Lying myth of "clean Wermacht"
The lying myth of a "clean Wehrmacht" refers to the false post-World War II idea that the regular German armed forces (the Wehrmacht) were supposedly not involved in war crimes or the Holocaust.
This myth was promoted by German military personnel and authors, partly to distance themselves from the atrocities committed, especially during the war on the Eastern Front, and was embraced by some Western historians and the public during the Cold War. However, scholarly research has definitively debunked this myth, revealing the Wehrmacht's widespread participation in war crimes, genocide, and the exploitation and murder of millions of civilians and prisoners of war in service of Nazi ideology.
The myth began during the war, being promoted in the Wehrmacht's official propaganda and by soldiers of all ranks seeking to portray their institution in the best possible light; as prospects for victory faded, these soldiers began to portray themselves as victims.[1][2][3]
References
- ↑ David A. Harrisville, The Virtuous Wehrmacht: Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941–1944 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2021).
- ↑ "The Clean Wehrmacht: Making a Myth", Cornell University Press. [1]
- ↑ Institute of National Remembrance (Poland), "The myth of the innocent Wehrmacht". [2]
