- Summary
- "This book examines how German soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front during the Second World War rationalized their participation in a criminal campaign, and how the Wehrmacht attempted to assert moral superiority over its Soviet enemies. In the process, it redefines the origins of the myth of the "clean" Wehrmacht"-- Provided by publisher.
- Variant Title
- Crafting the myth of the German soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944
- Series
- Battlegrounds: Cornell studies in military history
Battlegrounds (Ithaca, N.Y.)
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Harrisville, David A., author.
- Published
- Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, [2021]
©2021
- Locale
- Germany
Eastern Front
Soviet Union
Eastern Front (World War (1939-1945))
- Contents
-
Introduction: toward a moral history of the Wehrmacht in the war of extermination
Honorable self and villainous other: value systems in the Wehrmacht
Rationalizing atrocities: self-exoneration in soldiers' letters
The "crusaders": religious justifications for Barbarossa
The "liberators": Barbarossa as an emancipatory act
Death and victimhood: cultivating moral superiority through burial practices
Conclusion: a myth is born.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: toward a moral history of the Wehrmacht in the war of extermination -- Honorable self and villainous other: value systems in the Wehrmacht -- Rationalizing atrocities: self-exoneration in soldiers' letters -- The "crusaders": religious justifications for Barbarossa -- The "liberators": Barbarossa as an emancipatory act -- Death and victimhood: cultivating moral superiority through burial practices -- Conclusion: a myth is born.
