@book{db3c6188d37449029bc0d271e3d11090,
title = "Remnants of Wehrmacht Soldiers: Burial and Commemoration Practices of German Soldiers of the Second World War in Russia and Europe, 1941–2023",
abstract = "Today, fallen soldiers of the Second World War find their resting places across the globe. While many nations openly honor their military, Germany maintains a more reserved approach to its war dead. During the war, fallen soldiers were hailed as heroes, but after 1945, the treatment of the deceased and their graves underwent a profound transformation. Janz, focusing on the Eastern Front during wartime and then the post-war Soviet Union and Russian Federation, explores this transformation through three key moments: 1. the treatment of the bodies, burial practices, and exhumations; 2. the burial sites, including cemetery construction and design; and 3. the realm of commemoration, encompassing memorial ceremonies and rituals. These rituals evolved from the hero worship of Hitler{\textquoteright}s Wehrmacht to the mourning and reconciliation policies of the post-war West German government with Russia. This study offers an examination of the German military dead amidst controversies surrounding Wehrmacht soldiers and their challenging commemoration in the present day.",
keywords = "Wehrmacht, WWII, Burial, Cemetery, Soldier, Russia, Germany, Reconciliation, Post-war period",
author = "Nina Janz",
year = "2025",
doi = "10.3726/b21652",
language = "English",
isbn = "9783631866924",
series = "Studies in Contemporary History",
publisher = "Peter Lang ",
address = "Switzerland",
}