Work
Hoffmann published a number of books and articles mainly on the German-Soviet war (1941-1945). Most of his works were based on little-known topics like Deutsche und Kalmyken 1942 bis 1945 (Germans and the Kalmyk people) (1977), Die Ostlegionen 1941 bis 1943 (1981) and Kaukasien 1942/43 - Das deutsche Heer und die Orientvölker der Sowjetunion (Caucasus 1942/43 - The German army and the eastern peoples of the Soviet Union) (1991). Also in 1984 he published the book Die Geschichte der Wlassow-Armee (History of the Vlasov Army) (1984). This work became very popular. With the support of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn it was also introduced in Russia in 1990, where it caused great controversy.
In 1983 the Military History Research Office published the volume 4 of its Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (The German Reich and the Second World War), which covered the prelude and opening phase of the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. Hoffmann contributed critical articles to this volume, which were almost entirely based on Soviet sources.
Hofmann's research led to a conflict with Wilhelm Deist in the following year. Deist, by this time executive scientific director of the Military History Research Office, sued Hoffmann, because in a letter to the director of the office (dating from September, 7th 1983) Hoffmann had accused him of suppressing of the truth about invasion of the Soviet Union for ideological reasons. Deist considered this to be offensive. However, the judge decided against Deist, because Hoffmann had only made use of his right of free speech.
Since the middle of the 1980s Hoffmann as well as critical Russian historians such as Alexander Nekrich and Dmitri Volkogonov were deeply involved in the emerging debate about possible Soviet preparations for an attack on Germany since the summer of 1940. In 1995, right after he had retired, he published his work Stalins Vernichtungskrieg 1941-1945 (Stalin's War of Extermination). This book caused great controversy, because of some of its thesis. Even the German Bundestag had to pay some attention, because the foreword was written by Manfred Kehrig, who was by this time still employed by the Military History Research Office. This gave Hoffmann's book the look of an official work by the office. In later versions of the book, Kehrig was only allowed to sign this foreword as a private person and without his occupation written under his name.
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