¹ The best representations of the Anschluss era on the military-institutional level are Allmayer-Beck, Johann Christoph, “Die Österreicher im Zweiten Weltkrieg,” in Unser Heer: 300 Jahre Österreichisches Soldatentum in Krieg und Frieden, ed. Jedlicka, Ludwig (Vienna, 1963)Google Scholar; Tuider, Othmar, Die Wehrkreise XVII und XVIII 1938–1945 (Vienna, 1975)Google Scholar; and Höbelt, Lothar, “Österreicher in der Deutschen Wehrmacht, 1938–1945,” Truppendienst 28 (1989): 417–32Google Scholar. The contributions about the Wehrmacht in Anschluss anthologies typically focus on war crimes. See, for example, Manoschek, Walter and Safrian, Hans, “Österreicher in der Wehrmacht,” in NS-Herrschaft in Österreich: Ein Handbuch, ed. Tálos, Emmerich et al. (Vienna, 2001), 123–58Google Scholar. For civilian popular opinion during the Anschluss era, see Bukey, Evan Burr, Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938–1945 (Chapel Hill, 2000).Google Scholar

² “In the Wehrmacht, this development [of an Austrian national consciousness] was foreclosed” is the tenor of Hagspiel, Hermann, Die Ostmark: Österreich im Grossdeutschen Reich 1938 bis 1945 (Vienna, 1995), 331.Google Scholar

³ See, most prominently, Kreissler, Félix, Der Österreicher und seine Nation: Ein Lernprozess mit Hindernissen (Vienna, 1984).Google Scholar

⁴ The literature on the victim theory a propos Austrian national identity is almost measureless. See, among many, Heer, Hannes et al. , eds., Wie Geschichte gemacht wird: Zur Konstruktion von Erinnerung an Wehrmacht und Zweiten Weltkrieg (Vienna, 2003)Google Scholar; and Pelinka, Anton and Bischof, Günter, eds., Austrian Historical Memory and National Identity (New Brunswick, 1997)Google Scholar. For the Austrian nation-building process, see Bruckmüller, Ernst, Nation Österreich: Sozialhistorische Aspekte ihrer Entwicklung (Vienna, 1984)Google Scholar; Thaler, Peter, The Ambivalence of Identity: The Austrian Experience of Nation-Building in a Modern Society (West Lafayette, 2001), 81–90Google Scholar; and Rathkolb, Oliver, Die Paradoxe Republik: Österreich 1945 bis 2005 (Vienna, 2005).Google Scholar

⁵ This research was done for my forthcoming dissertation about the mindset and experiences of Austrians in the Wehrmacht and is mostly based on the large collection of personal papers left by Austrian Wehrmacht soldiers in the Austrian Kriegsarchiv (hereafter cited as KA) in Vienna and interviews I conducted with Austrian veterans.

⁶ Applegate, Celia, A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1990)Google Scholar; Confino, Alon, The Nation as a Local Metaphor: Württemberg, Imperial Germany, and National Memory, 1871–1918 (Chapel Hill, 1997).Google Scholar

⁷ Aly, Götz, Hitlers Volksstaat: Raub, Rassenkrieg, und nationaler Sozialismus (Frankfurt am Main, 2005).Google Scholar

⁸ Overmans, Rüdiger, “‘Ostmärker’ oder Österreicher? Nationale Differenzierung zwischen Deutschen und Österreichern in sowjetischem Gewahrsam während des Zweiten Weltkriegs,” Zeitgeschichte 29, no. 3 (2002): 133–47, esp. 133.Google Scholar

⁹ Thaler, Ambivalence of Identity, 81–90.

¹⁰ Overmans, “‘Ostmärker’ oder Österreicher?,” 134.

¹¹ “The German people had to lose the war in order to win their Volkstum,” Otto Boelitz, Prussian minister for education (1921–25), in Boelitz, , Das Grenz- und Auslanddeutschtum, seine Geschichte und seine Bedeutung (Munich, 1926), 4Google Scholar. Hitler, also rejected the restoration of the “illogical” and “incomplete” German borders of 1914 in Mein Kampf (Munich, 1935), 736Google Scholar. See also Ritter, Ernst, Das Deutsche Ausland-Institut in Stuttgart 1917–1945: Ein Beispiel deutscher Volkstumsarbeit zwischen den Weltkriegen (Wiesbaden, 1976).Google Scholar

