Hi. I wonder if anyone here can answer this question. In 2016 or '15 there was news and a lot of writings that historians are restoring and releasing (as book format?) the newly found diaries belonging to Heinrich Himmler. Some vile and sickening excerpts was published in most big media too. Since then, no updates at all? I tried asking those that I was informed was working on this in Moscow, but no response. Of course such work takes a lot of time but this is very special news for any WWII historian or WWII geek, as myself.
Maybe someone could look this up or maybe someone has more information about these documents? There must be more information about this work (in progress?)...
Thanks!
I'm waiting for those myself, but yes, it takes a huge amount of time to analyze every single entry - you have not only to comment, you have to cross-reference the diaries (actually, appointment calendars) with tens of thousands of other documents. And we're talking about at least two whole years here -1943 and 1944 (the diaries for 1940, 1941 and 1942 had been published "officially" previously, and some earlier years were published online by David Irving).
It's been only 3 years since the discovery and it's a pretty short amount of time for work of such magnitude.
About the "vile and sickening excerpts " - don't expect those in the dry and practical notes (mostly lists of places visited and people met) by Himmler. The media of course got everything wrong and simply confused the long-ago available testimonies with diary entries. Some journalists seemingly can't hold two simple thoughts at once in their heads. We exposed the confusion here: http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-discovery-of-himmlers-appointments.html
Here is how a typical entry will look like (this one is about his visit to the extermination camp Sobibor - which he doesn't even mention by name):
12 Uhr: Landung Lublin; Abholung durch SS-Obergruppenführer Krüger und SS-Gruppenführer Globocnik; Essen im Flughafen-Hotel
12.30 Uhr: Start mit Wagen nach Cholm
14 Uhr: Start von Cholm mit Sonderzug zum SS-Sonderkommando
15-16 Uhr: Besichtigung des SS-Sonderkommandos
Very interesting for historians, but maybe not so much for the general public.
Anyway, the publication date is listed on the German Amazon as April, 2020.
https://www.amazon.de/Die-Organisation-Massenmordes-Dienstkalender-1943-1945/dp/3492058965
The book will be called Die Organisation des Massenmordes: Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers 1943-1945.
(The 1945 diary has also already been published.)