him if he liked he could read them their miranda rights but that the rest of us would prefer to stay alive!
Indeed its best to get the drop on somebody rather then give them a fair fight. Like most of my streetfights I gave myself the advantage of taking the person unaware mostly because defending myself should not involve letting myself getting shot, stabbed, etc. because I want to give proper notification.
While I do not agree with the Nazis or their policies I can see how Hitler saw it as a preemptive strike just because he didn't wait for Stalin to come across the border first or to get his @#% together doesn't necessarily make the campaign illegitimate...in fact many Communists like to say if they had only waited the Red Army could have taken all of Europe.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