¹² See, for example, Sheehan, James J., “What is German History? Reflections on the Role of the Nation in German History and Historiography,” Journal of Modern History 53, no. 1 (1981): 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³ See Ullrich, Volker, “Kriegsalltag: Zur inneren Revolutionierung der wilhelminischen Gesellschaft,” in Der Erste Weltkrieg: Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, ed. Michalka, Wolfgang (Munich, 1994), 603–21Google Scholar; and Gunther Mai, “‘Verteidigungskrieg’ und ‘Volksgemeinschaft ’: Staatliche Selbstbehauptung, nationale Solidarität und soziale Befreiung in Deutschland in der Zeit des Ersten Weltkrieges (1900–1925),” in Der Erste Weltkrieg, ed. Michalka, 583–602.

¹⁴ See, for example, Rauchensteiner, Manfried, Der Tod des Doppeladlers: Österreich-Ungarn und der Erste Weltkrieg (Graz, 1993).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Heckel, “Einige Episoden aus meiner Erinnerung aus dieser Zeit,” n.d., Nachlass (hereafter cited as NL) Heckel; Rothmayer-Kamnitz, “Autobiographische Studie 1830–1980,” vol. 1, 1982, NL Rothmayer-Kamnitz, all KA. Hitler accused many Germans of having falsely considered Austria-Hungary a “German” state. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 139–40.

¹⁶ Literally “comrade laced shoe,” this belittling term refers to the footwear of Austrian soldiers in World War I in contrast to the more military German jackboot.

¹⁷ Hitler, Adolf, Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944: His Private Conversations, trans. Cameron, Norman and Stevens, R. H., 3rd ed. (New York, 2000), 492.Google Scholar

¹⁸ This anti-Austrian sentiment can be traced back to the Reformation. It was sharpened with the early struggle for a nation-state during the Vormärz, and, in North German eyes, found its logical conclusion in 1866. See Heer, Friedrich, Der Kampf um die Österreichische Identität (Vienna, 1981).Google Scholar

¹⁹ Interview with Johann Wotava, 22 October 2004.

²⁰ The formal incorporation of the Bundesheer into the Wehrmacht is described comprehensively in Peter Gschaider, “Das Österreichische Bundesheer 1938 und seine Überführung in die deutsche Wehrmacht” (PhD diss., University of Vienna, 1967), which also addresses the generational factor regarding mindset issues. A commission presided over by the former German military attaché in Vienna, Lieutenant General Wolfgang Muff, had checked the “racial” background and political leanings of the Austrian officer corps: roughly 400 out of 1,600 officers, primarily those with a Jewish background or close political ties to the former Ständestaat regime, were sent into retirement.

²¹ Tröster, 14 February 1939, Waagner, 21 February 1939, and Kohl, 23 February 1939, to NSDAP Wien, Plasch to Lukesch, 19 February 1939, Neubacher to Bürckel, 7 June 1939, “Bürckel”/Materie, Carton 186, folder 2862, Archivder Republik (hereafter cited as AdR), Vienna, Austria. Politische Lageberichte der Gaue Tirol-Vorarlberg, January and March 1939, Steiermark, February and March 1939, and Salzburg, February and March 1939, “Bürckel”/Nachträge, Red Carton 4, folders 31.4 and 31.6 to 31.10; as well as Dotzler, 16 February 1939, and Frisch, 1 March 1939, to Bürckel, “Bürckel”/Nachträge, Red Carton 2, folder 20.5, all AdR. Hagspiel cited these sources as major proof for the alleged discrimination of Austrian soldiers and the ensuing growth of Austrian patriotism. See Hagspiel, Ostmark, 328.

²² Gschaider, “Österreichisches Bundesheer 1938,” 146. See, for example, then Colonel Erhard Raus's thoughts while watching a parade on the occasion of the Anschluss: “Only 20 years ago, numerous German comrades … had fought four years, shoulder to shoulder, as faithful comrades in arms on our side, and shared with us the same fate: ‘Defeat!’” Raus, “Als Truppenführer im Osten: Einleitung,” n.d., NL Raus, folder 4, KA.

²³ See, among many others, this example from Franz Podhajsky, “Serbien,” 21 May 1941, NL Podhajsky, folder 23, KA: “That South Styria with the old German town Marburg found its way back to us is a heartfelt joy, particularly for every Styrian.”

