Thoughts on the Depiction of Erwin Rommel as an Honorable Soldier

[Nicholas]

On several different occasions I have seen Erwin Rommel depicted as being mostly ignorant of the crimes committed by the Nazis and later coming to oppose the Hitler near the end of the war. Now, on the one side he was reported to have known about the plot to kill Hitler and done nothing but on the other part of me has to wonder if someone of his rank could truly not know what was going on and if the popular depiction of him has as much to do with what we want to see as with anything else.

[Teallaura]

Wasn't Rommel fairly active in Africa? It occurs to me that a general in the field may very well have been 'out of the loop' about things going on back home. It seems like he was abroad for much of the war (memory? What memory? :cs:) but I could easily be mistaken.

[Nicholas]

Wasn't Rommel fairly active in Africa? It occurs to me that a general in the field may very well have been 'out of the loop' about things going on back home. It seems like he was abroad for much of the war (memory? What memory? :cs:) but I could easily be mistaken.

This is true, though after the Africa campaign ended he spent more time in Europe. Now personally, I do lean a bit towards considering him one of the honorable german soldiers and I'd like to know what others think about this depiction.

[Mr. Christopher]

On several different occasions I have seen Erwin Rommel depicted as being mostly ignorant of the crimes committed by the Nazis and later coming to oppose the Hitler near the end of the war. Now, on the one side he was reported to have known about the plot to kill Hitler and done nothing but on the other part of me has to wonder if someone of his rank could truly not know what was going on and if the popular depiction of him has as much to do with what we want to see as with anything else.

The way I've always been told, was he was forced to kill himself because he FORMED those plans against Hitler. And Hitler found out, after several assassination attempts failed.

I don't know... just something I've always been told.

[freethinker]

I think the truth is that the conspirators mentioned him as a possible successor to Hitler after the assassination in documents. That sealed his fate. Erwin probably had no knowledge of this.

In the US, Americans of Japanese descent where interned as a matter of course. In the UK, Jews of Germans descent where in prison at the time. Against this background why should Erwin have worried about political prisoners?

[Longstreet]

On several different occasions I have seen Erwin Rommel depicted as being mostly ignorant of the crimes committed by the Nazis and later coming to oppose the Hitler near the end of the war. Now, on the one side he was reported to have known about the plot to kill Hitler and done nothing but on the other part of me has to wonder if someone of his rank could truly not know what was going on and if the popular depiction of him has as much to do with what we want to see as with anything else.

There was a documentary out several months ago called "Rommel's War" which claims to prove that Rommel's victory in N Africa was intended to lay the groundwork for extending the Holocaust to the ME, enlisting the help of the various Arab countries along the way, and that Rommel was well aware of this plan. I never saw it and don't know how credible it is, but Google "rommel" and "holocaust" and you'll get several links about the documentary.

I tend to think we look at Rommel as "one of the good Germans" because of his involvement in the assasination plot, and that the evidence would probably show that he was a bit more complicit in the various Nazi "war crimes". IIRC, that was Stephen Ambrose's opinion, but I'll have to check on that.

I've never read any of the bios about him. Perhaps this would be a good time to pick one up...

[freethinker]

I have read a few biographies of Rommel e.g. "With Rommel in the desert." A remarkable characteristic of the desert war was the chivalrous behavior on both sides. There was a typical Hollywood scene for instance where German soldiers spontaneously saluted the Scottish Guards who fought to the last bullet in Tobruk. This sort of thing filters down from the top I think.

Definite proof of Rommel's mettle: After the fall of Bir Hakeim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir-el_Harmat) he disobeyed a direct order from Hitler to execute soldiers of a Jewish company

[Tladatsi]

1) Most of the Nazi's most serious crimes were not committed in areas where Rommel was active. North-east Africa were Rommel was active with his Afrika Corps was only briefly under Nazi rule where there were few Jews, Gypsies, Communists, trade unionists, or easily identifiable homosexuals so there was not a lot for him to have done had he been ordered to do something. Moreover, this was Italian territory, not really under direct German rule. Rommel was only there it "assist" the Italians.

Having said that, the Germans eventually had to take matters into their own hands in Tunisia. There they forced the Jews to wear the yellow star identifying them as Jews and extorted millions of dollars from them to pay for the German war effort in Tunisia. However this task did not fall to Rommel.

2) Likewise, in northwestern France Rommel was a field officer charged with winning battles, mainly constructing the "Atlantic Wall, not civil administration or "political duties". The task of rounding up enemies of the Reich and other such duties did not generally fall on the army but the SS, Gestapo, etc. He was never asked to perform these functions so the fact that he did not commit any crimes is not too revealing.

3) He was involved in the plot to kill Hitler but probably more because he though Hitler was losing the war rather than any concern about human rights.

He did the job he was assigned to do. He was not assigned to commit any crimes. He did not commit any crimes. That is about as good as it gets.


On several different occasions I have seen Erwin Rommel depicted as being mostly ignorant of the crimes committed by the Nazis and later coming to oppose the Hitler near the end of the war. Now, on the one side he was reported to have known about the plot to kill Hitler and done nothing but on the other part of me has to wonder if someone of his rank could truly not know what was going on and if the popular depiction of him has as much to do with what we want to see as with anything else.

[jesusfreak]

I think that Rommel had to know even alittle even if it was just rumors. He was mainly in Africa and Rommel was also known as the Desert Fox. It would be interesting if there was some way to find documentations of Hitlers orders to Rommel and find anything from that.

[zorathruster]

It may seem quaint to mention that Germany was at war. When a nation goes to war they need a devil. They need someone or some group to hold up as a point of disdain. (Sadam Hussain was the most recent 'devil' of modern history) The German nation felt betrayed from the first World War and needed to identify a target. The jews were powerless, were identifiable, and had isolated themselves outside of German social networks and society. Specifically, an excellent 'devil' group.

Rommel was a military man. He was not interested in what was going on back in Germany except as it effected his operations in North Africa. After returning to Germany, he was focused on preparing for the Allied invasion.

Since he was tactically the best alternative to lead Germany and selected by the conspirators as the alternative leader should the assasination of Hitler succeed, that failure meant his demise.

Given an alternative of suicide or having his family killed, he committed suicide.

[Macgawd]

I'm sure that Rommel knew, like most other high-ranking German officers, what Germany was doing with the Jews and other undesirables, and like von Stauffenberg, didn't really care. The Allies certainly knew, but kept a tight lid on it until they could no longer hide the fact, at which point it became a useful propaganda tool. No, the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Hitler did so not because of moral outrage over the treatment of the Jews, but out of what they saw as a need to save Germany from utter destruction from the inevitable Allied onslaught.

With Hitler removed, the conspirators hoped to barter a conditional surrender with the Allies, avoid occupation (especially by the Soviets) and remain in power. Several of the conspirators-- von Stauffenberg and von Haeften in particular--were members of Prussian nobility, and so looked upon Hitler as a crass and unworthy ruler of Germany; that Hitler was now leading their county to total destruction only provided the conspirators with a more pragmatic reason to assassinate Him. But it had nothing to do with the treatment of the Jews.

Regarding Rommel as an honorable soldier, I think that for the most part this is a fair assessment, and can be said of many German officers and soldiers. Rommel, like so many other German soldiers, were de facto members of the Nazi party, only by virtue of their service in the military. Rommel was renowned for his humane treatment of prisoners of war, and for his refusal to indiscriminately kill Jews and other civilians of occupied territories. I think that over the years, we've been falsely indoctrinated to believe that anyone who wore the German uniform in WW II is a war criminal by default.

=M=