Traitors or Allies. German Right-Wing Movements and the Memorialization of the National Conservative Resistance to Hitler

Abstract

After the Second World War, most former Nazis were certain that they (and their Führer) would have won the war if there had not been a national-conservative opposition among the traditional elites, i. e. diplomats, bureaucrats, and the officer corps.It took the West German political mainstream years to adopt the notion of resistance to Hitler as part of a positive tradition. By 1990, however, it had become received wisdom that men like Colonel Claus Graf Stauffenberg were positive examples of how some, albeit very few, had stood up against injustice and repression. Only on the extreme right fringe could authors still defame the resisters as traitors.The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), started in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party, was soon hijacked by elements of the far Right. One example is the New Right’s discussion of the resistance. While some proclaim that “Stauffenberg was a traitor”, others claim the 1944 opposition for their own heritage. By harnessing it for their cause, the memory of the conspiracy and its generally positive connotations in German public opinion, the German New Right is attempting to attract centre or centre-right voters who are disappointed with Angela Merkel’s pro-European policies.