Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941 bis 1944

The German art exhibit "Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941 bis 1944" (War of Annihilation: Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941–44) triggered a significant reevaluation of the German armed forces' role in World War II. The exhibit, which toured extensively, faced protests and controversy, highlighting a shift away from the "clean Wehrmacht" narrative that had previously suggested ordinary soldiers were untainted by Nazi atrocities.1

This narrative claimed that only Hitler and his inner circle were responsible for war crimes, a view supported by some Allied leaders post-war to facilitate West Germany's integration into NATO. However, scholarly work, including Wolfram Wette's The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality, detailed how the Wehrmacht's Eastern Front offensives were a campaign of extermination against various groups, including Jews and Slavs. This demonstrated the Wehrmacht's complicity in the Nazi regime's genocidal ideology and actions, dispelling the myth of its innocence.123