Politics of U-boat Captains

[Crimguy]

Originally Posted by Iron Budokan

Very true. I didn't mean to imply there were no ardent Nazis in the kriegsmarine. Even Herbert Werner writes about 'em in Iron Coffins.

It's always difficult to make any such conclusions/generalizations. The racism was pretty rampant in Germany at the time, and we must be mindful that the NAZI party came to power in '33 in an overwhelming majority.

There are some who think it's a disservice to separate the Germans from the NAZI party at all, and it's just semantics to try to distinguish the two. Hitler's Willing Executioners makes a compelling argument for just that. I'm sure there were plenty in the Kriegsmarine who were all for Hitler's regime, or at least what they knew of it. While that does not, for the vast majority of Germans, include approval of gas chambers and the like, it does speak volumes about conquering an entire continent and shipping away numerous "undesireables."

Does it matter though? They, like most of the soldiers throughout the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, were loyal to their country and doing their duty. I know I sound like a witness at Neuremburg . . .

Back on topic a bit, I do not think the NAZI's ever employed political officers per se. They did have gestapo agents and various members of the SS assigned to units to ensure there were no problems, politically speaking, but this is not like the Soviet system, where a political officer was assigned to every military unit.