Soldaten

Weber (German POW)

Weber (Luftwaffe lance corporal)

wedding rings

Wedekind, Karl

Wedekind (German POW)

Wehner (low-level officer)

Wehrmacht, prl.1, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 5.1, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

     brutality as viewed by, 4.1, 9.1

     camaraderie in

     career opportunities in

     dispositions in

     elite units of, 9.1, 9.2

     faith in victory of, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 9.1

     fighting to the last bullet in, 8.1, 8.2

     formation of

     frame of reference and

     Jewish rescue attempts of

     medals and, 2.1, 9.1

     military values in, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6

     opportunities for

     rivalries and

     Russian soldiers in

     sexual behavior in, 5.1, 5.2

     success and, 9.1, 9.2

     surveillance protocols and

     technology and, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

     as total institution

     as voluntary killers

     Waffen SS as viewed by, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

     Waffen SS compared with, 9.1, 9.2

     war crimes and, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

Weichsel River

Weighardt, Armin

Weimar Republic, 2.1, 12.1

     changes of government in

     political violence in

     Third Reich compared with, 2.1, 2.2

Welles, Orson

Wells, H. G.

Welzer, Harald

Werra, Franz von

West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), 2.1, 9.1, 12.1

West Wall

Weszling, Heinz

Wette, Wolfram

Whitley

Wilck, Gerhard, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2

Wildermuth, Eberhard, 4.1, 9.1, 9.2

Wildt, Michael

Wiljotti (German POW)

Willie (bomber pilot)

willing executioners

Wilton Park, 9.1, app.1

Winkle, Ralph

Winkler (Luftwaffe crewman)

Witt, Hermann

wives, 1.1, 1.2, 4.1

Woelcky, Otto, 9.1, 9.2

Wöffen, Antonius, 7.1, 7.2

Wohlgezogen, Sergeant

Wolf (German POW)

women, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

     as forced laborers

     French, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1

     Hitler’s love letters from, 4.1, 7.1

     Italian, 3.1, 3.2

     Jews’ alleged butchering of

     outrage and, 4.1, 4.2

     in Red Army

     Russian, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

     Ukrainian

     war crimes against, 3.1, 3.2, 9.1, 9.2, 11.1

     see also rape; wives

women, German

     blitz girls (Blitzmädel)

     hitting on

     rape of, 5.1, 5.2

women, Jewish, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2

     in France

     rescue of

     sex and, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.1

     shooting of, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 8.1, 8.2

work, workers, 2.1, 4.1

     commercial vs. war, 1.1, 9.1, 9.2, 12.1

     unskilled

     vacations for, 2.1, 8.1

     war as

working class, 2.1, 2.2

world views

World War I, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 8.1, 8.2, app.1

     disillusionment and

     German courage in

     medals and, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 9.1, 9.2

     POWs in, 3.1, 11.1

     start of

     technology and

World War II

     Allied victory in

     bombing in, see bombs, bombing

     brutality in

     end of, 1.1, 2.1, 5.1

     German attack on Soviet Union in, 1.1, 3.1

     German preparations for

     interpretive paradigms in

     medals and, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1

     military virtues in

     other wars compared with, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 6.1, 11.1

     Polish campaign in, 2.1, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 6.1

     prospects for German victory in

     start of, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 7.1

     as total war, 3.1, 3.2

     unpopular types of warfare in

     see also specific topics

wounding, wounded, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 8.1, 8.2

     in Iraq War

Wunsch (German POW)

Zagovec, Rafael

Zastrau, Willi, 6.1, 7.1

Zimmermann, Lieutenant

Zink, Lieutenant

Zotlöterer (German POW)

“Z” section

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sönke Neitzel is currently Chair of International History at the London School of Economics. He has previously taught modern history at the Universities of Glasgow, Saarbrücken, Bern, and Mainz.

Harald Welzer is a professor of Transformation Design at the University of Flensburg, teaches social psychology at the University of Sankt Gallen, and is head of the foundation Futurzwei.

A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Jefferson Chase is the translator of more than a dozen books from German to English, including works by Thomas Mann, Wolfgang Schivelbusch, and Götz Aly. He also works as a writer and journalist in Berlin.

Copyright

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Translation copyright © 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by McClelland & Stewart, a division of Random House of Canada, Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Originally published in Germany as Soldaten: Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Töten und Sterben by S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, in 2011. Copyright © 2011 by Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer, copyright © 2011 S. Fischer Verlag, GmbH.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Neitzel, Sönke.

Soldaten / by Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer; translated from the German by Jefferson Chase.

p. cm.

Translation of: Soldaten: Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Töten und Sterben. Frankfurt am Main : Fischer Verlag, 2011.

Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN: 978-0-307-95815-0