The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945, by Nicholas Stargardt. 2015. Basic Books, New York
The Warsaw Uprising (1944) Earns German Praise
The author is a British historian who specializes in German history. His focus on the German side in WWII and mostly repeats familiar information, but there are also some seldom-mentioned facts. For instance, Stargardt confirms the fact that the Polish Jews of the Poznan area sided with the Germans in the 1919-1921 Polish-German border disputes (p. 40), only to see their Germanophilia rejected by the Nazis two decades later. As for WWII, he states that Nazi Germany forcing Jews to wear the Star-patch was done in conjunction with the Jews in America allegedly being about to force German-Americans to wear a swastika-patch. (pp. 236-238).
THE GERMAN ENEMY GIVES UNSTINTING CREDIT TO POLAND’S HEROIC NARRATIVE
Nowadays, Poland’s heroic narrative is often mentioned in a derogatory manner by Jews. It is ironic to see the German enemy, quoted below, giving more credit to the Poles than do many of the Jews.
Consider the Soviet-betrayed Warsaw Uprising. Peter Stoelten was a political commissar in the Wehrmacht, and called himself one of “Goebbels’ boys”. (p. 459). He specialized in the German Goliath unmanned tanks. (p. 427). Stargardt discusses and quotes Lieutenant Peter Stoelten:
“Stoelten was no less moved by the Poles’ demonstration of ‘unbowed national pride‘ as they marched into captivity, feeling that they had earned their military honor–‘for, God is my witness, they fought better than we’. After fighting in Warsaw for forty-two days himself, Stoelten felt he was watching an event which ‘put all the theatrical effects of a great tragedy in the shade’. Like Hosenfeld, what drew him to identify with the Poles was the fact that they manifested the values he believed in, in a purer, still more self-sacrificing form: ‘We’, he concluded, turning to the Germans, ‘are still not the people that incorporates bearing and nationalism, sacrificial courage and strength’. The realization that a defeated nation was still capable of heroic resistance also prompted him for the first time to see German occupation from the other side: ‘I too would not want to live under German administration,’ he wrote…the conviction that national will and unshakeable faith would triumph over material adversity…” (p. 441).
TOP NAZI GERMAN HEINRICH HIMMLER MADE POLISH RESISTANCE AN EXAMPLE FOR GERMANS TO EMULATE
Stargardt continues, “Stoelten was not alone in looking to the Poles for an example. Even Heinrich Himmler, entrusted by Hitler with wiping Warsaw from the map, now turned to the Polish ‘Untermenschen‘ for inspiration, telling an audience of Party, military and business leaders that, ‘It must be our sacred duty to ensure that the sorrowful and costly exemplar which Warsaw gave us is enacted by the Wehrmacht and Volkssturm for every German city which has the misfortune to be encircled and besieged.’” (p. 459).
THE EFFECTS OF THE WARSAW UPRISING ON GERMAN MILITARY STRATEGY
The Warsaw Uprising had actual military significance in German eyes. Stargardt writes, “The comparison was not a hyperbolic one…Instead, military engineers were using their corvees of civilian workers to turn key cities such as Warsaw, Konigsberg, Breslau, Kustrin and Budapest into strongpoints.” (p. 460).
THE HOLOCAUST OVERSHADOWS ALL OTHER ASPECTS OF WWII
Stargardt is clear about this matter, “For the last twenty-five years, the Holocaust has come to occupy a central position in how we think about the Nazi period and the Second World War.” (p. 4). No excrement, Sherlock! And all others’ wartime experiences are marginalized.
