POSTSCRIPT

I can’t resist making note of a remarkable essay that appeared after the bound galleys of this book went to press: one by Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov, in the February 2, 2004, issue of The New Republic. It was a review of Hitler’s so-called second book, the one he wrote after Mein Kampf but decided not to publish. Bartov’s review was entitled “He [Hitler] Meant What He Said.” And speaking of contemporary Jew-haters, Bartov added, “These are people who mean what they say.” In other words, when terrorist groups use exterminationist rhetoric, we must face the possibility that they are not just making idle threats. As Bartov says, “There are precedents for this.” On the cover of The New Republic, the Bartov essay was billed as “Hitler Is Dead, Hitlerism Lives On.” My point exactly. Those who forget the past . . .

February 5, 2004