Wehrmacht’s “Clean Hands”
Above – Sadism! An „average and innocent” German soldier poses for a photo by the corpses of innocent civilians whom he himself shot …
Defamated the Wehrmacht?
Jens-Christian Wagner is director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora memorials. Recently, in a notification to the prosecutor’s office, he was accused of disclosing „dishonorable facts to the detriment of Wehrmacht soldiers.” In an interview with PAP, he indicates a selective treatment of historical facts in Germany.
“This is not a joke and not in 1944, but in 2020: an investigation was launched against me for allegedly ‚dishonorable facts to the detriment of Wehrmacht soldiers.’ Corpus delicti is a research volume accompanying the exhibition devoted to the crimes of the Wehrmacht, ‚wrote Wagner on his Twitter account. As he informed, the person complaining about him included his allegations against him on 28 pages. The prosecutor’s office in Göttingen initially initiated an investigation, but after the media outcry, it was stopped”.
On the night of June 20-21, 1940, the Germans shot almost 400 people in the PALMIRY forest near Warsaw, among whom were representatives of the pre-war cultural and scientific elite. The massacre was part of the so-called the AB plan, which was to liquidate the Polish intelligentsia and then destroy the national consciousness of Poles.
On July 4, 1941, the Germans shot 22 Polish university professors and associate professors, along with some family members and roommates, who were present during the arrest.
„I am not surprised that there are still defensive reflexes among the Germans when the crimes of the Wehrmacht are shown. However, it was very surprising that the investigation was actually launched on the basis of a report of „dishonorable facts to the detriment of Wehrmacht soldiers,” Jens-Christian Wagner told PAP. When asked if he was surprised by the announcement, he replied that „it can only be described as grotesque.”
When asked about the state of the historical debate in Germany, he pointed out that, from a scientific point of view, knowledge of the crimes committed by the SS, police and Wehrmacht under National Socialism is now more comprehensive than ever. However, she points out that „the perpetrators view is very selective”.
„Still strong is the historical picture that groups of Nazi officials seduced the Germans and made them obey orders. This contradicts the results of historical research, which clearly showed that the circle of perpetrators and accomplices was very wide and that they did not have to be ordered to participate in the crimes because they acted on their own initiative – said Wagner. – This applies not only to the SS, police and Wehrmacht, but also to countless Germans. This means that in almost every German family there were people who were the perpetrators and accomplices, or at least viewers of Nazi crimes – he explained. In families, however, it is perceived quite the opposite: recent studies show that most Germans believe that their families had victims, but NOT the perpetrators of war and Nazi crimes, emphasized the historian”.
When asked if there were any attempts to reassess the events of World War II in Germany, he pointed out that the recognition of Nazi crimes has been the basic democratic consensus in Germany since the 1990s, especially in politics. At the same time, he noted that with the rise of the AfD and other right-wing populist or far-right parties, as well as with the emergence of historical disinformation on the Internet, there has been a shift in the historical discourse.
– „Think of the AfD official Bjoern Hoecke’s demand for a „political 180-degree turn” on the memory or the leader of the AfD group in the Bundestag, who described 12 years of Nazi dictatorship „from a bird’s eye view” in the German parliament. Monuments in Germany, which the political right have accused of carrying out a „cult of guilt”, have been under increasing attack ever since, he said”.
What can be done to prevent anyone from defending the „honor of the Wehrmacht” or relativizing war crimes?
„We do it with exhibitions, publications and also via social media – especially when Nazi crimes are relativized or even rejected. This also includes a clear position on the AfD, which is particularly ethnic and extreme in Thuringia under the leadership of Bjoern Hoecke. They are not allowed in Buchenwald – he explained. – Critical awareness of history also involves critically observing the current events in the direction of anti-democracy, nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism and intervening against it with a clear scientific and ethically sound attitude” – Wagner assessed.
