Editing Erwin Rommel (section)

== Relationship with Nazism ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-119-08, Erwin Rommel, Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|Erwin Rommel and Adolf Hitler in 1942]]

Rommel was not a member of the [[Nazi Party]].{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=138}} Rommel and Hitler had a close and genuine, if complicated, personal relationship. Rommel, as other ''Wehrmacht'' officers, welcomed the [[Nazi rise to power]].{{sfn|Naumann|2009|p=190}}{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=158}} Numerous historians state that Rommel was one of Hitler's favourite generals and that his close relationship with the dictator benefited both his inter-war and war-time career.{{sfn|Zabecki|2016}}{{sfn|Reuth|2005|p=54}}{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=158}} [[Robert Citino]] describes Rommel as "not apolitical" and writes that he owed his career to Hitler, to whom Rommel's attitude was "worshipful",{{sfn|Citino|2012}} with Messenger agreeing that Rommel owed his tank command, his hero status and other promotions to Hitler's interference and support.{{sfn|Citino|2012}}{{sfn|Messenger|2009|pp=185–186}}{{refn|group=N|Robert Citino: "His career had been based solely on Hitler's favor, and we might reasonably describe his attitude toward the Führer as worshipful."{{sfn|Citino|2012}} [[Peter Caddick-Adams]]: "As is now clear, Rommel had been very close to Hitler and the Third Reich&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Caddick-Adams|2012|p=472}}}}

Kesselring described Rommel's own power over Hitler as "hypnotic".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bungay|first=Stephen|title=Alamein|isbn=978-1-85410-929-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jjLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR9-IA12|date= 2013|publisher=Quarto Publishing Group USA }}</ref> In 1944, Rommel himself told Ruge and his wife that Hitler had a kind of irresistible magnetic aura ("Magnetismus") and was always seemingly in an intoxicated condition.{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=282}} Maurice Remy identifies that the point at which their relationship became a personal one was 1939 when Rommel proudly announced to his friend Kurt Hesse that he had "sort of forced Hitler to go with me (to the [[Prague Castle|Hradschin Castle]] in Prague, in an open top car, without another bodyguard), under my personal protection&nbsp;... He had entrusted himself to me and would never forget me for my excellent advice."{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=41}}

The close relationship between Rommel and Hitler continued following the Western campaign; after Rommel sent him a specially prepared diary on the 7th Division, he received a letter of thanks from the dictator.{{sfn|Messenger|2009|p=60}} (According to Speer, he would normally send extremely unclear reports which annoyed Hitler greatly.<ref name="Inside The Third Reich">''Inside The Third Reich'' by Albert Speer, 2015, Hachette UK, {{ISBN|1-4746-0338-6}} – "He was bitterly annoyed with Rommel, who would often give extremely unclear bulletins on the day's movements. In other words, he "veiled" them from headquarters, sometimes for days, only to report an entirely changed situation. Hitler liked Rommel personally but could ill brook this sort of conduct."</ref>) According to Maurice Remy, the relationship, which Remy calls "a dream marriage", showed the first crack only in 1942,{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=355}} and later gradually turned into, in the words of German writer [[Ernst Jünger]] (in contact with Rommel in Normandy), "''Haßliebe''" (a love-hate relationship).{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=253}} Ruge's diary and Rommel's letters to his wife show his mood fluctuating wildly regarding Hitler: while he showed disgust towards the atrocities and disappointment towards the situation, he was overjoyed to welcome a visit from Hitler, only to return to depression the next day when faced with reality.{{sfn|Remy|2002|pp=281, 282}}

Hitler displayed the same emotions. Amid growing doubts and differences, he would remain eager for Rommel's calls (they had almost daily, hour-long, highly animated conversations, with the preferred topic being technical innovations{{sfn|Blumentritt|1952|p=203}}): he once almost grabbed the telephone out of Linge's hand. But, according to Linge, seeing Rommel's disobedience Hitler also realised his mistake in building up Rommel, whom not only the Afrika Korps but also the German people in general now considered the German God.<ref name="Detroit, Michigan p. 12">{{cite news|last=Linge|first=Heinz|title=The Private Life of Adolf Hitler|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|issue=17 November 1955|page=12}}</ref> Hitler tried to fix the dysfunctional relationship many times without results, with Rommel calling his attempts "Sunlamp Treatment", although later he said that "Once I have loved the Führer, and I still do."{{sfn|Fleischhauer|Friedmann|2012}}{{sfn|Remy|2002|pp=188, 348}} Remy and ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' remark that the statement was very much genuine, while Watson notes that Rommel believed he deserved to die for his treasonable plan.{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=170}}

