The 880-page work compiled by a panel of historians was commissioned in 2005 by Joschka Fischer shortly before the end of his tenure as Germany's top diplomat. It will be formally handed over to the present incumbent, Guido Westerwelle, on Thursday afternoon. That evening, Fischer and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was foreign minister from the end of 2005 until last year, will be attending an event hosted by the publishing company Blessing Verlag. All three ministers will have to talk about the Holocaust, about war crimes, about diplomatic failure, about perfidious behavior and about rare incidents of heroism, all in the context of the German Foreign Ministry during the Third Reich.

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The book will be presented by a commission that includes the historians Eckart Conze and Norbert Frei of Germany, Peter Hayes of the United States and Moshe Zimmermann of Israel. Their book deals with the history of this most distinguished of German ministries during this dark chapter, and about how it dealt with its past after the war. Diplomats 'Actively Involved' in Holocaust The experts' verdict is damning. 'The diplomats were aware of the Jewish policy throughout,' they write, 'and actively involved in it.' Cooperating in mass murder was 'an area of activity' of ministry staff 'everywhere in Europe.'

Fischer had commissioned the study in 2005 to settle a heated dispute in his ministry about the extent of its historical guilt. The results are unlikely to calm the controversy.

Fischer was shocked by the findings. 'It makes me feel sick,' he said. Former diplomats rebelled against the ban and many active members of the diplomatic service joined the protest.

They argued that it was unfair to condemn staff who had been members of the Nazi party, and 128 former diplomats put a large death notice in the respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in defense of Krapf's honor. Surprised by the reaction, Fischer responded by hiring the commission. He feels that the findings have confirmed his stance. 'That's the obituary these gentlemen deserve,' he said.