The Hitler Virus

"In the spring of 1945, as the Russians moved inexorably toward Berlin and it became clear that the Nazi cause was lost, Adolf Hitler summoned his secretary and dictated his final political testament. "Out of my personal commitment," he said, "the seed will grow again one day, one way or another, for a radiant rebirth of the National Socialist movement in a truly united nation." The next day, Hitler put a gun to his head and ended - at least officially - the Nazi regime.". "Peter Wyden, who had himself escaped the Nazis, returned to Germany many times after World War II - first as a soldier with the U.S. Army's Information Control Division, which was given the task of "reeducating" the Germans, and later as a tourist and researcher. To his dismay, he repeatedly found evidence during his visits that Hitler's testament was not simply the last illusion of an insane dictator but a startlingly accurate prophecy. Though the Nazi cause had been exposed and vilified worldwide, it was and is still clandestinely cherished by many.". "In the process of documenting manifestations of Hitler's far-reaching influence, which he termed the "Hitler virus," Wyden discovered that its carriers were not merely to be found among the older generation - Nazis who had escaped justice, sometimes with the aid of the CIA and even the Vatican; the reverent tourists who regularly visit Hitler's hideout at Berchtesgaden; nostalgic men and women who still secretly celebrate the Fuhrer's birthday. Wyden also found an alarming number of outbreaks of the virus among the young adults who are finding in Hitler a moral and spiritual guide, aided and abetted by a new breed of right-wing academics who make the rewriting of history their mission and a new generation of politicians whose agenda and approach are frighteningly close to those of the young Hitler."--BOOK JACKET.