Hitler's Deserters

"The Wehrmacht executed thousands of its own in World War II for desertion and "undermining the military spirit." This study examines who these Wehrmacht deserters were, why they deserted, what punishment they could expect, and how German military justice operated. It argues that after the First World War, the German military embraced the Dolchstoss legend and determined that if it ever went to war again, the military would punish deserters ruthlessly. This view, arrived at independently, accorded fully with that of Adolf Hitler. The study analyses the challenges associated with hiding in the Third Reich, surrendering to the enemy, or crossing over into neutral Switzerland or Sweden. After the Second World War, Germans began a debate about how these deserters should be remembered (Vergangenheitsbewältigung) and whether they should be rehabilitated. The study analyzes the contested meaning attached to the Wehrmacht deserter in Germany from 1945 to the twenty-first century"--