Rommel was an ambitious man who took advantage of his proximity to Hitler and willingly accepted the propaganda campaigns designed for him by Goebbels.<!-- Klaus Naumann: "Rommel was used by the Nazi regime to create a myth. He tolerated this since he had a strong dose of personal ambition and vanity."-->{{sfn|Naumann|2009|p=190}} On one hand, he wanted personal promotion and the realisation of his ideals. On the other hand, being elevated by the traditional system that gave preferential treatment to aristocratic officers would be betrayal of his aspiration "to remain a man of the troops".{{refn|group=N|Maurice Remy: "...&nbsp;Rommel wollte bleiben, was es war: ein Mann der Truppe."{{sfn|Remy|2002|pp=24–25}}}} In 1918, Rommel refused an invitation to a prestigious officer training course, and with it, the chance to be promoted to general.{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=24}} Additionally, he had no inclination towards the political route, preferring to remain a soldier ("Nur-Soldat").<ref name="Geheimnisse des Dritten Reichs">{{cite book|last=Knopp|first=Guido|title=Geheimnisse des 'Dritten Reichs'|date=2011|publisher=C.Bertelsmann|isbn=978-3-641-06512-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaWCxOTyUDkC&pg=PT185}}</ref>{{sfn|Pyta|2015|p=605}}<ref>{{cite AV media|year=2012|title=Er war blind in dieser Hinsicht|trans-title=He was blind in this regard|language=de|url=http://pd-ondemand.swr.de/extra/rommel/570655.l.mp4|access-date=15 June 2016|publisher=Südwestrundfunk (SWR)|quote=Rommel tried to remain a 'mere' soldier and thus becoming blind to the moral dimension of his actions.|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701163250/http://pd-ondemand.swr.de/extra/rommel/570655.l.mp4|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was thus attracted by the Common Man theme which promised to level German society,{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=169}} the glorification of the national community,<ref name="kas.de">{{cite web|last=Lasserre|first=Caroline|title=kas.de|url=http://www.kas.de/niedersachsen/de/publications/38303/|access-date=4 August 2016|date=7 July 2014|archive-date=11 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211195434/http://www.kas.de/niedersachsen/de/publications/38303/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the idea of a soldier of common background who served the Fatherland with talent and got rewarded by another common man who embodied the will of the German people.{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=169}} While he had much indignation towards Germany's contemporary class problem, this self-association with the Common Man went along well with his desire to simulate the knights of the past, who also led from the front.<ref name="Rommel on Friedrich the Great's knights">"Patton And Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century" – Dennis Showalter – 2006 "This, he declared, was war as Frederick the Great's cavalry generals had waged it. Seydlitz and Ziethen had led from the front and exploited fleeting opportunities to win tactical victories. Modern generals must do the same thing at the operational level, with tanks replacing horses."</ref> Rommel seemed to enjoy the idea of peace, as shown by his words to his wife in August 1939: "You can trust me, we have taken part in one World War, but as long as our generation live, there will not be a second", as well as his letter sent to her the night before the Invasion of Poland, in which he expressed (in Maurice Remy's phrase) "boundless optimism": "I still believe the atmosphere will not become more bellicose."{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=42}} Butler remarks that Rommel was centre in his politics, leaning a little to the left in his attitude.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=112}}

