For whom was Witness to History written? For anyone who has ever offered an opinion on the 2nd World War, its causes and its aftermath. Or for those who are likely to. Why? Because the writing of it was motivated by those who did so and got it wrong. Including myself.
Witness to History
There can be few historical dramas the embroidery of which comes near to matching that which has been woven about Hitler’s Germany. Of this epic tens of thousands of books have been written, television and radio programmes made, and films produced. Yet who can deny that the truth is even more distant today than it has ever been. So much so that very little of what is written today is other than fanciful notion.
Witness to History is not an opinion unless it is that of the main players whose part created, shaped and finally pulled the shroud over the Third Reich. Their contribution then is clearly a relevant one. It is their war, without the embroidery. It is the story of a nation that broke free from the old order, soared to heights undreamed of, but not beyond the range of the gun. It is an epic written by the men who made it so.
I am the spectator. The man who sat on the hill and watched it happen. My only contribution is to string the quotations together. I am if you like painting pictures with quotations. I am putting together a jigsaw that when completed should provide you with a picture that will allow a more balanced view of the period.
How you colour the picture in afterwards is entirely up to yourself; your prejudices, your ethics and your cultural leanings. You are welcome to them, but please, do not let us have a war about it. We have had enough of those already. More than enough.
Dedication
I have written this book for all the innocent victims of war, of all nations and creeds. Not the least the children for in this, the 2nd World War; they were the true innocents without vote of influence. A lost generation; the children who were betrayed and lost to our world by a generation to whom they were entrusted. They the children reaped the wind they did not sow.
I hope that this book provides some of the answers and makes their brutal and untimely deaths less than a mere statistic and more of a lesson for the future.
Michael Walsh
Witness to History 
Why have you not left sources for some of this information.
It’s not that I don’t believe it, but that if I’m to share it w/people who are skeptics, I must be able to point them to something–not “one man’s say-so.”
Ex: chapter 2,you include many stats about the number of jews on Soviet government w/no attribution or source. Where do these numbers come from? How do we know they’re accurate? Where did you get them?
Please help.
Thanks.
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