²⁴ Infantry Regiment 134 was the former Viennese House Regiment Four, and it belonged during the entire war to the Forty-fourth Infantry Division, which in June 1943 received the honorary title “Reich Grenadier Division.” The naming of the Prinz Eugen even preceded the Anschluss: the ship was built between 1936 and 1938 and launched in the presence of the regent of Hungary and last commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian fl eet, Admiral Miklós Horthy. It was originally supposed to be named after the victor of the Battle of Lissa (1866), Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, but this plan was abandoned so as not to offend the Italian allies.

²⁵ Interviews with Karl Brandeis, 21 October 2004; Alfred Hinterberger, 14 September 2004; and Peter Podhajsky, 21 July 2004.

²⁶ Pollak, “Überblick über Gliederung und Aufbau des Bandes ‘Soldaten’ des Werkes ‘Die deutsche Leistung Österreichs,’” 6 June 1942, NL Höger, folder 5; Rosenmüller, “Die deutsche Sendung der ehemaligen Österreichischen Wehrmacht,” n.d., NL Podhajsky, folder 21; “Vortrag von Herrn Generalmajor Giehrach,” 4 June 1943, NL Spiess, folder 5, all KA.

²⁷ The Militärgrenze was a defense zone between Austria's eastern border and the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Its residents were mostly non-German peasants, who were given land in return for military service under Austrian command.

²⁸ Ehnl, “Der deutsche Mensch in den Donau- und Alpengauen,” [1943?], NL Ehnl, folder 15; Rosenmüller, “Deutsche Sendung der Österreichischen Wehrmacht,” all KA. A brochure from 1933 about the victory over the Turks in 1683 was only slightly changed after 1938 by adding more emphasis on the ensuing German colonization of the Balkans. See Stöller, “Ostmarksendung,” n.d., and “1683: Ein Erinnerungsblatt zur Regierungsfeier am 12. September 1933,” NL Stöller, folders 6 and 15, KA.

²⁹ Erwin Steinböck applies this strategy in his critical comments on the studies of Gschaider, “Österreichisches Bundesheer 1938,” and Schmidl, Erwin A., März 1938: Der deutsche Einmarsch in Österreich (Vienna, 1987)Google Scholar. See NL Steinböck, folder 16, KA.

³⁰ Interviews with Brandeis; Podhajsky; Rudolf Stadler, 12 October 2003; and Erich Ulber, 17 June 2004; Otto Scholik, “Soldat—Eid—Gewissen,” lecture at the Gesellschaft für Politisch-Strategische Studien, 19 October 2004.

³¹ Plas, “Die Jahre 1938 bis 1945: Munitionsentwicklungen im Heereswaff enamt,” 1969, NL Wilhelm Plas, folder 2; Raus, “Truppenführer im Osten,” all KA. The formal incorporation of the Bundesheer was concluded in November 1938.

³² The quote is from Materna, “Die 45. Division im Feldzug Frankreich,” 10 May to 20 July 1940, NL Materna, folder 3, KA. Further evidence is contained in Ammerer, “Aufzeichnungen zur Geschichte der deutschen Panzerwaffe ab 1935 und speziell zur Geschichte der deutschen 4. Panzerdivision 1938 bis 1940,” n.d., NL Ammerer; Oberst Rudolf von Bünau, “Der 9. u. 10. Juni 1940,” n.d., NL Bünau, folder 3; Oberleutnant von Bünau, “Franzmänner, nichts als Franzmänner!,” 28 May 1940, NL Hartmann, folder 3; Hermann, “Kriegstagebuch der 1. Schwadron des Aufk lärungsregiments 9,” 1939/40, NL Hermann, folder 6; Lauer to his parents, 15 September 1939, NL Lauer, folder 2, all KA; and Wach to Bürckel, 26 June 1940, “Bürckel”/Nachträge, Büro Bürckel, Red Carton 29, AdR.

³³ Reichstag speech, 19 July 1940. The newspaper reports about the Narvik operation are countless. Other evidence is contained in Franz Podhajsky, “Russ. Feldzug: I. Teil,” 18 September 1941, NL Podhajsky, folder 23; and Hermann Schneider, “Ein Mann ist alles,” 1940, NL Schneider, folder 3, all KA.

³⁴ Pointner, “Erinnerungen 1939–1944,” n.d., NL Pointner; Raus, “Truppenführer im Osten;” Schmidl, “Interview mit Oberst i.R. Bédé-Kraut, 8. August 1986: Korrigierte Fassung: Reinschrift,” NL Schmidl, folder 24, all KA; interviews with Brandeis; and Podhajsky.