Messenger argues that Rommel's attitude towards Hitler changed only after the Allied invasion of Normandy when Rommel came to realise that the war could not be won,{{sfn|Messenger|2009|pp=185–186}} while Maurice Remy suggests that Rommel never truly broke away from the relationship with Hitler but praises him for "always [having] the courage to oppose him whenever his conscience required so".{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=355}} The historian Peter Lieb states that it was not clear whether the threat of defeat was the only reason Rommel wanted to switch sides.<ref name="kas.de" /> The relationship seemed to go significantly downhill after a conversation in July 1943, in which Hitler told Rommel that if they did not win the war, the Germans could rot. Rommel even began to think that it was lucky that his Afrika Korps were now safe as POWs and could escape Hitler's Wagnerian ending.{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=327}}{{sfn|Marshall|1994|p=199}}{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=516}} ''[[Die Welt]]'' commented in 2011 that Hitler chose Rommel as his favourite because he was apolitical, and that the combination of his military expertise and circumstances allowed Rommel to remain clean.<ref>{{cite news|last=Seewald|first=Berthold|title=Der Krieg um Hitlers Lieblingsgeneral Erwin Rommel|url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13621378/Der-Krieg-um-Hitlers-Lieblingsgeneral-Erwin-Rommel.html|access-date=19 August 2016|work=Die Welt|year=2011|archive-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823022900/http://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13621378/Der-Krieg-um-Hitlers-Lieblingsgeneral-Erwin-Rommel.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rommel's political inclinations were a controversial matter even among the contemporary Nazi elites. Rommel himself, while showing support to some facets of the Nazi ideology<ref name="Rommel ist und bleibt ein Mythos" /> and enjoying the propaganda machine that the Nazis had built around him, was enraged by the Nazi media's effort to portray him as an early Party member and son of a mason, forcing them to correct this misinformation.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=240}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Seewald|first=Berthold|date=21 December 2008|title=Erwin Rommel, Held der 'sauberen Wehrmacht'|newspaper=Die Welt|url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/article2905248/Erwin-Rommel-Held-der-sauberen-Wehrmacht.html|access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=30 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630035043/http://www.welt.de/kultur/article2905248/Erwin-Rommel-Held-der-sauberen-Wehrmacht.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Nazi elites were not comfortable with the idea of a national icon who did not wholeheartedly support the regime. Hitler and Goebbels, his main supporters, tended to defend him. When Rommel was being considered for appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the summer of 1942, Goebbels wrote in his diary that Rommel "is ideologically sound, is not just sympathetic to the National Socialists. He is a National Socialist; he is a troop leader with a gift for improvisation, personally courageous and extraordinarily inventive. These are the kinds of soldiers we need."{{sfn|Reuth|2005|p=54}} Despite this, they gradually saw that his grasp of political realities and his views could be very different from theirs.<ref name="Cross of Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German War Machine, 1918–1945 By John Mosier" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Kubetzky|first=Thomas|title="The mask of command": Bernard L. Montgomery, George S. Patton und Erwin Rommel|isbn=978-3-643-10349-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bblgexiGhy4C&pg=PA350|year=2010|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster }}</ref>{{refn|group=N|Kubetzky: "Politics-wise, he has nothing but fantastic conceptions." (Goebbels' diary, after the assassination){{sfn|Kubetzky|2010|p=250}}}} Hitler knew, though, that Rommel's optimistic and combative character was indispensable for his war efforts. When Rommel lost faith in the final victory and Hitler's leadership, Hitler and Goebbels tried to find an alternative in Manstein to remedy the fighting will and "political direction" of other generals but did not succeed.{{sfn|Pyta|2015|pp=502–521}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Goebbels|first=Joseph|title=Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels: Diktate 1941–1945. Juli–September 1942, Volume 2|date=1994|publisher=K.G. Saur|isbn=978-3-598-21920-7|pages=177–180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gZoAAAAMAAJ&q=%22charakterliche+festigkeit%22+manstein}}</ref>

