Editing History Will Absolve Me (section)

==Historiography==
===Origins and historicity===
Castro's defense speech was first printed in pamphlet form, titled ''History Will Absolve Me'', and distributed around Cuba in 1954.<ref>{{cite book |last=Quiroga |first=Jose |date=2005 |title=Cuban palimpsests
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FHV2hCse18C&dq=history+will+absolve+me+pamphlet&pg=PA28 |location= |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |page=28 |isbn=9780816642144 |access-date=}}</ref> Witnesses of Castro's original defense speech, like Judge Nieto, and Lieutenant Camps, have claimed that Castro's original speech was nowhere near as long as what is recorded in the pamphlet ''History Will Absolve Me''. Historian Antonio Rafael de la Cova suggests that the recorded material outruns the two hours in which it is alleged Castro used to give his speech.<ref name=antonio>{{cite book |last=Rafael de la Cova |first=Antonio |date=2007 |title=The Moncada Attack Birth of the Cuban Revolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfMvP7aaz_oC&dq=History+Will+Absolve+Me+castro+hitler&pg=PA231 |location= |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |page=230-1 |isbn=9781570036729 |access-date=}}</ref> 

The journalist [[Herbert Matthews]], who frequently interviewed Castro, claims that the origins of the pamphlet are incredibly difficult to deduce. According to historian Peter C. Bjarkman, the only solid evidence of the writing of the pamphlet comes from a letter from Fidel Castro to [[Melba Hernández]], in which he states he will be writing a pamphlet detailing his goals. This pamphlet was to be written before the founding of the [[26th of July Movement]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bjarkman |first=Peter |date=2018 |title=Fidel Castro and Baseball The Untold Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C31xDwAAQBAJ&dq=history+will+absolve+me+pamphlet&pg=PA9 |location= |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield Publishers |page=9 |isbn=9781538110317 |access-date=}}</ref>

===Hitlerian inspiration===
The final phrase of Castro's defense speech: "History will absolve me.", is quite similar to Hitler's final defense during his trial for the [[Beer Hall Putsch]], in which he similarly claimed his coup attempt would be absolved by history.<ref name=antonio></ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Coltman |first=Leycester |date=2003 |title=The Real Fidel Castro
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esRje8Jo3LMC&dq=fidel+castro+sympathized+hitler&pg=PA91 |location= |publisher=Yale University Press |page=91 |isbn=9780300133394 |access-date=}}</ref>

Anti-Castro critic [[Humberto Fontova]] has alleged the similarity is due to direct inspiration, and that Fidel Castro was a youthful admirer of Adolf Hitler.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fontova |first=Humberto |date=2012 |title=Fidel Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYBy54MXgBUC&dq=history+will+absolve+me+hitler&pg=PT24 |location= |publisher=Regnery Publishing |page= |isbn=9781596988224 |access-date=}}</ref> Historian Brian Latell suggests that Fidel Castro's similar words could possibly have been an accidental imitation, but that it was mostly likely conscious.<ref>{{cite book |last=Latell |first=Brian |date=2016 |title=History Will Absolve Me Fidel Castro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WiHDwAAQBAJ&dq=history+will+absolve+me+hitler&pg=PT19 |location= |publisher=Rosetta Books |page= |isbn=9780795342769 |access-date=}}</ref> Biographer Diane Holloway directly claims that Castro's words were taken from Hitler.<ref>{{cite book |last=Holloway |first=Diane |date=2002 |title=Analyzing Leaders, Presidents and Terrorists
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8KfBAAAQBAJ&dq=History+Absolve+Me+castro+hitler&pg=PA145 |location= |publisher= iUniverse|page=145 |isbn=9781469704593 |access-date=}}</ref> Historians [[William Ratliff]] and Roger Fontaine claim that Castro was greatly enamored with Adolf Hitler in his youth, and that his wording was directly taken from Hitler.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ratliff |first1=William |last2=Fontaine |first2=Roger |date= |title=A Strategic Flip-flop in the Caribbean: Lift the Embargo on Cub |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fz9jQ99bRe8C&dq=History+Absolve+Me+castro+hitler&pg=PA6 |location= |publisher=Hoover Institute |page=6 |isbn=9780817943530 |access-date=}}</ref>

The poet [[Heberto Padilla]], who was a friend of [[Fidel Castro]] during the Cuban Revolution, claims the similar wording was due to Castro's photographic memory, and his memorization of Hitler's speeches. Padilla claims that the similar wording was conscious. Dr. Antonio Rafael de la Cova claims that neither Castro nor Hitler actually said the exact words that have been so often claimed to have been stated at their trials, but that they probably said something similar.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tellechea |first=Carlos |date=2023 |title=The Inkwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47K6EAAAQBAJ&dq=history+will+absolve+me+hitler&pg=PT126 |location= |publisher=Gatekeeper Press |page= |isbn=9781662937736 |access-date=}}</ref>