Copyright by Jeffrey C. Rutherford 2007 - University of Texas ...

Socialist warfare and extermination policies coincided in the world of these
soldiers. 64
Upholding the contention that ordinary soldiers were inextricably involved in the crimes
of the Third Reich, Rass also found the overwhelming majority of war crimes committed
by soldiers, such as thefts of livestock or goods or physical abuse of civilians, to have
been “frequently insignificant, unspectacular and marginal in comparison” to the mass
murders, recruitment of slave labor, and utter destruction of Soviet territory that
dominates the literature. While individually banal, however, “in their connection and
totality, they characterized the everyday occurrences of the war of extermination on the
front.” 65 Rass believes these acts to be caused by a mix of ideological indoctrination and
the institutional pressure exerted by the Wehrmacht, but his focus on the structures of
hierarchy and command frequently leaves the common soldier’s beliefs and motivations
to the side. 66
As this brief discussion of the literature shows, the involvement of German
soldiers in the war of extermination in the Soviet Union remains stridently debated.
While Heer’s assertion that the war behind the front amounted to planned genocide is far
too sweeping, he has effectively highlighted the murderous actions of German rear-area
forces. 67 His attempt to extrapolate their experiences to that of the entire Ostheer,
however, is extremely problematic. Of the 143 German divisions that invaded Russia in
64 Christoph Rass, “Menschenmaterial:” Deutsche Soldaten an der Ostfront. Innenansichten einer
Infanteriedivision 1939-1945 (Paderborn, 2003), p. 410. Emphasis in original.
65 Christoph Rass, “Verbrecherische Kriegführung an der Front: Eine Infanteriedivision und ihre
Soldaten,” in Hartmann, Hürter, and Jureit (ed.), Verbrechen der Wehrmacht: Bilanz einer Debatte, pp. 80-
90; here p. 89.
66 Rass, “Menschenmaterial, pp. 411-412.
67 Even Müller has termed these activities “orgies of violence [Gewaltorgies]”; see Müller, “Die
Wehrmacht – Historische Last und Verantwortung. Die Historiographie im Spannungsfeld von
Wissenschaft und Vergangenheitsbewältigung,”p. 12.
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