Rescuing Memory from the Rubble: History, Memory, and Identity in the Comrades' Association of German Mountain Troops in the 1950s

At the close of World War II, Germany was faced with the task of digging itself out from under enormous piles of rubble, both physical and metaphorical, as it turned toward an uncertain and precarious future. The dominant narrative that arose in Western Germany during this period of postwar devastation and then eventual recovery was one of victimization: first by Hitler and his henchmen and then subsequently by the Allies. This thesis examines how one particular “ memory collective”, the Comrades’ Association of Mountain Troops ( der Kameradenkreis der Gebirgstruppe) both reflected and shaped this defensive narrative of victimization while also crafting a redemptive narrative of heroism and self- sacrifice. This redemptive narrative allowed many former German soldiers to rescue their memories from the historical rubble. Although in the immediate postwar period German militarism had been discredited, this changed with the onset of the Cold War. The perceived Soviet threat and a virulent anti- Communism in the West, accompanied by a pervasive emphasis on conservative Christian values, and the subsequent rearmament of West Germany, served to transform West Germany from enemy to ally. Within the context of the Western alliance, German soldiers were transformed from Hitler’s warriors to West Germany’s soldiers for peace