Requiem for an Army: The Demise of the East German Military

[iannima]

Perhaps we could have our resident scholar Iannima translate some of the academic babble for us

Genosse... That's Anthropology (for whatever reason... ). I am in Economics . Between Economics and just about ANY other subject in the Social Sciences there is an exclusion zone, mine field, barbed wire and ferocious dogs... ANY attempt at crossing the boundary is treated as HIGH treason ...

[iannima]

I was in the American Army and involved with NATO Allied command in the 80's. The general assumption was the the East German Army would only fight if the Warsaw Pact forces were winning and then only fight well against non-German units. In the 90s I dated a former DDR officer and she also indicated that one of major points of concern for the NVA was what would happen if they had to fight directly against the BW and in West Germany. The Soviets were equally concerned based on what we understood then.

This was a BIG thing in the Bundeswehr, but when they took over the former NVA barracks and personnel, they were surprised that that did not appear to have been such an issue for the NVA. Jörg Schönbohm (the first Bundeswehr commander in the former East) comments on this in his VERY self serving book "Two Armies and One fatherland"... This might be interpreted as yet another attempt on his part at depicting the Bundeswehr as the most ideal of all possible armies on earth... with the NVA as nasty, cruel and bigoted. (Other shining examples of moral superiority were the dishwashers and the showers...) But it should be borne in mind that the leadership of the DDR was trying very hard to be "more royalist than the King" and it makes sense to assume that the military leadership would have been selected in that spirit over the years. Ultimately it is a matter of speculation, and thankfully it did not come to pass, but my gut feeling is that the officers would have loyally fought alongside the Soviets. The soldiers at large might have had not so loyal feelings, but in a Prussian army Befehl ist Befehl... Whether the Soviets trusted the NVA, is another matter for speculation, but on the whole I would say that the evidence is that they trusted the NVA better than they trusted any other of their Warsaw Pact allies...
Jolly good thing that we never put this to the test!

[KevinH]

I read Schonbohm's book twice actually. Once out of curiosity and once for academic purposes. It was actually one of the better sources I had for picking out tidbits of info on the feelings East German career soldiers as their pride was stripped from them. Aside from that, Matteo is dead on; it paints the BuWe takeover as a complete success made possible by military mastermind Jorg Schonbohm himself. Though I'm reluctant in saying so, It is worth a read because there is just so little literature out there that offers a glimpse into NVA soldiers personal feelings. You do need to go through the book with a fine tooth comb to find it though.

Maybe I'll take your suggestion on that Kartofelpreußer. Could use that German degree that's just sitting there and put something out to fill the hole in the literature about this period.

[BowlofRice]

Sorry, but I seriously feel like expressing my opinion on the demobilization of the NVA. I think that the NVA should not have been totally demobilized; rather, I think that some aspects of the NVA should have been implemented in the Bundeswehr.

For example, the uniforms. I don't see why most of the BW uniforms have to look so American. The NVA was allowed to have Wehrmacht-style uniforms and I'm pretty sure they weren't Nazis. I'd rather have the Bundeswehr wear NVA uniforms with BW cockades on the hats (just like the NVA in 1990) or something like that.

I've seen a lot of negative comments about the Bundeswehr on Youtube too, mostly people have been saying they lack discipline, and also that they should be goose stepping like the NVA did (I'm not too sure they should be goose stepping, but the discipline part is kind of evident when I looked at these two movies involving the BW and NVA).

However, one thing about the Bundeswehr that I absolutely love is their Luftwaffe uniform. I'm buying a Bundesluftwaffe uniform and matching overseas cap this Saturday from a store, and to be honest it looks a lot more like a WW2 Luftwaffe uniform than its NVA counterpart, which bears no similarity to it save for the insignia. If memory serves me correct, the collar tabs are pretty much the WW2 LW ones in a different color. But that's where the resemblance ends. With the Bundesluftwaffe uniform, there are many similarities to the WW2 Luftwaffe uniform, even the color! The very reason I started collecting DDR uniforms is because they look like German uniforms from WW2, only slightly better in my opinion. So, if the West German Luftwaffe uniform looks like its World War 2 counterpart, then I might as well buy it too!

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm insulting the Bundeswehr too much, but sometimes I can't help but feel they aren't "German" enough. However, I do like some things about the Bundeswehr. In my opinion, there are good things in both the Bundeswehr and NVA...

