Revising the ‘myth’ of a ‘clean wehrmacht’: generals’ trials, public opinion, and the dynamics of Vergangenheitsbewältigung in West Germany, 1948–60

Searle, DA ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3311-4090 2003, 'Revising the ‘myth’ of a ‘clean wehrmacht’: generals’ trials, public opinion, and the dynamics of Vergangenheitsbewältigung in West Germany, 1948–60' , German Historical Institute London Bulletin, 25 (2) , pp. 17-48.

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Abstract

Among one of the most consistent claims made by the organizers and supporters of the ‘Wehrmacht exhibition’ has been that the ‘myth’ of a ‘clean Wehrmacht’ took root in the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1950s, lasting well into the 1980s, only to have been finally shattered by the exhibition itself in the mid-1990s. Although this thesis has very little to do with the actual content of the exhibition — which examined the role of the Wehrmacht, and the army in particular, in co-operating with SS units in the final solution in the Soviet Union, in executions of enemy personnel, and the extermination of countless civilians through the device of declaring them to be partisans — it is has been repeated consistently by a number of historians.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Subjects / Themes > D History General and Old World > DD Germany Subjects / Themes > D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D839 Post-war History, 1945 on Subjects / Themes > D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D731 World War II Memory, Text and Place
Schools:	Schools > School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences > Centre for European Security Schools > School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	German Historical Institute London Bulletin
Publisher:	German Historical Institute London
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	02698552
Related URLs:	Publication Publisher
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2009 13:14
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 08:32
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/2140

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