Older German Officers and National Socialist Activism: Evidence from the German Volkssturm

During the past three decades, historians have largely dismantled the notion that the German Wehrmacht’s officer corps was apathetic, or even hostile, to National Socialist ideology. They have shown that younger officers joining the Wehrmacht during the late 1930s and the war years were typically members of Nazi organizations, particularly the Hitler Youth, and frequently held National Socialist ideological perspectives. The NSDAP affiliation of older junior grade officers, a numerically significant group, whose formative years predated the Third Reich have been less extensively studied. This article examines the German Volkssturm’s command personnel to demonstrate that many older, lower level officers possessed both successful military careers and extensive credentials as members and leaders in Nazi organizations. This finding not only confirms the Volkssturm’s dual military-political role, but also reveals the commitment to Nazi ideology of many in this cohort.