[Kartofelpreußer]

BowlofRice, I think you need to be mindful that military uniforms are, to a startlingly accurate extent, expressions of national character. While it seems from your post that your preference for one German uniform over the other has a direct correlation with the degree to which they resemble WWII-era cuts, do keep in mind that in both Germanies the Nazi era was and continues to be an extraodinarily sensitive topic, for obvious reasons.

The closed-collar NVA uniform was adopted after earlier flirtations with a heavily Soviet-influenced uniform, which proved to be extremely unpopular. Whether it was a lack of any viable newer ideas or for another reason, the NVA fell back on slightly modified versions of earlier forms. To an extent, I believe the NVA felt-- perhaps erroneously-- that they could get away with more "traditional" German uniforms because in their eyes their political system was so diametrically opposed to the Nazi order. What they failed to forsee was that the West would equate the totalitarianism of East Germany with that of Nazi Germany, and occasionally use (nonsensically, if you think about it) the similarity of NVA and WH uniforms as a propaganda tool to link the two regimes.

The irony, of course, is that West Germany housed many more ex-Nazis, and Germans who had been sympathetic to the Nazi cause. That, of course, may be part of the reason that the BW uniforms consciously departed from tradition. But another factor at work was the fact that the BW wanted to indicate itself as aligned with the US, just as the NVA had wanted to show Soviet influence in its formative days. The difference is that the American presence in the BRD was largely welcomed by the people. Soviet influence in the East, less so. So while the Soviet influences were resisted, the American ones were embraced.

But at the end of the day, wishing the BW uniform was "more German" is like wishing West Germany was "more German": It provides a window into the designers' minds, and at least to some extent is a reflection of its nation: Heavily influenced by America, embracing modern forms, paying modest tribute to its earlier traditions while not appearing overly militaristic, and-- most importantly-- desperate to distance itself from its Nazi past.

[BowlofRice]

You know, I never really thought of it that way, but what you said about uniforms reflecting national character is so correct! You raised a lot of good points though, and I want to say some things about them.

You're right about the West exploiting the NVA's "German" appearance, Gowen sells an identification poster featuring East German soldiers that was intended for U.S. troops. The artist did their best to make the East German uniforms look like Nazi-era uniforms. Keep in mind, this poster was also made in the dark-collar tunic era.

But to be honest, in the end the only things I like about the NVA are the uniforms, vehicles, and weapons. I like the songs and marches too, but the West German marches usually sound better. But I'm definitely not a communist, I'm pretty right-wing, trust me. The NVA had a lot of communist indoctrination; I don't like that. As well, I like the Bundeswehr's Iron Cross better than the NVA's mashup of math instruments, hammers, and wheat, or whatever their national insignia looks like. Now the Iron Cross is definitely more "German"!

But if I COULD change one thing about the Bundeswehr, I'd change the beret to a visor cap. The visor cap will always be my favorite type of hat, military or civilian, along with the fedora. Sorry, but I CANNOT STAND BERETS, unless they're Fallschirmjager!

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Memoir In English Someday?

Gentlemen,

Too bad there is no autobiography in English about an NVA officer that could explain about his service to East Germany. Especially an NVA general who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II.

Sincerely,

Edward L. Hsiao

[KevinH]

Too bad there is no autobiography in English about an NVA officer that could explain about his service to East Germany. Especially an NVA general who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II.

There isn't even one written in German! Save "Der NVA Von Anfang Bis Ende: Eine Autobiographie" but this was not quite as personal as I was looking for.

I think the lack thereof is a reflection of the culture that was brewed in the DDR. With Stasi IM's around every corner most kept quiet about their inner feelings and even today hold back for because of a trained in fear of reprisal. Especially in the NVA there was no room for individual opinion.

On a side note... I must complement Genosse Kartofelpreußer on his commentary on uniforms and national character. Very well put.

[ehrentitle]

There isn't even one written in German!

I believe there are a few senior NVA officers who wrote bios to include Admiral Theodor Hoffmann who wrote two books, Das letzte Kommando; Ein Minister erinnert sich, 1993 about his time as the last Minister of Defense and Kommando Ostsee; Vom Matrosen zum Admiral in 1995 an autobiography of his Volksmarine career.