Abstract

When Adolf Hitler died in his bunker April 30, 1945, most of the survivors believed he was a unique figure who could not be compared to any other violent criminal in history. This conviction, a combination of horror and hope, has proved to be an illusion. Hitler was not unique. As long as millions of people long passionately for his return, the fulfillment of this wish is only a question of time.

Reasonably enough, the postwar era has insisted on the singularity of German crimes and has rejected any comparison with other instances of state terror. All too often such parallels have merely served to exonerate the perpetrators, and to that extent the taboo appeared ultimately to make sense — at least morally, if not intellectually.