The Wehrmacht and German society

Jeff Rutherford

doi:10.1017/CBO9781107295452.002

1 - The Wehrmacht and German society

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014

Jeff Rutherford

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Jeff Rutherford: Affiliation:
Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia

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Summary

Nazi state and society

Perhaps the most important and vexing question regarding the Third Reich centers on the German population’s support for and identification with the regime and its objectives: in other words, how successful was the state in constructing a Volksgemeinschaft, one united behind the regime and committed to realizing its goal of a wide-ranging ethnic restructuring of central and eastern Europe? Such an issue is certainly important when attempting to gauge how and why the Wehrmacht waged a war of extermination against the Soviet state and society; unfortunately, it is also difficult to ascertain. Scholarship stretching back five decades has reached contradictory conclusions regarding the German population’s attitude towards the Nazi state. While an examination of this charged issue is neither feasible nor desirable in this study, some discussion of Nazi society is absolutely necessary to understanding the institution and its men who waged the Vernichtungskrieg against the Soviet Union.

The notion of a “violent society,” first formulated by Christian Gerlach, provides a solid starting point for understanding the relationship between Nazi state and society. Gerlach argues that within Nazi Germany, “a variety of policies and forms of mass violence were utilized against victim groups,” and that while many of the perpetrators saw themselves as “functionaries of the state,” this was a rather loosely defined group that included far more than just members of the SS-Police or state administrations. The most “stunning” find here, however, “is not the dominance of one specific group of those responsible, but just the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, education and age groups.”

Type: Chapter
Information: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front
The German Infantry's War, 1941–1944
, pp. 34 - 55

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295452.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

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