ABSTRACT
A German presentation of the Second World War is inherently problematic given the atrocities committed by and on behalf of the National Socialist regime. The notion that the German armed forces had been misled by a bungling madman was encouraged by the numerous war memoirs produced by high-ranking officers, which generally presented officers 'as having pursued a fundamentally just cause and as having been Hitler's victims'. In a speech in December 1952, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer officially declared that the Wehrmacht was an army like any other; he also stated that the German soldier had fought honourably, a view sanctioned by former Allied Supreme Commander, Eisenhower. The 'German soldier as victim' and the 'German soldier as a figure of integrity' effectively cancel out the 'German soldier as aggressor'. Despite the fact that Germany's actions were universally vilified, there continue to be attempts to categorise the Second World War as a 'normal' war.
