The documentary reveals much of the philosophical and economical ambilvalences prevalent among many circles concerning the mission of the NSDAP.

Rauschning's book shed light for his contemporaries on the real meaning of National Socialism. The book was released several months prior to WWII. Rauschning was a German and former prominent Nazi but went into exile to Paris when he discovered the true meaning of National Socialism. Rauschning, like many German conservatives, was first attracted Hitler and his gang when he mistook the Nazi Party (NSDAP) as a traditional nationalist movement. Although he shares blame (along with other German conservatives) for Hitler's rise to power, he at least was able to correct this gross error in judgment. The book's thesis is that the Nazi movement was revolutionary in character not a reactionary counterattack. Many of Rauschning's contemporaries in the U.K., France and the U.S.A believed Hitler was a puppet of German conservative forces. However, the Nazi's goal was not to protect the German establishment (the army, Prussian Junkers, and the big industrialists) but to radically alter society by destroying capitalism, democracy and Christianity and replacing it with an atomized society where all allegiance was to the state. He explained (as other authors have) that the Nazi's hatred for the Jews derived from their belief that the Jews personified "capitalism and democracy". Of course Hitler was not above using the establishment to achieve his goals but he was the master and they were the puppets. Rare for his time (and even today) he saw the similarities between Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany. Although they exchanged shrill propaganda attacks and considered each other to be bitter enemies, their concentration of all power in the hands of a radical party, propensity for violence and shared hatred for democracy and capitalism meant they had more common with each other than either of them did with the Western democracies. He predicted that the Soviets and Nazis would cooperate to dominate Europe. At the time (May 1939), any such argument was considered preposterous. Well, he was correct - three months later the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed and WWII was unleashed.