Book claims German diplomats active in Holocaust

26/10/10 08:42 CET

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Germany’s Foreign Ministry played a far more active role in the Holocaust than previously thought, a new book reveals.

‘‘The Office and the Past’‘ claims German diplomats were not only aware of the mass murder of the Jews but were actively involved. The work also says many Nazis remained diplomats decades after the war, covering up their dark past.

Historian Eckart Conze said:’‘The study shows that from 1933 on the Foreign Office was involved in the violent policies of National Socialism. It participated actively in the pursuit and then murder of European Jewry and it was – you can’t see it otherwise – a criminal organisation.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has praised the book’s research. He said those wishing to join the service will have to read it.

“This is going to be part of required reading for diplomats in training. There are some
shocking revelations. How deeply top diplomats were involved in the dictatorship and the crimes of the Third Reich,” Westerwelle said.

The book, due to be released on Thursday, debunks the established view that most German diplomats knew nothing about the holocaust until after the war.