###
Jens-Christian Wagner (born 1966) is a German historian who specializes in the Nazi era and the politics of memory. He has served as the director of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp memorial since 2001. In 2014, he was appointed chairman of the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation [de] whose purpose is to commemorate Nazi crimes committed in Lower Saxony, for a five-year term.[1] Since May 2020, he is the director of Buchenwald‚s memorial as well as Mittelbau-Dora’s.[2] In 2012, he was awarded the Ordre des Palmes académiques for his services to French-German relations and his work at the Mittelbau Dora memorial.[3] (Wikipedia)
###
From the author of the study /Jarek Micewski/
Gallows marked the Polish landscape! „Normal” job for a „innocent normal” German soldier. Hanging resulted from the so-called German „law and order”. It was necessary to save the budget of the German army. It was cheaper because the cord could be used many, many times …
New relations and MUTUAL friendship between Germany and Poland. MERKEL + TUSK …
And we even have a new German ambassador to Poland – the son of Hitler’s personal adjutant. What is more, there are meetings and conferences with „hysterical historians”, whose research shows that Poles murdered more Jews than Germans. And the German press tabloids suggest that we, Poles, have to apologize to the Germans for … for the crimes! After the war for our Polish crimes. They even go further – they write that we will be forced to pay compensation for … this is how things are today …
What do we not have yet? We have no TRUTH! The truth about the role of the „average” German and the „innocent” Wehrmacht soldier during the Second World War.
Compilation for naszepismo.pl Jarek Micewski
Source / PAP / NDz / materials / illustrations Internet and own.
#################################
There is no wonder why the Germans are washing their hands. There are Poles in our country (and, unfortunately, in Emigration, also those associated with KOD and with such rags as OKOpress, Lisi Newsweek, or G. Wyborcza). who whiten the Wehrmacht.
You already want to cry when the Combatants give speeches related to September 1, 1939 and in total thoughtlessness say that we have been attacked by „Nazis”! This is how they are pushing Polish youth into this two-story lie!
„We have a group of people in Poland who dream of making another Auschwitz in Poland, but this time to Germany,” said Róża Thun in Public Television and, as a reward for this slander, was elected by Poles as Poland’s representative to the European Parliament ( EU).
And yet other individuals behave similarly, such as for example Sikorski and Tusk. And the German mentality as it was and is – very dangerous.
Róża Thun – Róża Maria Graefin von Thun und Hohenstein, this is what she wanted for her German husband – Franz Graf von Thun und Hohenstein. She is not a Wanda!
Z. z Gold Coast
AND SO ON…
Not only the Wehrmacht shows. that his hands were always „clean”. Today’s Germany practices racism in the EU and believes that there are inferior nations and the best – which they belong to because they have only Germanic blood.
The German government is preparing public opinion to accept the divisions into the better and the worse. The vaccination certificate must become an official document, just like the ID card. This is what Dieter Cassel, a health economist, said in an interview with the German daily Die Welt.
This German goes back to the old Nazi ideas of dividing people into better and worse and issuing appropriate documents to them. When Hans Frank introduced the Polish territories occupied by the Germans, where the General Government was created, the so-called kenkarts – identity cards for Poles, he differentiated them due to ethnic origin. And so the Germans issued them gray Kennkarte to those whom they considered Poles, and yellow to Gypsies and Jews.
Who else remembers the German national anthem? Deutschland, Deutschland über alles. And so on…
JACEK SOCHA
@@@We received an e-mail: (…)
On Saturday, December 23, 1944, on Christmas Eve (the 23rd was Christmas Eve as the church regulations at that time did not allow celebrating Christmas Eve on Sunday), the Germans invaded the village and, in a brutal pacification, murdered 56 residents of the Brzeźno, Bibiar and Bąki estates, and seriously injured 18. among others my great-grandfather. Look at this sadist, in this photo of a brutal type, what those „innocent with clean paws” , „good” German soldiers were capable of. (…)
John (Jan) Biernacki