The Wehrmacht: Holocaust Role


Figure 1.--The critical role of the Wehrmacht in the Holocaust is all too often overlooked. The Wehrmacht played a central role in concentrating and helping to lead the Jews to their death when the killing began. Here Wehrmacht soldiers are arresting male Jews and older teenagers somewhere in the Soviet Union or the occupied Baltics. We would estimate that because of the foliage, this photograph was taken in July, probably about July 1941 because of the circumstances. We are not sure just where the photograph as takn, but July 1941 would mean somewhere in the Soviet Union. We are mot sure what happened to these men, but it is likely that they will be killed within days if not hours, probably by Einstatzgruppen. Note that only men were involved here. The men were some times taken for forced labor. In the mass killing operations associated with Barbarossa, the men were often killed first making the subsequent killing of the women and children much easier.

There are still people who claim that the Wehrmacht was a professional fighting force whose hands were clean. They claim it was Hitler and the SS who were responsible for the Holocaust and other atrocities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Professional it was in military expertise. But it was also the key institution that made the Holocaust possible. It was the Wehrmacht which established NAZI control over conquered countries and then carried out the occupation. It was the German occupation in most countries which established the conditions needed to carry out the Holocaust. Some countries like Slovakia were eager participants even without formal occupation. The Croatians were also eager participants and begn killing Serbs in large numbers. The whole process of the Holocaust was to eventually be continued with the Slavs in the East. It is true that the Holocaust killing itself was conducted primarily by the SS and there were some Wehrmacht officers who were horrified at NAZI atrocities. It is also true that the Wehrmacht was deeply implicated in the Holocaust. In the run up to Barbarossa, Reinhard Heydrich and Eduard Wagner governed Einsatzgruppen-Wehrmacht relations on the Eastern front (May 1941). As the NAZI regime grew in strength, so did support for the NAZIs grow within the Wehrmacht. There is no doubt that what the NAZIs were perpetrating was well known within the command structure of the Wehrmacht. Writing after the War can be self serving. We have ample evidence of what German generals actually knew and felt because the British taped the private conversations of high-ranking Wehrmacht commanders taken prisoner. [Neitzel] The British were interested in specific issues, such as the status of nuclear research, but the transcripts are a treasure of information about what the German General Staff actually knew and felt. The Wehrmacht generals knew a great deal about the Holocaust, including actions like Babi Yar. And the large-scale actions like Babi-Yar commonly used Wehrmacht troops to concentrate the Jews and drive them to their deaths. Whermacht coomanders had an accurate estimate of the number of Jews killed. Some were appalled. Others felt that that they had not been brutal enough. Many thought that the killing should have been done more discreetly. And while the SS was primarily involved in the actual killing. The Wehrmacht was not only involved in the killing, but played a major role in hunting down and concentrating the Jews so they could be killed by the SS. The actal killing could be done by relatively small numbers of people. Just look at the very small staffs of the Death Camps. Hunting down and concentrating required a much larger force--the Wehrmacht. It is importabt to note how the Wehrmact role involved both crominal activity as a organization and top commanders as well as countless daily activities by individual soldiers.

Clean Hands Defenders

There are still people who claim that the Wehrmacht was a professional fighting force whose hands were clean. They claim it was Hitler and the SS who were responsible for the Holocaust and other atrocities. That the Wehrmacht was ailitary force not involved in the Holocaust and other grisly war crimes. A captured British Commando reports a conversation witjh Rommel. Romml liked to assess the caliber of the men he was fighting. He ordered a group of captured British commandos be brought to him. Hitler had ordered that Commandos be shot--the Commando Order. Rommel to his credit ignored that order. It is also trure, however, that the Whermacht in occupied France were involved in rounding up Jews. Rommel in speaking with the captured Commando expressed the wish that the western Allies could fight together against the Soviets. A commando said that that was not possible because of German war crimes. Rommel asked what war crimes. The Commando said the treatment of the Jews for example. Rommel dimissed this as a 'political' matter and ended the encouter. Even after the War with all we now know know, we still see people defending the Wehrmacht.

