'How could they have?' is still the question about Nazi Germany. This is the question Hochhuth now attempts to answer [in A German Love Story], not as it relates to the crimes of the regime as a collective but in terms of small, ordinary people….

Hochhuth's fictional reconstruction is tender and convincing. Zasada, perhaps, doesn't come to life before his death: he remains an innocent, shadowy victim. But the little men and women who obeyed orders are pinned down….

But between the chapters of fictional narrative, Hochhuth sandwiches long discussions of the Nazi State, its leaders, the Battle of Britain, Churchill's genius, the conduct of the war by the commanders on either side. This is the aggressive Hochhuth of 'The Representative' and 'The Soldiers,' flourishing historical documents and daring scholars to challenge his conclusions.

Sometimes it works: the alternation of the love story of Pauline and...