From the series "Richtigstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte (Rectifications to the history of our time) - Der Große Wendig" volume 2, page 565. Rectification No. 407 Published 2007 by Grabert Verlag, 72006 Tübingen, Postfach 1629
26 Commandments for Officer Candidates of the German Army 1940
Dr. Rolf Kosiek
The soldiers of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) may be called “Killers in Uniform” unpunished, according to the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court. The Heer-Reemtsma Exhibition “War of Extermination, Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941 to 1944”, privately financed by the Hamburg “Institute for Social Research”, shown from 1955 in many German cities, was able to defame members of the Wehrmacht for years, until it had to be withdrawn 1999 due to many falsifications and numerous deliberate distortions and had to be revised.
In which spirit on the other hand the German officers were educated during the Second World war, prove for example the rules for officer candidates of the Army, decreed in April 1940 by superintendent of Cultural and Educational Matters of the Army, Colonel at the time and afterwards Colonel-General Johannes Friessner, decorated with the oak leaves to the Knight’s cross of the Iron Cross. They have the following wordings (1):
“Officer Candidates of the Army!
For your journey in career and life I give you the following rules. They are of eternal validity for war and peace:
1. Always be a paragon in all situations in life, especially in crises.
2. As soon as a troop is entrusted to you, check your knowledge with modesty of your inner self before you speak to your people, so that you don’t run the risk to lose authority from the start.
3. Bring all your educational encroachments more or less in line with your own existing authority.
4. Avoid a too abrasive tone. It is mostly a sign of insecurity.
5. Before you start giving orders, have a good look at your people, and try to discover the human being in them. Knowledge of human nature is essential for right treatment of human beings.
6. Orders only have sense when they convince.
7. To impart convincing force in educational and training work, the purpose must be prepended and the explanatory statement has to follow why it has to be that way.
8. Avoid addiction to critique. It usually amounts to arrogance in bad taste. Only someone who furnishes evidence that he can do better has a right to criticize.
9. Listen to experienced people and comrades. You can only benefit from listening and contemplation.
10. Be restrained in your judgment of matters you don’t fully master; you disgrace yourself otherwise. Even some of your subordinates know more about certain matters than you.
11. Before you judge a man, always remember, how you have been in a similar situation once.
12. Always act with reason and heart when precious human lives are entrusted to you, especially in war.
13. Preserve always the courage to pure truth.
14. Always stand true to your word and your action, even when it was by mistake.
15. Preserve always the necessary space between superiors and subordinates. This safeguards in difficult situations.
16. At any time be forthright with your superiors, but always discreet, as is basically befitting a younger person.
17. Learn from rebukes and don’t be in a huff, which shows only lack of self-discipline.
18. Use the fleeting time of adolescence for self-education and training.
19. Keep your body constantly disciplined and toughen it methodically right into old age. Self-restraint and abstinence are manly virtues, yieldingness and self-indulgence are contemptible.
20. Always pay attention to your own good posture and impeccable attire, even when you are not on duty. The slightest neglect will be detrimental to your reputation.
21. Shun immoderate alcohol consumption. It is often the cause of lapses.
22. Don’t incur any debts, they impair your free actions and your enjoyment of life.
23. Be careful with your acquaintances, you will be judged by them.
24. Sharpen your understanding through planned work on the mind in the areas of general education and occupational science. Time has to be found, even when it can only be for a short while. Self-development is mental discipline. An uneducated officer is of no value.
25. Develop your personality by the study of great men.
26. Preserve your belief in the great-German idea and in God until your last breath; this belief imparts inner strength to you, particularly in crises of life and especially during the war, when human strength is over-stressed.
Such a great time as ours can only be mastered through excessive belief.
Friessner
General and Superintendent of Cultural and Educational Matters of the Army”