Language:
German
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Bios; Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen
Angaben zur Quelle:
11,1 (1998) 42-68
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
National socialism Philosophy
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
War crime trials
Abstract:
On the basis of German soldiers' letters, diaries, and reminiscences, describes how their initial shock at the atrocities committed against the civilian population on the eastern front turned rather quickly to indifference or to the conviction that this behavior was necessitated by the vicious nature of the enemy - the Russian and the Jew. Nazi propaganda had prepared the soldiers for this perception of the situation, and the seemingly unquestioning conformity of their officers and comrades reinforced it. Individuals who retained their moral sensitivity still carried out orders, from a sense of duty. Finally, in defeat it was this sense of duty that kept the soldiers going - and killing and destroying - even as they retreated. Pp. 69-75 contain comments by Birgitta Nedelmann on Heer's article, schematizing Heer's presentation and arguing that it fails to account for the lust for violent excesses developed by many of the soldiers. For this it is necessary to include the corporeal dimension of their actions.
Description / Table of Contents:
Nedelmann, Birgitta. Kommentar zu Hannes Heer... Ibid. 69-75.
Note:
On the murder of Jews and "partisans" by the German army in Russia in 1941-44.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink