Crimes of the Wehrmacht

Crimes of the Wehrmacht
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Name	Wehrmacht
Native name	Wehrmacht
Founded	1935
Disbanded	1946
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	Heer, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe
Notable commanders	Wilhelm Keitel, Gerd von Rundstedt, Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian, Albert Kesselring

Crimes of the Wehrmacht were systematic and widespread acts of violence, murder, and repression carried out by the Wehrmacht during World War II across occupied Europe and the Eastern Front, intersecting with policies from the Nazi Party leadership and institutions such as the SS and Gestapo. Historians and courts have documented collaboration, direct participation, and facilitation of atrocities including mass shootings, anti-partisan operations, reprisals, starvation policies, and complicity in the Holocaust. Postwar trials, scholarly debates, and memory politics involving figures like Nuremberg Trials, High Command Trial (Nuremberg), and historians such as Omer Bartov, Ian Kershaw, Christopher Browning, and Wolfgang Mommsen have shaped understanding of responsibility and criminality.

Background and Organization of the Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht was established under the Reichswehr reforms and the Nuremberg Laws-era militarization during the Third Reich, formalized by the Wehrpflicht revival and directives of leaders including Adolf Hitler, Werner von Blomberg, and Werner von Fritsch. Its structure encompassed the Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe, commanded through the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) with chiefs such as Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl. The Wehrmacht interacted with the Schutzstaffel, Reichssicherheitshauptamt, and civil administrations like the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories in regions including Poland, Soviet Union, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece, shaping occupation policy, logistics, and security operations.

Overview of War Crimes and Criminal Policies

Wehrmacht policies often implemented orders such as the Commissar Order, the Barbarossa Decree, and directives for anti-partisan warfare that legalized summary executions, hostage-taking, and collective punishments in territories like Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Units under commanders including Ewald von Kleist and Gerd von Rundstedt engaged in mass shootings alongside the Einsatzgruppen and coordinated with the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei), contributing to crimes recorded at sites such as Babi Yar and Khatyn. The Wehrmacht’s supply and requisition policies collaborated with Hunger Plan-related measures debated by Hjalmar Schacht-era economic planners and implemented during sieges like Siege of Leningrad, producing famine, forced labor, and deportation systems tied to camps such as Auschwitz concentration camp and Majdanek.

Major Theaters and Notable Atrocities

On the Eastern Front, Wehrmacht formations participated in the massacre of civilians in operations around Smolensk, Kiev, and the Battle of Moscow, and supported Holocaust by bullets actions in collaboration with Einsatzgruppen leaders like Otto Ohlendorf. In Poland, Wehrmacht security divisions partook in repression after the Invasion of Poland, including the AB-Aktion and massacres near Wielun and Katyn-adjacent operations, while in Western Europe reprisals occurred after events such as Operation Overlord with crimes in Oradour-sur-Glane and reprisals in Calais and Ardennes. In the Balkans, counter-insurgency campaigns in Yugoslavia and actions against partisans under commanders like Alexander Löhr produced atrocities in Krupa and Kraljevo, and in the Mediterranean theater, operations in Crete and Sicily involved executions of prisoners tied to units commanded by Kurt Student and Albert Kesselring.

Involvement in the Holocaust and Genocidal Operations

Wehrmacht units provided logistical support, cordon-and-search operations, and direct participation in round-ups and deportations to extermination camps such as Treblinka and Sobibor, including coordination with Reich Security Main Office directives and the Wannsee Conference-linked apparatus. Field armies and security divisions enforced anti-Jewish measures in cities like Vilnius, Lviv, and Brest-Litovsk, assisting Lithuanian and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police collaborators and enabling mass murder exemplified at Babi Yar and Ponary. Scholars like Martin Broszat and Christopher R. Browning have documented the interplay between Wehrmacht obedience, ideological motivation, and structural complicity in genocidal policies promulgated by leaders such as Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.

Trials, Accountability, and Denazification

Postwar accountability included the Nuremberg Trials, subsequent US military tribunals such as the High Command Trial (Nuremberg), and national proceedings in Poland, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, which prosecuted officers including Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl. Denazification processes under the Allied Control Council and laws like the Control Council Law No. 10 targeted Wehrmacht officers, while debates over the Myth of the Clean Wehrmacht emerged amid Cold War rehabilitation efforts involving figures such as John J. McCloy and institutions like the Bundeswehr. Reparations and remembrance initiatives later engaged the Claims Conference and legal actions against companies like IG Farben and Flick for forced labor.

Historical Debate, Memory, and Historiography

Historiography has evolved from early Cold War narratives by writers such as Fritz Hartung and journalists like William L. Shirer to revisionist and critical scholarship by Omer Bartov, Ian Kershaw, Richard J. Evans, and Norman J.W. Goda, debating issues raised in works like The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality and controversies including the Wehrmacht Exhibition curated by Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann. Memory politics in Germany, Israel, and Russia involve museums like the German Historical Museum, memorials at Yad Vashem, and archives at the Bundesarchiv, while legal and academic discussions continue over collective responsibility, command structures exemplified by the Kriegsmarine tribunals, and the role of individuals such as Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian in historiographical reassessment.

Category:War crimes committed during World War II Category:Wehrmacht