Wehrmacht veterans in post-war Germany
In Germany, in view of the crimes committed by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, there immediately arose, post-1945, the question of what place general officers should occupy in the armed forces and in German society, as the country was split in two by the Cold War.
The end of the war in 1945 was long regarded in Germany as “zero hour”, a historic break which was followed by a new start. At first glance, this hypothesis appears to be confirmed: the Reich had surrendered unconditionally, the army was extinguished and its senior military officers removed from power. On closer examination, however, zero hour can be seen to be far less of a break than was originally supposed. A large proportion of the old elites succeeded in gaining access successively to positions of influence with the State and society. The Wehrmacht had a total of 3 191 general officers, including 291 admirals. Despite the heavy losses sustained, particularly during the final year of the war, including among high-ranking officers, around 2 800 survived the fighting. After 1945, they were initially in captivity, war criminals awaiting trial. However, by the time the two German States were founded in 1949, most had already been released.
Between continuity and change
In the meantime, the conflict between the Western powers and the Soviet Union had worsened. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union therefore drew up plans for the rearmament of the two German States founded in 1949. Although the Germans regarded themselves above all as victims of the war, many were aware that Nazi Germany had committed horrific crimes. The war crimes trials brought by the Allies, when 37 general officers were sentenced to death and executed, clearly showed this.
The Nuremberg war trials, by the Allied military tribunal (20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946). © akg-images
The new West German army must therefore embody a break with the old. But a degree of continuity can nevertheless be identified. In 1957, 44 senior officers of the Wehrmacht were absorbed into the Bundeswehr. On the gap between a new start and continuity, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer is said to have been blunt: “I don’t think NATO would accept 18-year-old generals.” In order to recruit only personnel with impeccable credentials, a control body was specially created to submit all candidates for senior positions to a critical examination. Continuity and change were also seen in the GDR. When its armed forces were set up, far fewer former high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht were included than in West Germany. But if the socialist State regarded itself as anti-fascist, initially it could not do without military experience either. When the East German National People’s Army (Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA) was created in 1956, four former high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht were recruited, or 14% of the group – still small at that stage – of senior officers. The example of General Vincenz Müller is particularly striking: he became the NVA’s chief of staff. Yet since the political reliability of the armed forces was of paramount importance in the GDR, these four senior officers were removed by 1958.
Altogether, however, only a small proportion of retired high-ranking officers were absorbed into the Bundeswehr and NVA. Many worked in industry, business or the civil service, or else took a quiet retirement and were not seen again. Some, however, had difficulty accepting the past, and so attempted to project their own view of history onto public opinion.
This was, of course, only possible in a very limited way in East Germany. Veterans there could only act under the aegis of the State. Friedrich Paulus, promoted by Hitler to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall shortly before the surrender of the 6th Army at Stalingrad (which he commanded) in 1943, was released by the Soviets and taken to the GDR ten years later. Under surveillance from the Stasi, his role was to carry out propaganda for the socialist regime. In this way, Paulus, who clearly had no political experience – and whose speeches were regularly redrafted by General Müller in line with the socialist spirit – wanted to legitimate his actions at Stalingrad, which were a subject of controversy. He was opposed to the rearmament of West Germany, a position fully aligned with East Berlin. Overall, however, the GDR’s attempts at influencing West German veterans through Paulus were unsuccessful.
Rehabilitating former military personnel
In West Germany, the situation was different. Bonn rehabilitated former military personnel to absorb them into the new political order and ensure their adherence to rearmament. While there may have been similar attempts in East Germany, they did not go as far as in the West, where former high-ranking officers even lobbied Chancellor Adenauer to step in and call for the release of prisoners of war who had been sentenced and imprisoned by the Allies. A whole series of initiatives from former senior military leaders clearly hit the target and were crowned with success: in 1949, the Bundestag passed an amnesty law, followed in 1951 by a law entitling former career soldiers to substantial social security benefits, such as pensions and welfare payments, and to display their former rank followed by “retired”.
In West Germany, veterans could participate in a wide variety of political (remembrance) activities and become members of around 1 000 different organisations. A small number of high-ranking officers, like Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, used the meetings of these organisations to overtly revive the ideas and values of the Nazi period. In 1952, his speech to Waffen-SS veterans caused a scandal. Meanwhile, others – like Paulus in the GDR – tried to legitimise their wartime conduct by publishing writings. For instance, in 1955, the memoirs of Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein were published under the programmatic title of Verlorene Siege (Lost Victories). The book, which exonerated the generals from the defeat and war crimes, became a best-seller. During the setting-up of the Bundeswehr, its author worked as an adviser to the Ministry of Defence.
Former Wehrmacht officer Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein, at the time an adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Bonn, 20 June 1956. © akg-images
After 1945, a good number of former senior officers of the Wehrmacht lived a quiet retirement. However, 1945 was not zero hour: after the war, some succeeded in gaining access to positions of influence within the army, business and society, taking advantage of the change brought by the Cold War. Whereas in the GDR their success could only be short-lived, the liberal society and Adenauer’s integration policy offered them opportunities to act against their alleged “defamation” and influence the image of the past.