ABSTRACT
This chapter studies 2,000 letters and several diaries written by members of the Wehrmacht to analyze their self-perception and how they understood their own perpetration as they took part in an atrocity-filled war of extermination against the Soviet Union. The chapter draws on social-psychological theories of moral rationalization to demonstrate how the authors of these epistles were able to exonerate themselves from any personal guilt, justify the crimes their side committed, and maintain self-representations as ‘decent men.’ Its findings shed light on the central role such legitimation strategies can play in perpetuating criminal violence on the individual and group levels.