Conditions for the Holocaust

Nothing could be further from the truth. Professional it was in military expertise. But it was also the key institution that made the Holocaust possible. It was the Wehrmacht which established NAZI control over conquered countries and then carried out the occupation. It was the German occupation in most countries which established the conditions needed to carry out the Holocaust. Some countries like Slovakia were eager participants even without formal occupation. The Croatians were also eager participants and began killing Serbs in large numbers. The whole process of the Holocaust was to eventually be continued with the Slavs in the East.

Criminal Wehrmacht Officers

It is true that the Holocaust killing itself was conducted primarily by the SS and there were some Wehrmacht officers who were horrified at NAZI atrocities. It is also true that the Wehrmacht was deeply implicated in the Holocaust and imprtant officers who were deeply involved in the killing. In the run up to Barbarossa, Reinhard Heydrich and Wehrmacht officer Eduard Wagner governed Einsatzgruppen-Wehrmacht relations on the Eastern front (May 1941). As the NAZI regime grew in strength, so did support for the NAZIs grow within the Wehrmacht. There is nodoubt that the German officers at the highest levels of OKW (Keitel and Jodl) knew just what was going orders and the Standing Orders issued by OKW legitimized the mass killing. Among the criminal Wehrrmacht officers, Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau was one of the most vicious. There is no doubt that what the NAZIs were perpetrating was well known within the command structure of the Wehrmacht. Writing after the War can be self serving. We have ample evidence of what German generals actually knew and felt because the British taped the private conversations of high-ranking Wehrmacht commanders taken prisoner. [Neitzel] The British were interested in specific issues, such as the status of nuclear research, but the transcripts are a treasure of information about what the German General Staff actually knew and felt. The Wehrmacht generals knew a great deal about the Holocaust, including actions like Babi Yar. Whermacht commanders had an accurate estimate of the number of Jews killed. Some were appalled. Others felt that that they had not been brutal enough. Many thought that the killing should have been done more discreetly.

Concentration and Logistics

Concentrating Jews was necessary if they were going to be efficently starved, brutalized and killed. For this substantial manpower was required and the Wehrmact was extensively used in thes operations. What we see here is one example (figure 1). And the large-scale actions like Babi-Yar commonly used Wehrmacht troops to concentrate the Jews and drive them to their deaths. And while the SS was primarily involved in the actual killing. The Wehrmacht was not only involved in the killing, but played a major role in hunting down and concentrating the Jews so they could be killed by the SS. The actal killing could be done by relatively small numbers of people. Just look at the very small staffs of the Death Camps. Hunting down and concentrating required a much larger force--the Wehrmacht.

Killing


Humiliation Sport

The Whermacht sport of humiliating Jews along with killing actions operations began from the day the Panzers crashed across the Polish border. Much of the worst (but not all) of the killing operations were conducted by the SS, still a relatively small force. But in every Polish town the Whermacht passed through, large numbers of Wehrmacht soldiers amused themselves with humiliating Jews in every way the could. Jews were rounded up and forced to clear the rubble and debris caused by the Germans. They had to hand over their valuables. Some had to entertain their German captors by dancing or having their beards or hair cut off. The Jews had no choice, but to comply as it all occurred admist mass murders, and systematic executions. The more Jewish they looked or dressed, the more likely they were to become targets. We know this not only because of countless reports, but because the Germans so enjoyed the activity that they kept an extensive photographic record of what they were doing. In some cases his was done before killing the helples Jews. In other cases it was just done for sport. German soldiers liked to find Jews that fit the NAZI propagabda impage and photograph them. Often they had themselves photographed by such individuals. German soldiers liked to keep photographic albums recording their military assignments. Often included in these albums are photographs of Jews, including their humiliation of them. Older men with beards were a popular target. Even the Germans did not focus on the children here. (The children vwere a high priority for killing, but not for humiliation sport.) Wehrmacht soldiers liked to cut them off as an act of hmiliation. Once the ghettoes were formed, the concentrated Jews became subject to such treatment with German soldiers visiting the ghettoes as a kind of tourist activity to photograph their sport.

Forced Labor


Robbery


Sources

Neitzel, Sönke. Ed. Tapping Hitler's Generals: Transcripts of Secret Conversations, 1942-45 (2008).






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Last updated: 2:02 AM 11/30/2015