Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, ''Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times, '' and he wept bitterly. ''

Measured by mere numbers, the Final Solution of the Nazis' was not unique. Stalin killed more, so did Mao. The Hutus slaughtered a larger proportion of their own in a shorter time, as did the Khmer Rouge. The British took out the whole Tasmanian race; not one is left. Where are the Apaches today?

Yet the Nazis were special if for no other reason than that they were so ordinary. They were no frenzied, spontaneous mob. They weren't peasants. They arose from one of the most civilized, enlightenment saturated, most modern of modern nations. They were greeted most warmly in the universities. The Nazis killed six million Jews. This century's wars and utopian government progr…