The Second World War affected the lives and shaped the experience of millions of individuals in Germany--soldiers at the front, women, children and the elderly sheltering in cellars, slave laborers toiling in factories, and concentration-camp prisoners and POWs clearing rubble in the Reich's devastated cities.
Taking a "history from below" approach, the volume examines how the minds and behaviour of individuals were moulded by the Party as the Reich took the road to Total War. The ever-increasing numbers of German workers conscripted into the Wehrmacht were replaced with forced foreign workers and slave labourers and concentration camp prisoners. The interaction in everyday life between German civilian society and these coerced groups is explored, as is that society's relationship to the Holocaust.
From early 1943, the war on the home front was increasingly dominated by attack from the air. The role of the Party, administration, police, and courts in providing for the vast numbers of those rendered homeless, in bolstering civilian morale with "miracle revenge weapons" propaganda, and in maintaining order in a society in disintegration is reviewed in detail.
For society in uniform, the war in the east was one of ideology and annihilation, with intensified indoctrination of the troops after Stalingrad. The social profile of this army is analysed through study of a typical infantry division. The volume concludes with an account of the various forms of resistance to Hitler's regime, in society and the military, culminating in the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.

20 July 1944 is usually associated with the bomb plot to murder Hitler. However, what distinguishes Colonel Stauffenberg's plan from all others is that the attempt on the Fuhrer's life was only to be the initial stage of a full military coup d'etat. The aim was to overthrow the murderous regime, and to end the war as soon as possible. The conspiracy has long been analyzed from political, social, religious, or moral points of view. This book asks what the military dimension of the plan was. What traditions in the German army were at work, how was planning and preparation done, and why did the plot fail eventually? What is more: how did the conspiracy affect the German armies created in East and West after World War II, and also the Austrian Army? As the politicians among the conspirators thought in categories of Imperial Germany or at least the Weimar Republic, the officers among them were conditioned by the Reichswehr. Yet, Stauffenberg and some others were also bright intellectuals who were willing to incorporate their war experience into their plans, rendering them surprisingly modern at times. The coup d'etat had been planned as meticulously as circumstances in war-torn Berlin allowed. However, as most officers had foreseen, once it became public knowledge that Hitler had survived Stauffenberg's bomb, army units refused to act. The myth surrounding the "Fuhrer" effectively prevented any military action against him. Still, the failed uprising had its effects: the regime took the opportunity to tilt the balance of power further in favor of Himmler and his fiefdom (SS, Gestapo, Police), to the detriment of the army which Hitler felt was too reactionary anyway. The leadership of the West German Bundeswehr always saw the failed uprising as part of its tradition, but it took time for this attitude to percolate down to the rank and file. For decades, some of the former Wehrmacht soldiers viewed Stauffenberg and his friends as "traitors". The book is the first to approach this important event in German history from a specifically military point of view, and that results in some surprising new results.

Dieser Sammelband mit uber dreissig Beitragen von international renommierten Fachleuten wendet sich in drei Schritten den Ereignissen, den Perzeptionen und den Auswirkungen der Krisen in Polen, Ungarn und Agypten zu. Vor dem Hintergrund des Ost-West-Konflikts werden die innenpolitischen und gesellschaftlichen wie auch die wirtschaftlichen, bundnispolitischen und globalen Dimensionen der fraglichen Spannungen beleuchtet."

The Second World War affected the lives and shaped the experience of millions of individuals in Germany - soldiers at the front, women, children and the elderly sheltering in cellars, slave labourers toiling in factories, and concentration-camp prisoners and POWs clearing rubble in the Reich's devastated cities. Taking a 'history from below' approach, the volume examines how the minds and behaviour of individuals were moulded by the Party as the Reich took the road to Total War. The ever-increasing numbers of German workers conscripted into the Wehrmacht were replaced with forced foreign workers and slave labourers and concentration camp prisoners. The interaction in everyday life between German civilian society and these coerced groups is explored, as is that society's relationship to the Holocaust. From early 1943, the war on the home front was increasingly dominated by attack from the air. The role of the Party, administration, police, and courts in providing for the vast numbers of those rendered homeless, in bolstering civilian morale with 'miracle revenge weapons' propaganda, and in maintaining order in a society in disintegration is reviewed in detail. For society in uniform, the war in the east was one of ideology and annihilation, with intensified indoctrination of the troops after Stalingrad. The social profile of this army is analysed through study of a typical infantry division. The volume concludes with an account of the various forms of resistance to Hitler's regime, in society and the military, culminating in the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.

Souveran oder abhangig? Neben einem knappen chronologischen Uberblick, der die wesentlichen Stadien der DDR-Militargeschichte in den Kontext einer Gesamtgeschichte der Epoche stellt, steht die systematische Betrachtung ausgewahlter Themen, etwa wie sich die Hochmilitarisierung auf Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft des SED-Staates auswirkte. Leitmotiv ist die Frage, in wie weit die DDR als so die Selbstdarstellung souveraner Staat selbst fur ihre Sicherheit sorgte oder ob sie von der sowjetischen Sicherheitsgarantie abhangig war."

Tradition ist ein schillernder Begriff, der leicht von der Zunge geht, aber schwer zu fassen ist. Die Tradition aller todten Geschlechter lastet wie ein Alp auf dem Gehirne der Lebenden," bemerkte bereits Karl Marx Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Tradition beschreibt ein Verfahren und meint zugleich dessen Inhalte. Traditionen konnen Orientierung bieten. Sie sind stabilisierende Faktoren in Gesellschaft und Armee. Keine Armee kann auf Dauer auf sie verzichten. Auch darauf hat Bundesminister de Maiziere in seiner Rede am 14. Oktober 2011 hingewiesen. Gerade deshalb sind Traditionen, zumal militarische, standig zu uberprufen und fortzuentwickeln, sonst degeneriert Tradition zum Traditionalismus und verurteilt sich selbst zum Tode. Tradition ist wertebezogene Auswahl aus Geschichte, ein Prozess also, der einem permanenten und rasanten Wertewandel in der Gesellschaft unterliegt, der zu keinem Ende kommt und sich deshalb festschreibenden, dauerhaften Erlassen" entzieht.