This book offers a profound reexamination of the Wehrmacht's role in World War II, challenging the long-held belief that ordinary German soldiers were separate from the atrocities committed by the SS. Wolfram Wette, a distinguished military historian, dismantles the myth of a "clean" Wehrmacht, revealing its entrenched prejudices against Jews, Slavs, and Bolsheviks that existed long before the rise of National Socialism. Rather than being mere victims of Nazi ideology, the German army actively participated in the brutal cleansing of Eastern Europe from 1941 to 1944. Wette documents how the Wehrmacht was prepared for a race war, with World War II serving as the culmination of these plans on an unprecedented scale. This critical examination extends beyond the Wehrmacht's complicity to explore how German academics and citizens have historically evaded confronting these realities post-war. Wette illustrates the efforts to conceal and sanitize atrocities against Jews and others, leading to a distorted historical narrative. Only recently has there been a reevaluation of this revered institution in Germany, a painful yet essential process for understanding the Holocaust and its implications for collective memory.
