Barbarossa Dbq

The era of WW2 was un-doubtfully a horrific era in which regimes were created to achieve the perfect ideology of their respective leaders. Arguably the most terrifying regime during this era was Hitler, and his Nazi regime. With Hitler's goal to spread Nazism and anti-Semitism, great measures were taken in attempts to achieve this. There has been much debate on whether the Wehrmacht, particularly on the Eastern front, came out of the war with "clean hands" and were "just following orders", not having knowledge on Hitler and the Nazi's true intentions, or if they actually had full knowledge of what was happening politically in Germany and had full responsibility of their actions of the Eastern front. One would believe that the Wehrmacht did,

in fact, know of the Nazi's intentions during the war and did not come out of WW2 with "clean hands." To come to a satisfactory conclusion, this paper will be looking at three levels/aspects of the Wehrmacht; the higher command, individual Wehrmacht soldiers, and supporting evidence for innocence of the Wehrmacht. With proper analytical insight, a significant conclusion may be made to support the thesis.

The German high command was made up of the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) or the High Command of the Armed Forces and the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres) or the High Command of the Army; Army General Staff. Both of these military leaderships were in direct daily contact with Hitler and therefore were under heavy influence of his ideologies. This can be seen in when Hitler was addressing his Generals, before the Soviet Union invasion, on March 30, 1941. Hitler stresses to his generals that the Communist enemy is not a comrade before or after battle and that they are fighting a war to annihilate the Soviets, not to preserve them in anyway (Document 2). Hitler's communication with his generals indicates that he did not care for prisoners of war and that his Generals were to instruct all their troops to fight the war in the Eastern front this way. Most of Hitler's generals obliged, and this led to costly battles, like the Siege of Leningrad, which is considered one of the most destructive sieges in human history. There are many other instances that prove that the German generals know of Hitler's intentions. General Rudolf Schmundt's Directive in October 31, 1942, is a prime example of Hitler showing the true nature of his intentions in the war. General Rudolf Schmundt was the chief of personnel for OKH and played a key role in assignments and promotions in the army. The directive from Hitler explained to him how his officers must know that there is no such thing as a "decent jew", that the Jewish people are the reason Germany is fighting a war against a world of enemies and that they are challenging Germanys claim to Lebensraum. The directive goes on to say that there should be no compromise for how officers deal with any Jewish individual (Document 17). This is significant because this only shows how Hitler continued to spread his ideology through his generals and that the Generals clearly knew about the destructive intentions for the Jewish population. There is also discussion among historians about how the destructive nature of the Eastern front was too significant for the German generals to not be aware of Hitler's intentions. The amount of forced labour, economic destruction, crop destruction, and deaths inflicted went well beyond the realm of military justification . With the amount of chaos that took place, the instruction of the German generals was a crucial reason for the damage that took place on the Eastern front. A substantial amount of evidence supports that the majority of German generals knew and supported Hitler on his ideological views. While an argument can be made that Hitler's generals acted out of fear, very little was done by the majority of higher command to make the war more humane on the Eastern front. General Jodi's Order on October 7, 1941, in fact stated that he was to have the cities of Leningrad and Moscow shelled by artillery so that their population would flee, and they would not have to provide food and resources to its inhabitants (Document 5). While the cities were never captured by the Wehrmacht, these orders still were carried out and massive casualties were dealt. Too much evidence against the OKW and OKH is present for their absolute loyalty for Hitler to be justified.

The Wehrmacht soldier can be a lot more complex when it comes to if they had "clean hands" coming out of World War Two.

However, it is clear that extreme brutality was expected of German troops on the Eastern front. The Barbarossa Decree outlines the jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht troops and how they were expected to attack and defend themselves from any threat that presents itself, without mercy (Document 3). Historians have examined the violent tendencies of the German troops on the Eastern front. Truman Anderson and Arnold both have made note on how reliant German soldiers were on terror and fear and how they victimized Ukraine's Russian and Jewish minorities over Ukraine's majority population . This can be supported by the Directives on Behaviour towards the Ukrainian Population, which states that Ukraine is full of Germanic blood and that certain exceptions can be made; with the overall goal to be gentle with the majority of the Ukrainian population. The directives also state that places of worship were to be prevented from becoming places of pilgrimage (Document 8). The atrocities that the German soldiers would commit because of these orders was the reason why there was so many casualties on the Eastern front. As previously stated, fear was an emotion that the German soldiers wanted to instill on its enemies. A conversation that the British intelligence overheard between Lieutenant General Georg Neuffer and Colonel Hans Reimann in August 1944, provides insight to how

