In Hitler's Shadow: An Israeli's Amazing Journey Inside Germany's Neo-Nazi Movement - Hardcover

Since re-unification, disturbing headlines have poured out of an unstable Germany: Violent attacks by neo-Nazi skinheads against foreigners, including members of the U.S. National luge team and the rise of militant far-right nationalism have caught the attention of the world--and provoked only seething indifference from the German government. Now, in an extraordinary personal report, an eyewitness goes behind the headlines to penetrate the dark heart of Germany's neo-Nazi movement. Yaron Svoray, an Israeli journalist, was pursuing unrelated story when he literally stumbled on a cadre of neo-Nazis; soon, backed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, he used the cover of a fictitious American right-wing organization to infiltrate the movement--whose members never discovered Svoray's true identity. What he saw--and documented with hidden cameras and microphones--was a highly organized group whose connections spread across social strata and included "respectable" German politicians as well as wealthy patrons (in Germany and the U.S.), all of whom are unrepentant about Germany's past and wish to put Nazism in its future. In Hitler's Shadow is not an alarmist tract but a powerful expose of the clear and present danger posed by Germany's radical right. Not only does this a amazing story--which will be an original HBO feature early 1995--give meaning to today's news, it has already made news and will continue to do so throughout publication.

The story of an Israeli Jew's experiences as a mole inside Germany's radical right. In September 1992 Svoray was an out-of-work fortune hunter and sometimes journalist searching Germany for diamonds stashed and then lost by an American GI 37 years before. By accident, this quixotic hunt led Svoray to an aging neo-Nazi who took a liking to him and became his conduit to the German far right: unrepentant Nazis from the Third Reich, murderous young skinheads, and modern right-wing ideologues and politicians. Svoray forgot the diamonds and became an investigator for the Los Angelesbased Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization established to combat anti- Semitism. Somehow, the neo-Nazis failed to penetrate Svoray's flimsy cover as a reporter for a nonexistent right-wing American publication and an advance man for a wealthy American looking to contribute to neo-Nazi movements. Further, Svoray managed to talk his way into right-wing strongholds in heavily accented English. Svoray and Taylor (A Necessary End, p. 131) tell the story of the Israeli's 18 months among the neo-Nazis. It is a fascinating, frightening, and revealing account, but one that is also badly flawed by the decision to write the book in the third person with Svoray as the hero/protagonist. The device turns In Hitler's Shadow into a tale of high adventure, complete with narrow escapes and moments of high danger, rather than investigative journalism. Svoray gathered important information about a movement that many critics charge has been paid insufficient attention by the German government, and the wide news coverage given Svoray's investigation may have contributed to Germany's recent crackdowns against neo- Nazis. (HBO will bradcast a tie-in movie in 1995.) An imperfect but riveting inside view of Germany's neo-Nazi movement and the dangers it presents. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.