³⁵ Bertnik to Familie Wächter, 6 September 1939, 25 May and 28 July 1940, NL Bertnik, folder 4; Zsilincsar to Cipan, 6 June 1940, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Ossmann to Franek, 5 December 1940, NL Franek, folder 22; Lauer to his parents, 5 September 1939, NL Lauer, folder 2; Neugebauer to Friederike Volkart, 15 June 1940 and 29 July [1941], NL Neugebauer, all KA. The diary of Rear Admiral Paul Meixner contains passages sounding as if Meixner still could not grasp that he, as an Austrian, held a powerful position in the German navy, which made him something of a key player in the war. See Meixner, “Tagebuch,” 25 May 1940 to 12 February 1943, NL Meixner, folder 8, KA. Adolf Kutzelnigg recalled that his regiment's domain on the Norwegian Tanner peninsula was as big as the Austrian region of Vorarldependence berg. See Schmidl, “Durchgesehene Niederschrift zweier Interviews, 1987 geführt mit Oberst a.D. Adolf Kutzelnigg,” Juni 1988, NL Schmidl, folder 24, KA.

³⁶ Sorger to Cipan, 8 July 1941, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Glaser to Gretl Ullmann, n.d., NL Glaser; Heissenberger, “Kriegstagebuch der 1/AR 102,” 19 August 1939 to 6 July 1940, NL Heissenberger, folder 5; Materna, “45. Division im Feldzug Frankreich;” Neugebauer to Volkart, 15 June 1940, NL Neugebauer, all KA; Graf, Wolfgang J., “Generalmajor Max von Stiotta—eine altÖsterreichische Militärkarriere” (PhD diss., University of Vienna, 2004), 167.Google Scholar

³⁷ Berger, “Tagebuch,” 12 January to 31 December 1944, and “Tagebuch,” 1 January to 5 September 1945, NL Berger, folder 2; Chwistek, “Kriegstagebuch,” 10 May 1940 to 17 July 1942, NL Chwistek, folder 2; Schmidl, “Interview mit Kutzelnigg;” Rodler, “Erinnerungen von Conrad zu Keitel,” n.d., NL Rodler, folder 1; Scherr, “Meine Dienstzeit vom Jahre 1940 bis 1945,” n.d., NL Scherr; Weixlbaumer, “Tagebuch,” 24 October 1940 to 30 October 1943, NL Tuider, folder 37, all KA. See also the study about mainly North German working-class soldiers by Schröder, Hans Joachim, Kasernenzeit: Arbeiter erzählen von der Militärausbildung im Dritten Reich (Frankfurt am Main, 1985).Google Scholar

³⁸ Adolph-Auffenberg-Komarov, “Feldzug gegen Frankreich 1940,” n.d., NL Adolph-Auff enberg-Komarov, folder 7; Bertnik to Familie Wächter, 17 February 1940, NL Bertnik, folder 4; Glaser to Ullmann, n.d., NL Glaser; Hartmann, “Notizen zum Einsatz Frankreich,” n.d., NL Hartmann, folder 3, all KA.

³⁹ Berger, “Tagebuch,” 1 January 1943 to 12 January 1944, NL Berger, folder 2; Chwistek, “Der Walfi sch,” n.d., NL Chwistek, folder 1; Sorger, 7 December 1941, and Zsilincsar, 23 April 1941, to Cipan, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; collection of mementos, NL Czerny, folder 2; Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939 bis 1945,” n.d., NL Galler, folder 6; Neugebauer to Volkart, 1 February, 8 February, and 24 February 1941, NL Neugebauer; Schmidl, “Interview mit Bédé-Kraut;” Steinberger to unknown, 9 October 1939, NL Steinberger; Weixlbaumer, “Tagebuch,” all KA.

⁴⁰ Neugebauer to Volkart, 15 June 1940, NL Neugebauer; Peter Podhajsky, “Einsatz Kiestinki-Abschnitt” in Alfons Bürckel, ed., “Der lange Marsch Graz-Narvik-Kiestinki und zurück 1939–1945: Die 1. Batterie Gebirgsartillerieregiment 112–124 im 2. Weltkrieg,” [December] 1989, NL Grüblinger, folder 2, all KA; and Frisch, Franz A. P. and Jones, Wilbur D. Jr., Condemned to Live: A Panzer Artilleryman's Five-Front War (Shippensburg, 2000), 2.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” Glaser to Ullmann, n.d., NL Glaser, all KA. Major Hans von Swogetinsky was dismissed in February 1944 from his post as administrator of enemy property in the staff of the Military Commander in Belgium and Northern France because he allegedly had enriched himself during his earlier assignment to Belgium. See Swogetinsky's short biography in NL Swogetinsky, KA.

