Heer, Hannes
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Hans Georg Heer (known as ''Hannes'') (born 16 March 1941) is a German historian, chiefly known for the ''
Wehrmachtsausstellung The ''Wehrmacht'' exhibition () 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 the understanding of the myth ...
'' (German: "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 Wehrmacht (combined armed forces - German Army (Wehrmacht), ''Heer'', ''Kriegsmarine'', and ''Luftwaffe'') committed systematic war crimes, including massacres, mass rape, looting, the exploitation of forced labou ...
committed on the Eastern Front during World War II. 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 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 ...
in Germany.


Education and student activism

Heer was born in
Wissen Wissen is a town in the Altenkirchen (district), district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg (river), Sieg, approximately 12 km northeast of Altenkirchen. Wissen is the seat of the ''Verbandsg ...
,
Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...
. He studied literature and history, and passed his state examination in 1968 at the
University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
. From 1970 to 1972 he completed postgraduate studies in economics and economic history, at the
University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
. 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 () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...
, and from 1980 to 1985 as a dramaturge and director at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg Schauspielhaus or Hamburg Theatre, is a theatre in the St. Georg, Hamburg, St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany History The Deutsches Schauspielhaus was co-foun ...
in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
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 (; abbreviated HIS) 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 ...
and became known for the controversial ''
Wehrmachtsausstellung The ''Wehrmacht'' exhibition () 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 the understanding of the myth ...
'' (Wehrmacht Exhibition) that focused on German war crimes and atrocities during World War II. The Polish historian
Bogdan Musial Bogdan (Cyrillic: Богдан) is a Slavic masculine name that appears in the South Slavic languages and in Polish, Romanian and Moldovan. It is derived from the Slavic words ''Bog'' (Cyrillic: Бог), meaning 'god', and ''dan'' (Cyrillic: ...
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, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, 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 () was an office of the ''Bundeswehr'' located at Potsdam, Germany. Following a reorganisation in 2013, MGFA was consolidated with the to become the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bun ...
, 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. In 199 ...
on a concept for the new version. Herr was a
fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
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 () 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 the understanding of the myth ...
''.


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 ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
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.; 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