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The Himmerod memorandum () was a 40-page document produced in 1950 after a secret meeting of former Wehrmacht high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
to the
Himmerod Abbey Himmerod Abbey (Kloster Himmerod) is 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 val ...
to discuss
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
's ''
Wiederbewaffnung West German rearmament (german: Wiederbewaffnung) began in the decades after the 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 e ...
'' (rearmament). The resulting document laid the foundation for the establishment of the new military force (
Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
) 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 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 authors ...
.


Background

The
Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...
held by the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
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 military ...
,
denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) 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 remov ...
,
democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...
and
decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...
. 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 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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{{ ...
, 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) is 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 val ...
(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 (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...
, 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 an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
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 (4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and West Germany. He joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 ...
and
Hans Speidel Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German general, who was one of the major military leaders of West Germany during the early Cold War. The first full General in West Germany, he was a principal founder of the ''Bundeswe ...
, 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 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 authors ...
, 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 Wolf Graf von Baudissin (8 May 1907 – 5 June 1993) was a German general, military planner and peace researcher. He was one of the developers of the concepts of ''Innere Führung'' (officially translated as "leadership development and civ ...
(Army) *
Hermann Foertsch Hermann Foertsch (4 April 1895 – 27 December 1961) was a German general during World War II who held commands at the divisional, corps and army levels. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Foertsch was t ...
(Army) * Walter Gladisch (Navy) *
Adolf Heusinger Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger (4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and West Germany. He joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 ...
(Army) *
Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg Count Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg (30 December 1906 – 26 May 2006) was a German general staff officer during the Second World War and later general of the ''Bundeswehr''. Family Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg was the youngest of three ...
(Army) * Robert Knauss (Air Force) * Horst Krüger (Air Force) * Rudolf Meister (Air Force) * Eberhard Graf von Nostitz (Army) *
Hans Röttiger Hans Röttiger (16 April 1896 – 15 April 1960) was a Panzer General in the German Army during the Second World War and the first Inspector of the Army of the Bundeswehr. Biography Röttiger joined the Prussian Army in 1914 and served from 191 ...
(Army) * Friedrich Ruge (Navy) * Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs (Navy) *
Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin (4 September 1891 – 9 January 1963) was a general in the army of Nazi Germany during World War II. Biography Fridolin Rudolph von Senger und Etterlin was born on 4 September 1891, in Waldshut near the Swiss b ...
(Army) *
Hans Speidel Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German general, who was one of the major military leaders of West Germany during the early Cold War. The first full General in West Germany, he was a principal founder of the ''Bundeswe ...
(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 Oa ...
(Army)


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Portal bar, 1950s, Biography, Germany, War, Writing Cold War history of Germany Himmerod meeting participants 1950 in Germany 1950 documents