⁴² Lorenz, “Erzählungen von Episoden: aus dem 2. Kriege,” n.d., NL Lorenz, folder 2, KA; Graf, “Max von Stiotta,” 188–190, 125, 203; interviews with Georg Kornfeld, 29 October 2003; and Stadler.

⁴³ Ossmann, 24 August 1940, Prohaska, 4 March 1940, and Hörl, 28 April 1940 and 20 May 1941, to Franek, NL Franek, folder 22, KA.

⁴⁴ Marcel Stein's argument is that what some Austrians sensed as discrimination was just a consequence of the fact that their objective qualifi cations simply did not meet the Wehrmacht standards. Stein, Marcel, Österreichs Generale im deutschen Heer, 1938–1945: Schwarz/Gelb, Rot/Weiss/Rot, Hakenkreuz (Bissendorf, 2002).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Adolf Kutzelnigg overheard Austrian officers being called “Schuschnigg officers.” See Schmidl, “Interview mit Kutzelnigg.” Reich Commissioner Bürckel issued a decree that front service would wipe out any past political record. See Hauenschild to Ers. Abt. für Aufk l. Einheit 9, 14 October 1939, NL Krainz, folder 9, KA.

⁴⁶ Schmidl, “Interview mit Bédé-Kraut.”

⁴⁷ While Omer Bartov argued that a main reason for the barbarization of warfare was the breakup of the regionally coherent “primary groups” through the high losses in Russia, Christoph Rass recently suggested that the Wehrmacht was able to supply its units with replacements from their home bases. It is still a desideratum of future research to determine the degree to which units from Austrian territory maintained their predominantly Austrian character. See Bartov, Omer, Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich (New York, 1991)Google Scholar; and Rass, Christoph, “Menschenmaterial”: Deutsche Soldaten an der Ostfront: Innenansichten einer Infanteriedivision 1939–1945 (Paderborn, 2003).Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Confino, Nation as Local Metaphor, 50.

⁴⁹ Erhard Raus maintained the concept of a healthy mixing of troops also in his postwar writings. See Raus, “Paniken,” n.d., NL Raus, folder 3, KA.

⁵⁰ “Ansprache G.d.I. Beyer in Znaim,” n.d., NL Bornemann, folder 45; “Deutschmeistertag 1941” [brochure], n.d., and “Die Front dankt der Heimat,” Weißenfelser Tageblatt [August 1940], NL Franek, folders 16 and 17, all KA. The principle was also expressed in the Infantry Division “Grossdeutschland,” an elite unit that was intentionally composed of soldiers from all over Germany.

⁵¹ Ammerer, “Geschichte der 4. Panzerdivision;” Hartmann, “Notizen zum Einsatz Frankreich;” Heissenberger, “Kriegstagebuch der 1/AR 102;” Ludwig Ullmann, “Von Belfort nach Mainz,” 8 August 1940, NL Huber, folder 2, all KA.

⁵² “A linguistic Babel seems to have broken out when the Rhinelanders sing ‘Viennese songs’ and the division members from the former Austria, ‘Rhenish songs’.” See Ammerer, “Geschichte der 4. Panzerdivision.” Other evidence is contained in Egger to Cipan, 27 April 1941, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” Peter Podhajsky, “Der Polen-Feldzug,” and “Norwegen-Feldzug,” in Bürckel, “Der lange Marsch Graz-Narvik-Kiestinki;” Heckel, “Einige Episoden aus meiner Erinnerung;” Heissenberger, “Kriegstagebuch der 1/AR 102;” Ludwig Ullmann, “Vom Oberrhein nach Belfort,” July 1940, NL Huber, folder 2; correspondence between Kaes and Jörgeling from 30 December 1939 to 31 December 1940, NL Kaes, folder 4; Mayer, “Tagebuchaufzeichnungen über Polenfeldzug,” 24 August to 23 October 1939, NL Mayer, folder 2, all KA.

