The Himmerod memorandum () was a 40-page document produced in 1950 after a secret meeting of former
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...
to the
Himmerod Abbey
Himmerod Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) was a Cistercian monastery in the community of Großlittgen in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Manderscheid in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the Eifel, in the valle ...
to discuss
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
's ''
Wiederbewaffnung
West German rearmament () began in the decades after World War II. Fears of another rise of German militarism caused the new military to operate within an alliance framework, under NATO command. The events led to the establishment of the ''Bund ...
'' (rearmament). The resulting document laid the foundation for the establishment of the new military force (
Bundeswehr
The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...
) of the Federal Republic.
The memorandum, along with the public declaration of Wehrmacht's "honour" by the Allied military commanders and West Germany's politicians, contributed to the creation of the
myth of the clean Wehrmacht
The myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht'' () is the Historical negationism, negationist notion that the regular German armed forces (the ''Wehrmacht'') were not involved in the Holocaust or other War crimes of the Wehrmacht, war crimes during World ...
.
Background
The
Potsdam Conference held by the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
from 17 July to 2 August 1945, largely determined the occupation policies that the
occupied country was to face after its defeat, including
demilitarization
Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and milita ...
,
denazification
Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
,
democratization
Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...
and
decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
. The Allies' often crude and ineffective implementation caused the local population to dismiss the process as "noxious mixture of moralism and 'victors' justice'".
For those in the Western zones of occupation, the advent of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
undermined the demilitarization process by seemingly justifying the key part of Hitler's foreign policies, the "fight against Soviet bolshevism". In 1950, after the outbreak of the
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, the Americans felt that a West German army clearly had to be revived to help face off the Soviet Union, and American and West German politicians confronted the prospect of rebuilding the West German armed forces.
Himmerod Abbey conference
From 5 to 9 October 1950, a group of former senior officers, at the behest of Adenauer, met in secret at the
Himmerod Abbey
Himmerod Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) was a Cistercian monastery in the community of Großlittgen in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Manderscheid in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the Eifel, in the valle ...
(hence the memorandum's name) to discuss West Germany's rearmament. The participants were divided in several subcommittees, which focused on the political, ethical, operational and logistical aspects of the future armed forces.
The resulting memorandum included a summary of the discussions at the conference and bore the name "Memorandum on the Formation of a German Contingent for the Defense of Western Europe within the framework of an International Fighting Force". It was intended as both a planning document and a basis of negotiations with the Western Allies.
The participants of the conference were convinced that no future German army would be possible without the historical rehabilitation of the Wehrmacht and so the memorandum included these key demands:
*All German soldiers convicted as war criminals would be released.
*The "defamation" of the German soldier, including those of the
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
, would have to cease.
*"Measures to transform both domestic and foreign public opinion" with regards to the German military would need to be taken.
The chairman of the conference summarised the foreign policy changes demanded in the memorandum with this comment: "Western nations must take public measures against the 'prejudicial characterization' of the former German soldiers and must distance the former regular armed forces from the 'war crimes issue'". Adenauer accepted the memorandum and began a series of negotiations with the three Western powers to satisfy those demands.
Aftermath
Adenauer accepted the propositions and, in turn, advised the representatives of the three Western powers that German armed forces would not be possible as long as German soldiers remained in custody. To accommodate the West German government, the Allies commuted a number of war crimes sentences.
A public declaration from Supreme Allied Commander
Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
followed in January 1951 that attested to the Wehrmacht's "honour". Prior to signing the declaration and discussing it with the press, Eisenhower met with former Wehrmacht Generals
Adolf Heusinger
Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger (a.k.a. Adolf Horn while in Gehlen Org.; 4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, West Germany and NATO.
...
and
Hans Speidel, both of whom participated in the Himmerod conference, and was impressed by them. The declaration read in part:
I have come to know that there was a real difference between the German soldier and Hitler and his criminal group.... For my part, I do not believe that the German soldier as such has lost his honor.
In the same year (1951), some former career officers of the Wehrmacht were granted war pensions under
Article 131 of the Common Law. Eisenhower's public statement gave the former Wehrmacht generals the ability to expand on the revisionist work that they had already done for the
United States Army Historical Division, thus getting their message beyond the small circle of Allied intelligence officers.
Adenauer made a similar statement in a Bundestag debate on Article 131 of the Basic Law, West Germany's provisional constitution. He stated that the German soldier fought honourably as long as he "had not been guilty of any offense". The declarations laid the foundation of the
myth of the clean Wehrmacht
The myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht'' () is the Historical negationism, negationist notion that the regular German armed forces (the ''Wehrmacht'') were not involved in the Holocaust or other War crimes of the Wehrmacht, war crimes during World ...
, which reshaped the West's perception of the Nazi war effort and led to Wehrmacht's eventual rehabilitation in the eyes of the public and the Allied authorities.
Participants
*
Wolf Graf von Baudissin (Army)
*
Hermann Foertsch (Army)
*
Walter Gladisch (Navy)
*
Adolf Heusinger
Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger (a.k.a. Adolf Horn while in Gehlen Org.; 4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, West Germany and NATO.
...
(Army)
*
Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg (Army)
*
Robert Knauss (Air Force)
*
Horst Krüger (Air Force)
*
Rudolf Meister (Air Force)
*
Eberhard Graf von Nostitz (Army)
*
Hans Röttiger (Army)
*
Friedrich Ruge (Navy)
*
Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs (Navy)
*
Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin (Army)
*
Hans Speidel (Army)
*
Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (6 December 1887 – 23 February 1952) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with O ...
(Army)
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Portal bar, 1950s, Biography, Germany, Writing
Cold War history of Germany
Himmerod meeting participants
1950 in West Germany
1950 documents