Editing Erwin Rommel (section)

== Rommel myth ==
{{Main|Rommel myth}}
According to some revisionist authors, an assessment of Rommel's role in history has been hampered by views of Rommel that were formed, at least in part, for political reasons, creating what these historians have called the "[[Rommel myth]]". The interpretation considered by some historians to be a myth is the depiction of the Field Marshal as an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of [[Nazi Germany]] who participated in the [[20 July plot]] against [[Adolf Hitler]]. There are a notable number of authors who refer to "Rommel Myth" or "Rommel Legend" in a neutral or positive manner though.<ref name="The man and his myth">{{cite book |last1= Battistelli |first1= Pier Paolo |title= Erwin Rommel |date=2012 |publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn= 978-1-78096-471-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=47iHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT3}}</ref> The seeds of the myth can be found first in Rommel's drive for success as a young officer in [[World War I]] and then in his popular 1937 book ''[[Infantry Attacks]],'' which was written in a style that diverged from the German military literature of the time and became a best-seller.
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-719-0240-22, Pas de Calais, Speidel, Lang, Rommel.jpg|thumb|Rommel with [[Hans Speidel]], who was involved in the 20 July plot]]
The myth then took shape during the opening years of World War II, as a component of Nazi propaganda to praise the Wehrmacht and instil optimism in the German public, with Rommel's willing participation. When Rommel came to North Africa, it was picked up and disseminated in the West by the British press as the Allies sought to explain their continued inability to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.{{sfn|Major|2008|p=}} The British military and political figures contributed to the heroic image of the man as Rommel resumed offensive operations in January 1942 against the British forces weakened by redeployments to the Far East. During parliamentary debate following the fall of Tobruk, Churchill described Rommel as an "extraordinary bold and clever opponent" and a "great field commander".{{sfn|Watson|1999|pp=166–167}}

According to ''Der Spiegel'' following the war's end, West Germany yearned for father figures who were needed to replace the former ones who had been unmasked as criminals. Rommel was chosen because he embodied the decent soldier, cunning yet fair-minded, and if guilty by association, not so guilty that he became unreliable, and additionally, former comrades reported that he was close to the Resistance.{{sfn|Fleischhauer|Friedmann|2012}} While everyone else was disgraced, his star became brighter than ever, and he made the historically unprecedented leap over the threshold between eras: from Hitler's favourite general to the young republic's hero. Cornelia Hecht notes that despite the change of times, Rommel has become the symbol of different regimes and concepts, which is paradoxical, whoever the man he really was.{{sfn|Hecht|2008|pp=9-11}}

At the same time, the Western Allies, and particularly the British, depicted Rommel as the "good German". His reputation for conducting a clean war was used in the interest of the [[Wiederbewaffnung|West German rearmament]] and reconciliation between the former enemies—Britain and the United States on one side and the new Federal Republic of Germany on the other.{{sfn|Searle|2014|p=9}} When Rommel's alleged involvement in the plot to kill Hitler became known after the war, his stature was enhanced in the eyes of his former adversaries. Rommel was often cited in Western sources as a patriotic German willing to stand up to Hitler. Churchill wrote about him in 1950: "[Rommel] (...) deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works and took part in the conspiracy of 1944 to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant."{{sfn|Churchill|1950|p=200}}