the German troops treated its POW's. The two German officers talked about the treatment of the Russian POW's in how they were being transported. The officers noted how the Russians were stuffed in the transport trucks like cattle, and how every time the truck would stop, the German troops would take out 10 dead bodies from the truck, dying from lack of oxygen (Document 18). German officers themselves would recognize the gruesome scenes that would take place. This treatment of POW's would only continue to worsen as the Germans moved farther to the east. A Letter from Alfred Rosenberg to Wilhelm Keitel on February 28, 1942 talked about how all the "Asiatic" POW's would be shot because of how far east they were from but that people that were closer to Germany would not be treated as terribly (Document 19). All of this evidence of German soldiers committing terrible acts puts into question of how "clean" their hands actually were at the end of the war.

While there is plenty evidence for the "clean hands" myth to be debunked, many sources still provide possible explanations for the tragedies that took place and one could look at these sources and see where the other side of the myth could hold a strong argument.

One could argue that individuals in the OVW and OVH were scared of Hitler and the punishment that could come from them disobeying an order. However, some generals did in fact go against Hitler's orders. The Memoirs of General Heinz Guderian provide great insight into his thoughts on Hitler and Nazism. He goes on to say that he was unsure of Hitler in leading Germany and that he even would not let certain orders reach his Panzer group. He was also aware of Himmler's rising presence in Germany and his dangerous views that the SS supported and followed (Document 1). This shows that even with Hitler's influence, certain generals would still stand up for what they believe was right. General Heinz Guderian was never charged for his war crimes because of his lack of support for Hitler's ideologies compared to other generals. While this may be a good source for supporting the "clean hands" myth, the fact still stands that most generals would follow what Hitler ordered and would lose their own identity. The influence of Nazism on German soldiers is where major debate takes place on the "clean hands" myth. Some look at Nazi soldiers as being brainwashed by Hitler and the Nazi's and that they truly believed that what they were

doing was good and that everyone else was wrong. A Letter from Sergeant Karl Fuchs to His Mother, in October 15, 1942 helps supports this, with Sergeant Karl Fuchs stating that his duty "…has been to fight and to free the world from this Communist disease" (Document 14). Sergeant Karl Fuchs also wrote a letter to his wife on June 28, 1941, explaining how the Soviet enemy are "…no better than a bunch of scoundrels", and that the war has changed him as a person but that his love for his wife will never diminish (Document 12). Sergeant Karl Fuchs letters supports that he was just like any other soldier fighting in World War Two, that he still had his humanity and was well aware of the terrible effects of war on an individual. Sergeant Karl Fuchs was one of many soldiers that was killed on the eastern front, but his letters lived on to provide significant evidence for the possible innocence of many German soldiers in the war.

World War Two brought out the worst in humanity and was an era that proved that a war of this scale must be avoided at all cost. This paper brought out aspects of the worst of the higher command of the Wehrmacht and explored the atrocities that the German soldiers committed on the eastern front. The evidence supporting the possible innocence was also looked at to grasp a better understanding of the "clean hands" myth as a whole and come to a conclusion that lacks as much bias as possible. After analyzing the evidence, one can come to multiple conclusions on the Wehrmacht involvement with the Nazi's during World War Two. One may believe that it is almost certain that the OKW and OKH had knowledge and were influenced by the Nazi ideology because of both commands direct daily contact with Hitler, and with the Wehrmacht collaboration and knowledge with Himmler and the SS, stated by General Heinz Guderian. As for the Wehrmacht soldier, there is evidence for both a verdict of guilty and innocent. It is safe to say that the Wehrmacht soldier did truly believe that what they were doing was right and that Nazism was the future. However, this does not dismiss the war crimes that they committed, with harsh treatment and brutality towards Jewish people and other ethnic groups on the battlefield and when captured. The "clean hands" myth will be a debate that will continue to rage on as a satisfactory for all historians is a difficult task to accomplish.