Americans, Germans, and War Crimes Justice: Law, Memory, and "The Good War"
256
Americans, Germans, and War Crimes Justice: Law, Memory, and "The Good War"
256eBook
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Overview
Almost every war involves loss of life of both military personnel and civilians, but World War II involved an unprecedented example of state-directed and ideologically motivated genocide—the Holocaust. Beyond this horrific, premeditated war crime perpetrated on a massive scale, there were also isolated and spontaneous war crimes committed by both German and U.S. forces.
The book is focused upon on two World War II atrocities—one committed by Germans and the other by Americans. The author carefully examines how the U.S. Army treated each crime, and gives accounts of the atrocities from both German and American perspectives. The two events are contextualized within multiple frameworks: the international law of war, the phenomenon of war criminality in World War II, and the German and American collective memories of World War II. Americans, Germans and War Crimes Justice: Law, Memory, and "The Good War" provides a fresh and comprehensive perspective on the complex and sensitive subject of World War II war crimes and justice.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798216047650 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Publication date: | 03/21/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 7 - 17 Years |
About the Author
James J. Weingartner, PhD, is professor emeritus of history at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL.
Table of Contents
Introduction1 War Crimes and the Law of War
2 Building a Case
3 A Town Brought to Trial
4 "Worms on the Ground"
5 Divided Counsel
6 Fed to the Lions
7 Germans as Victims
8 Posttrial Drama
9 Two Kinds of Justice?
10 Memory
11 August 4, 2003
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
What People are Saying About This
G?nter Bischof
"James Weingartner has peeked behind the verities of the American 'good war' mythology. He reconstructs the brutal killing of 7 American flyers in Borkum by German civilians angered by the wholesale bombing of German cities in August 1944 and the assassination-style killing of 6 German civilians by American soldiers in Voerde in March 1945. On the basis of a painstaking analysis of extensive court records, he juxtaposes and compares the two postwar trials of these war crimes and arrives at a measured conclusion of 'two kinds of justice' being meted out by American military courts. In this tightly argued analysis of the two court proceedings he never succumbs to moral equivalence. Neither does he shy away from calling American war crimes by their name. His conclusions on juxtaposing the two very different World War II memory cultures in postwar Germany and the United States – one trying to master the past and one wallowing in the patriotic gore of the good war -- should help Americans confront the shades of grey in their past. Weingartner's painful reconstruction of German and American war crimes and their trials is a must read for both student of World War II and transitional justice."
—
G?nter Bischof, Marshall Plan Professor of History at the University of New Orleans and a Presidential Counselor at the National World War II Museum
Peter Karsten
"This is a well-designed and well-executed comparative study of war crimes committed by Germans and by Americans, and their prosecutions, during World War II. Weingartner guides the reader through the incidents themselves, as well as the ensuing investigations and trials, offering pithy summaries of the presentation of evidence and counsels' arguments. He adds accounts of the trial aftermaths and offers sage, and fair-minded comparisons of the uneven ways that the post-war military tribunals treated German and American defendants. A major contribution."
—
Peter Karsten, University of Pittsburgh and author of Law, Soldiers and Combat
“This is a well-designed and well-executed comparative study of war crimes committed by Germans and by Americans, and their prosecutions, during World War II. Weingartner guides the reader through the incidents themselves, as well as the ensuing investigations and trials, offering pithy summaries of the presentation of evidence and counsels’ arguments. He adds accounts of the trial aftermaths and offers sage, and fair-minded comparisons of the uneven ways that the post-war military tribunals treated German and American defendants. A major contribution.”
Edward T. Linenthal
"James Weingartner's compelling book takes readers beyond ironic slogans such as the 'good' war into the agonizing search for justice in two war crimes trials, and how the results have been remembered and forgotten. It is a revelatory and cautionary tale for our own time."
—
Edward T. Linenthal, Author of The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory
"James Weingartner has peeked behind the verities of the American 'good war' mythology. He reconstructs the brutal killing of 7 American flyers in Borkum by German civilians angered by the wholesale bombing of German cities in August 1944 and the assassination-style killing of 6 German civilians by American soldiers in Voerde in March 1945. On the basis of a painstaking analysis of extensive court records, he juxtaposes and compares the two postwar trials of these war crimes and arrives at a measured conclusion of 'two kinds of justice' being meted out by American military courts. In this tightly argued analysis of the two court proceedings he never succumbs to moral equivalence. Neither does he shy away from calling American war crimes by their name. His conclusions on juxtaposing the two very different World War II memory cultures in postwar Germany and the United States – one trying to master the past and one wallowing in the patriotic gore of the good war — should help Americans confront the shades of grey in their past. Weingartner’s painful reconstruction of German and American war crimes and their trials is a must read for both student of World War II and transitional justice."
"James Weingartner’s compelling book takes readers beyond ironic slogans such as the 'good' war into the agonizing search for justice in two war crimes trials, and how the results have been remembered and forgotten. It is a revelatory and cautionary tale for our own time."
"James Weingartner has peeked behind the verities of the American 'good war' mythology. He reconstructs the brutal killing of 7 American flyers in Borkum by German civilians angered by the wholesale bombing of German cities in August 1944 and the assassination-style killing of 6 German civilians by American soldiers in Voerde in March 1945. On the basis of a painstaking analysis of extensive court records, he juxtaposes and compares the two postwar trials of these war crimes and arrives at a measured conclusion of 'two kinds of justice' being meted out by American military courts. In this tightly argued analysis of the two court proceedings he never succumbs to moral equivalence. Neither does he shy away from calling American war crimes by their name. His conclusions on juxtaposing the two very different World War II memory cultures in postwar Germany and the United States – one trying to master the past and one wallowing in the patriotic gore of the good war — should help Americans confront the shades of grey in their past. Weingartner's painful reconstruction of German and American war crimes and their trials is a must read for both student of World War II and transitional justice."