⁵³ Bruckberger, “Tagebuch,” 12 October 1940 to 10 April 1945, NL Bruckberger; Bermoser, 25 May 1941, and Zsilincsar, 25 February 1940, to Cipan, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Spurny, 30 December 1940, and Hörl, 20 May 1941, to Franek, NL Franek, folder 22; Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” Hartmann, “Notizen zum Einsatz Frankreich,” all KA.

⁵⁴ This contradicts Hagspiel's argument that the “growing solidarity [of Austrians] at the front” signaled estrangement. See Hagspiel, Ostmark, 328. Austrians showed solidarity from the beginning of the war, and it was precisely such local cohesion that was praised as a major reason for the battle performance of the Wehrmacht. See Shils, Edward A. and Janowitz, Morris, “Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II,” Public Opinion Quarterly 12 (1948): 280–315CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and van Creveld, Martin L., Fighting Power: German and US Army Performance, 1939–1945 (Westport, 1982).Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Hiebler to Cipan, 9 August 1942, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Ossmann to Franek, 5 December 1940, NL Franek, folder 22; Glaser to Ullmann, 20 July 1940, NL Glaser; Hartmann, “Notizen zum Einsatz Frankreich;” Winterberger, circular letter to former Napola classmates, n.d., NL Waldhof, all KA; Ulber, interview.

⁵⁶ Chwistek, “Der Walfi sch;” Zsilincsar to Cipan, 17 November 1940, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” Hermann, “Kriegstagebuch 1. Schwadron Aufk lärungsregiment 9;” Ullmann, “Vom Oberrhein nach Belfort,” all KA.

⁵⁷ Interviews with Wotava and Ulber.

⁵⁸ This exotic status is conveyed in written sources as well as in several interviews, with the term exotic being explicitly mentioned twice. See Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” and interviews with Brandeis; and Gertrud Müller, 27 October 2004.

⁵⁹ Böttger, Narvik im Bild, 72, 111–12.

⁶⁰ The contrasting of different dialects in order to express the positive interaction of soldiers from different regions is constantly applied in contemporary publications. Evidence for the importance of self-confidence, the friendliness of the mutual teasing, and the overall significance of individualism in the various attitudes was found in Bruckberger, “Tagebuch;” Zsilincsar to Cipan, 22 February 1941, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar; Fleischmann, 14 December 1940, and Wiedenhorn, 11 May and 11 July 1941, to Franek, NL Franek, folder 22; Galler, “Versuch einer Schilderung meiner Erlebnisse;” Lorenz, “Erzählungen von Episoden;” Plas, “Die Jahre 1938 bis 1945;” Raus, “Truppenführer im Osten;” Wiktorin, “Soldat in 3 Armeen,” n.d., NL Wiktorin, folder 1, all KA; as well as in the interviews with Brandeis; Hinterberger; Fritz Horvath, 8 November 2003; Josef Huber, 22 November 2003; Kornfeld; Otto Lederer, 8 July 2004; Anton Maurer, 19 October 2003; Johann Moravec, 24 September 2004; Christian Ochnitzberger, 16 October 2003; Franz Schmidl, 28 October 2004; Stadler; Ulber; and Wotava.

⁶¹ “Among these so-called Volksdeutsche was unfortunately a lot of rabble that barely spoke German.” See Swogetinsky, “2. Weltkrieg: 10. September 1939 bis 26. Oktober 1946,” NL Swogetinsky, folder 3, KA. “[In my Flak unit] there are such who know more Polish than German so that there have to be German classes in the company, and they still have to learn how to live in a civilized state [Kulturstaat].” See Bermoser to Cipan, 25 May 1941, NL Cipan-Zsilincsar, KA.

⁶² Of the instances of criticism I have encountered in written and oral sources, only one was recorded before the end of the war. See Ossmann to Franek, 24 August 1940, NL Franek, folder 22, KA.

⁶³ For the significance of comradeship, see Kühne, Thomas, Kameradschaft : Die Soldaten des nationalsozialistischen Krieges und das 20. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The feeling of actually defending the homeland is central to the interpretation of the war at the Eastern front put forth in Hillgruber, Andreas, Zweierlei Untergang: Die Zerschlagung des Deutschen Reiches und das Ende des europäischen Judentums (Berlin, 1986).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ The statements about the war from 1941 to 1945 are based on evidence in the Nachlässe and interviews as well as in documents held in the German Bundesarchiv-Militärachiv in Freiburg and in the Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes in Vienna, and will be presented in greater detail in my forthcoming dissertation.