Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''
Wehrmachtsausstellung
The ''Wehrmacht'' exhibition (german: Wehrmachtsausstellung) was a series of two exhibitions focusing on the war crimes of the ''Wehrmacht'' (the regular German armed forces) during World War II. The exhibitions were instrumental in furthering th ...
'' (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: "Wehrmacht Exhibition") in the 1990s. While controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely credited with opening the eyes of the German public to the
war crimes of the Wehrmacht
During World War II, the German combined armed forces ( ''Heer'', ''Kriegsmarine'' and ''Luftwaffe'') committed systematic war crimes, including massacres, mass rape, looting, the exploitation of forced labor, the murder of three million S ...
committed on the
Eastern Front during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Having been suspended in 1999 for review, the exhibit reopened in 2001 under the name "Crimes of the German Wehrmacht: Dimensions of a War of Annihilation 1941–1944". The exhibitions were instrumental in the debunking of the
myth of the clean Wehrmacht
The myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht'' is the negationist notion that the regular German armed forces (the '' Wehrmacht'') were not involved in the Holocaust or other war crimes during World War II. The myth, heavily promoted by German autho ...
in Germany.
Education and student activism
Heer was born in
Wissen
Wissen is a town in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg, approximately 12 km northeast of Altenkirchen.
Wissen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") ...
,
Rhine Province. He studied literature and history, and passed his state examination in 1968 at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
.
From 1970 to 1972 he completed postgraduate studies in economics and economic history, at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
.
As a student, he became a member of
Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
The Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund — the Socialist German Students' Union or Socialist German Students' League — was founded in 1946 in Hamburg, Germany, as the collegiate branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the ...
. Because of his activities in the (SDS), he was not admitted to the school service. He worked as a radio writer, in the 1970s and as a lecturer at the
University of Bremen
The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strategi ...
, and from 1980 to 1985 as a dramaturge and director at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich.
Theatre managers
Notable actors
Marco Albrecht,
Ingrid ...
in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and the
Städtische Bühnen in Cologne.
''Wehrmacht Exhibition''
In 1993, he was employed by the
Hamburg Institute for Social Research
The Hamburg Institute for Social Research is an independent private foundation whose scholarship is focused on both contemporary history and the social sciences. Founded in 1984 by Jan Philipp Reemtsma, it currently employs about 50 people with ...
and became known for the controversial ''
Wehrmachtsausstellung
The ''Wehrmacht'' exhibition (german: Wehrmachtsausstellung) was a series of two exhibitions focusing on the war crimes of the ''Wehrmacht'' (the regular German armed forces) during World War II. The exhibitions were instrumental in furthering th ...
'' (Wehrmacht Exhibition) that focused on German war crimes and atrocities during World War II. The Polish historian
Bogdan Musial pointed out in an article published in 1999 that a number of photos that allegedly portrayed Wehrmacht war crimes in reality were photos of Soviet war crimes committed by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
, and also stated that around half of all photos used in the exhibition had nothing to do with war crimes. In 1995, military historian
Rolf-Dieter Müller
__NOTOC__
Rolf-Dieter Müller (born 9 December 1948) is a German military historian and political scientist, who has served as Scientific Director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office since 1999. Rolf-Dieter Müller, is also ...
, scientific director of the
German Armed Forces Military History Research Office
The Military History Research Office (german: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, MGFA) is an office of the ''Bundeswehr'' located at Potsdam, Germany.
Following a reorganisation in 2013, MGFA was consolidated with the to become the Center ...
, stated that the exhibition was deliberately misleading. After criticisms about incorrect attribution and captioning of some of the images in the exhibition, the exhibition was withdrawn in 1999 for review. Heer no longer participated in ''Wehrmachtsausstellung'' because, he could not agree with
Jan Philipp Reemtsma
Jan Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma (born 26 November 1952) is a German literary scholar, author, and patron who founded and was the long-term director of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. Reemtsma lives and works mainly in Hamburg.
Bio ...
on a concept for the new version. Herr was a
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research until August 2000.
The display was suspended pending review of its content by a committee of historians. The committee's report in 2000 stated that accusations of forged materials were not justified, but some of the exhibit's documentation had inaccuracies. About one per cent of photographs had been incorrectly attributed: "A committee of historians, while confirming the fundamental thesis of the display, discovered that 20 of the 1400 photographs depicted Soviet crimes, that is, murders by NKVD, rather than the acts of German soldiers." The committee recommended that the exhibition be reopened in revised form, presenting the material and, as far as possible, leaving the formation of conclusions to the exhibition's viewers. The revised exhibition was named ''Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Dimensionen des Vernichtungskrieges 1941–1944.'' ("Crimes of the German Wehrmacht: Dimensions of a War of Annihilation 1941–1944"). It traveled from 2001 to 2004. In 1997, Heer was awarded the
Carl von Ossietzky Medal
The (ILMR) has awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal since 1962. The league has honored personalities, initiatives or organizations who have worked with civil courage and outstanding commitment to the realization of human rights annually since 1962 ...
, for his work with the ''
Wehrmachtsausstellung
The ''Wehrmacht'' exhibition (german: Wehrmachtsausstellung) was a series of two exhibitions focusing on the war crimes of the ''Wehrmacht'' (the regular German armed forces) during World War II. The exhibitions were instrumental in furthering th ...
''.
Further exhibitions and publications
Since leaving HIS, Heer has been working as a freelance writer, editor, director and exhibition organizer. His main topics are the politics of remembrance and the construction of history, in particular dealing with the Nazi era . In the works "Vom Verschorben der Täter" (2004) and " Hitler war's" (2005) he examined the tendency to present the history of National Socialism as a story of "acts without perpetrators". A current focus of his work is research into anti-Semitism in music. Starting in 2006, Heer investigated the expulsion and persecution of artistic and technical personnel in Nazi Germany for racial and political reasons as part of the exhibition project “ Silent Voices ” using the opera houses in Hamburg , Berlin , Stuttgart , Darmstadt and Dresden . He also reconstructed the history of the defamation and marginalization of Jewish artists at the Bayreuth Festival from 1876 to 1945 and recalled the fate of 51 persecuted people after 1933. Twelve of them were murdered. The exhibition has been shown at Green Hill in
Bayreuth
Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...
in 2012.
Publications
* ''Tote Zonen – Die deutsche Wehrmacht an der Ostfront'', 1999,
* ''Vom Verschwinden der Täter'', 2004,
* ''The discursive construction of history: remembering the Wehrmacht's war of annihilation'' / edited by Hannes Heer ...
t al.
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...
; translated from the German by Steven Fligelstone, 2008
* ''Hitler war's. Die Befreiung der Deutschen von ihrer Vergangenheit'', 2005,
* ''Literatur und Erinnerung. Die Nazizeit als Familiengeheimnis'', in: ''Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft'', 53. Jg., Heft 9, September 2005, S. 809–835
* als Herausgeber: „''Stets zu erschiessen sind Frauen, die in der Roten Armee dienen“: Geständnisse deutscher Kriegsgefangener über ihren Einsatz an der Ostfront'', 1995,
*''In the heart of darkness. Victor Klemperer as a chronicler of the Nazi era.'' Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1997,
*''It was Hitler. The liberation of the Germans from their past.'' Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2005,
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heer, Hannes
1941 births
Living people
People from Altenkirchen (district)
People from the Rhine Province
20th-century German historians
Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund members
German male non-fiction writers
21st-century German historians