Remnants of Wehrmacht Soldiers

Burial and Commemoration Practices of German Soldiers of the Second World War in Russia and Europe, 1941 – 2023
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-3-631-86692-4
Verlag: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 419 g

Reihe: Studies in contemporary history

Today, fallen soldiers of the Second World War find their resting places across the globe. While many nations openly honor their military, Germany maintains a more reserved approach to its war dead. During the war, fallen soldiers were hailed as heroes, but after 1945, the treatment of the deceased and their graves underwent a profound transformation. Janz, focusing on the Eastern Front during wartime and then the post-war Soviet Union and Russian Federation, explores this transformation through three key moments: 1. the treatment of the bodies, burial practices, and exhumations; 2. the burial sites, including cemetery construction and design; and 3. the realm of commemoration, encompassing memorial ceremonies and rituals. These rituals evolved from the hero worship of Hitler’s Wehrmacht to the mourning and reconciliation policies of the post-war West German government with Russia. This study offers an examination of the German military dead amidst controversies surrounding Wehrmacht soldiers and their challenging commemoration in the present day.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Janz, Nina

Weitere Mitwirkende

Venken, Machteld

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PART I: ETERNAL REST: BURIAL GROUNDS FOR ?WARRIORS’ AND SOLDIERSPART II – FALLING AND INTERRED FOR ‘FÜR FÜHRER, VOLK, UND VATERLAND’PART III: RESTING BEYOND BORDERS: UNVEILING GRAVES, UNEARTHING MEANINGS

Über Autor(innen)

Nina Janz is a military historian and lecturer. She studied archival science and modern history in Marburg, Hagen, and Haifa, and completed her doctorate through research conducted in Hamburg, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, and Washington, D.C. Her work and teaching focus on military history, war studies, mourning practices, personal war experiences of soldiers, and the politics of remembrance of the Second World War in Europe.