Germany to pardon last troops Hitler executed?

Question

30,000 German soldiers who were sentenced to death during the war for a variety of "crimes" from desertion to espionage.

I was not aware that the figure was so high.

What took Germany so long to pardon these men?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/27/wpardon127.xml

Kelvinistic, I don't recall the British executing 30,000 in WW2 hence why would they need to pardon any, if you are referring to WW1 It is thought 306 British soldiers were shot for cowardice, desertion or other offences in the 1914-1918 war. Yes it took too long to pardon them

honi soit qui mal y pense

Answer 1

Ironic to think, that there are documented cases of the British supplying weapons to German Firing Squads to carry out sentences on German P.O.W. who had been found guilty of charges of desertion, helping the enemy, or other anti-nazi behavior while in camps contrary to the German Rules of Service!!!!

As all this only happened a relatively short time ago you can understand why its still a touchy subject in Germany.

Answer 2

After World War 2 the (west) German government and society in general was comprised of former members of the Wehrmacht that did not desert to the enemy. Even though most came to realize that the Nazi regime was criminal they still regarded desertion as dishonorable. What is desertion at its least common denominator? It is abandoning your comrades to save yourself.
The newest generation of Germans have no experience in war so they cannot appreciate the meaning of desertion and why it is reprehensible to military men.
The reason for the high number of executions is because the German armed forces were not going to permit the mutinies of 1918 to happen again. In 1943 the Wehrmacht created the "Feldjaeger" detachments. Their purpose to go through the rear areas and seek out shirkers, malingerers and deserters and send them back to the front. The deserters were in most cases sent to straf or punishment detachments. Others were tried and executed. Additionally, the German army during time of war many classifications of crimes were punishable by death among them: looting, rape, disobedience, striking an officer, and desertion.

Answer 3

1. There were better things to do.
2. A soldiers duty is to obey orders. Even if the orders originate from a homicidal maniac. Especially if the orders come from a homicidal maniac, when you get right down to it. These soldiers probably did committ these crimes, for which they were punished. My guess is that most of these occured toward the end of the war when germany was in collapse. Personal survival takes over instead of unit cohesion. An army cannot exist without coercion of some sort. The Wiermacht was just more severe in their penalties than most. The Russians were probably much worse. I think the Americans officially killed one deserter.

Answer 4

I am guessing simply put the Germans were ashamed of what happened during the war and put anything pertaining to it besides apologizing to the world on the back burner and just now thought about it until now since they have troops in harm's way again.

Answer 5

The orders were Secret, and only made public recently.
The Nazi's kept meticulous records, which Germany still has in it's archieves. They still keep state secrets, "secret". I believe much like the US government, they stay secret for 50 years. A lot of US records from WWII just became availably in the last seven years.

Answer 6

The truth is that most of the judges and state attorneys that served under Hitler and had spoken these sentences remained in office or reentered service in the years to follow 1945.

Answer 7

I imagine that this was a touchy subject in Germany for many years. I'm sure Germany just wanted to move on (now I'm not endorsing that approach) but I'm glad Omert is doing this!

Of course they also were probably not actively sought out, nor were they processed when they were found!

Answer 8

but it's more usually the Brits who hate to pardon 'theirs' is it not "Pour Encourager Les Autres"?