Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (5 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), nicknamed the "Desert Fox," was one of the more interesting Nazis – maybe sorta kinda. A German Field Marshal in World War II, he commanded Panzer divisions in the North African Campaign (the Afrika Korps), along with the defense of the Atlantic wall. He managed to become well-respected by his adversaries,[note 1] for reasons explained below.

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Then as farce

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The anti-Nazi... Nazi?

Early records showed that Rommel had a close working relationship with Adolf Hitler, but he eventually came to the conclusion that the rest of the world had made. On some occasions^{[citation needed]} he refused orders to engage in war crimes;^{[citation needed]} ironically, Hitler couldn't touch Rommel himself because he was responsible for turning the general into a Chuck Norris-esque meme in Nazi propaganda.[1] Rommel also held negative opinions toward his Italian allies, and his rebellious nature left him with many critics in the German military.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011 there was considerable controversy over a German biopic that portrayed him as... just a usual Nazi. David Irving obviously enjoyed it.[2][note 2]

Attempt to overthrow Hitler

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It was later revealed in the Nuremberg Trials that Rommel was complicit in the attempt to assassinate Hitler in the July 20 plot (although Rommel seemed to have favored arresting him instead). He was given the choice to be put on trial and have both him and his family killed, or commit suicide to allow his family to survive. He picked the latter. His committing suicide was of course the preferable choice for the regime as it could be hushed up more easily than a high ranking general whom the Nazis themselves had made into a myth turning against Hitler and being sentenced to death.^{[citation needed]}

Modern honors

In honor of the members of the 10th Panzer Division, whom Rommel commanded, as well as of the Field Marshal himself, after the founding of the West German army (the Bundeswehr) a new armored unit was named 10 Panzerdivision. (Another Bundeswehr Panzerdivision, the 1st Panzer Division, also shared a designation with a Wehrmacht equivalent.[3]) The army group's headquarters was located at Graf Stauffenberg Kaserne (Count Stauffenberg Barracks), further reference to the July 20 plot to kill Hitler.[note 3]

There are also three army bases named after Rommel. This, like many of the lines of unbroken tradition between the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr, is of course controversial among the German left and people with more than a passing knowledge of German history.[4]

The offspring

His only son, Manfred, was the post-war mayor of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg for over 20 years (as a member of the CDU) and was an advocate of minorities' civil rights.[5] The fact that Rommel Jr. was moderately competent as a mayor and that Stuttgart is a prosperous multicultural city with little crime (even by the low crime standards of Germany) and other problems may have helped preserve Rommel Sr.'s rather positive reputation after the war when more and more Germans questioned whether a "good Nazi" ever existed, as can be seen by the re-evaluation of figures like Wernher von Braun[note 4] or Albert Speer [note 5]. Rommel personally prevented his kid from joining the SS^{[citation needed]}.

Notes

1. For example, this quote by Winston Churchill almost led to a censure vote in the House of Commons
2. Although now more famous as a Holocaust denier, David Irving was also one of the first historians to suggest that this Nazi general might have been a Nazi.
3. Claus Graf von Stauffenberg acted as the hatchetman on 20 July 1944.
4. Who used slave labor to build his rockets and personally visited the camps.
5. Who was almost solely responsible for the war industry in the last two years of the war and hence for many of the abuses against forced laborers.

References

1. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
2. Rommel TV biopic stirs controversy
3. See the Wikipedia article on 1st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht).
4. Was the Desert Fox an honest soldier or just another Nazi?, The Independent
5. Manfred Rommel, Son of German Field Marshal, Dies at 84, The New York Times