Wehrmacht

Wolfram Wette is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

• Preface to the English-Language Edition by Peter Fritzsche Foreword by Manfred Messerschmidt List of Abbreviations 1. Perceptions of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Bolshevism as Enemies German Perceptions of Russia in the Twentieth Century National Socialists' Perceptions of Russia: "Jewish Bolshevism" Perceptions of Russia among the Wehrmacht Generals 2. Anti-Semitism in the German Military From Anti-Semitism to the Holocaust? Germany under the Kaiser and the First World War The Revolutionary Era of 1918-19 The Postwar Period: War Continued by Different Means The Weimar Republic The National Socialist Era up to 1939 3. The Wehrmacht and the Murder of Jews Issuing Orders and Propaganda in the Wehrmacht Some Theaters of War Anti-Semitism as a Soldier's Duty 4. Generals and Enlisted Men The Military Elites in the Grip of a War Ideology Hitler and the Generals The "Little Guy" in Uniform Soldiers of the Wehrmacht in Light of Recent Research The Will to Survive in the War's Final Phase 5. The Legend of the Wehrmacht's "Clean Hands" The Birth of a Legend The War Crimes Trials Writing History from the Wehrmacht's Point of View The Cold War Begins Wehrmacht Crimes, the Justice System, and the Statute of Limitations 6. A Taboo Shatters Historical Research Perceptions of the Wehrmacht in the Bundeswehr After Fifty Years a Taboo Is Broken 7. Conclusion Notes Index

This is a powerful book, provocative, enlightening, disturbing. Based on three decades of solid research, Wette debunks the myth, created by former Wehrmacht officers and continued by their Allied counterparts, that the German military fought a "clean" war in the East 1941-45. He strips away the layers of obfuscation and cover-up to set the record straight: Wehrmacht and SS hand-in hand conducted a campaign of racial extermination in the USSR. The book is a must read.