Meanwhile, officials who did not like Rommel, such as Bormann and Schirach, whispered to each other that he was not a Nazi at all.{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=38}} Rommel's relationship to the Nazi elites, other than Hitler and Goebbels, was mostly hostile, although even powerful people like Bormann{{sfn|Remy|2002|p=336}} and Himmler had to tread carefully around Rommel. Himmler, who played a decisive role in Rommel's death, tried to blame Keitel and Jodl for the deed. And in fact the deed was initiated by them. They deeply resented Rommel's meteoric rise and had long feared that he would become the Commander-in-Chief.<ref name="Detroit, Michigan p. 12" />{{sfn|Hansen|2014}} (Hitler also played innocent by trying to erect a monument for the national hero, on 7 March 1945{{sfn|Barnett|1989|p=314}}) [[Franz Halder]], after concocting several schemes to rein in Rommel through people like [[Friedrich Paulus|Paulus]] and [[Alfred Gause|Gause]] to no avail (even willing to undermine German operations and strategy in the process for the sole purpose of embarrassing him{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=241, 281–283}}), concluded that Rommel was a madman with whom no one dared to cross swords because of "his brutal methods and his backing from the highest levels". (Rommel imposed a high number of courts-martial, but according to Westphal, he never signed the final order. Owen Connelly comments that he could afford easy discipline because of his charisma).{{sfn|Reuth|2005|p=186}}{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=175}}{{sfn|Connelly|2009|p=281}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Westphal|first=Siegfried|title=The German army in the west|date=1951|publisher=Cassell|page=127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAJnAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=April 2021}} Rommel for his part was highly critical of Himmler, Halder, the High Command and particularly Goering who Rommel at one point called his "bitterest enemy".{{refn|group=N|Erwin Rommel: "During the whole of this period my bitterest enemy was Goering. I think he wanted to get me sacked in order to realise his own plans in North Africa."{{sfn|Rommel|1982|p=367}}}} Hitler realised that Rommel attracted the elites' negative emotions to himself, in the same way he generated optimism in the common people. Depending on the case, Hitler manipulated or exacerbated the situation in order to benefit himself,<ref name=NatGeoCha>{{Cite episode |last1=Frey |first1=Christian |last2=Versteegen |first2=Tim |year=2011 |title=Hitler's Desert Fox |series=Nazi Underworld |network=National Geographic Channel |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/tv/nazi-underworld/ |access-date=20 May 2016 |archive-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523143358/https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/tv/nazi-underworld/ |url-status=live }} "Bigwigs&nbsp;... despised Rommel&nbsp;... It was very much the way Hitler liked to keep it. He was the classic divide-and-rule dictator" (historian Guy Walters, 42:00). "Rommel's former enemies put together a pact against Rommel. It started at the Ehrenhof and ended in Hitler's immediate surrounding with Bormann and Keitel" (historian Reuth, 43:00).</ref>{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=283}}{{refn|group=N|Erwin Rommel: "I was not very happy at the prospect of having to go on playing whipping-boy for the Fuehrer s H.Q, the Commando Supremo and the Luftwaffe."{{sfn|Rommel|1982|p=196}}}} although he originally had no intent of pushing Rommel to the point of destruction.<ref name="Geheimnisse des Dritten Reichs" /> (Even when informed of Rommel's involvement in the plot, hurt and vengeful,{{sfn|Fleischhauer|Friedmann|2012}} Hitler at first wanted to retire Rommel,{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=535}} and eventually offered him a last-minute chance to explain himself and refute the claims, which Rommel apparently did not take advantage of.<ref>{{cite book|last=Röhr|first=Werner|title=Thema: Der verdrängte Völkermord an den Armeniern im ersten Weltkrieg Issue 24 of Bulletin für Faschismus- und Weltkriegsforschung|date=2005|publisher=Edition Organon|page=52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gorlitz|first1=Walter|last2=Keitel|first2=Wilhelm|title=The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel: Chief of the German High Command, 1938–1945|isbn=978-1-4616-6115-3|page=194|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDlrrEpdctEC&pg=PA194|date=12 September 2000|publisher=Cooper Square Press }}</ref>) Ultimately Rommel's enemies worked together to bring him down.{{r|NatGeoCha}}

Maurice Remy concludes that, unwillingly and probably without ever realising it, Rommel was part of a murderous regime, although he never actually grasped the core of Nazism.{{sfn|Remy|2002|pp=38, 361}} Peter Lieb sees Rommel as a person who could not be put into a single drawer, although problematic by modern moral standards, and suggests people should personally decide for themselves whether Rommel should remain a role model or not.<ref name="kas.de" /> He was a Nazi general in some aspects, considering his support for the leader cult (Führerkult) and the [[Volksgemeinschaft]], but he was not an antisemite, nor a war criminal, nor a radical ideological fighter.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kellerhoff|first=Sven Felix|title=Erwin Rommel stand auf der Seite des Widerstandes|url=https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article182645954/Wuestenfuchs-Erwin-Rommel-stand-auf-der-Seite-des-Widerstandes.html|access-date=29 October 2018|work=Die Welt|date=25 October 2018|archive-date=26 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026031436/https://www.welt.de/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/article182645954/Wuestenfuchs-Erwin-Rommel-stand-auf-der-Seite-des-Widerstandes.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Historian Cornelia Hecht remarks "It is really hard to know who the man behind the myth was," noting that in numerous letters he wrote to his wife during their almost 30-year marriage, he commented little on political issues as well as his personal life as a husband and a father.<ref name=Welt180808>{{cite news|last=Sonnberger|first=Heike|date=18 August 2008|title=Ausstellung entzaubert "Wüstenfuchs" Rommel|newspaper=Die Welt|url=https://www.welt.de/politik/article2320651/Ausstellung-entzaubert-Wuestenfuchs-Rommel.html|access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617035606/http://www.welt.de/politik/article2320651/Ausstellung-entzaubert-Wuestenfuchs-Rommel.html|url-status=live}}</ref>