I think that, for the most part, Americans’ knowledge of history comes from movies and television. It’s hard to deal fully with real history in either medium. Hardly anyone knows, therefore, that there was a vicious terrorist resistance to the occupiers of the Reich. Known as the “Werewolves,” they were, in the words of a fairly recent (2000) book on the subject, written by the Canadian historian Perry Biddiscombe
.
..the Werewolves did considerable damage. Their…guerrilla warfare and vigilantism caused the death of several thousand people, either directly or through the…reprisals that they provoked. The property damage…equalled tens of millions of dollars.
Big numbers in that long-ago world, big enough to constitute an “insurgency” every bit as worrisome as the Iraqi version, at least early on. And it provoked a brutal repression, more brutal on the Soviet side of Germany–where they carried out an ethnic cleansing from the Central European satellites–but quite brutal on our side of the Yalta line as well.
…the occupying powers imposed rigorous non-fraternization and denazification policies and severely prohibited German civilian movement and right of assembly. Almost all the country’s soldiers, sailors and airmen were incarcerated, at least temporarily…
Not at all a PC kind of occupation. And Biddiscombe, who doesn’t like the drastic measures any more than you or I, nonetheless concludes that it just had to be done. If you think it’s too harsh, he says, remember that the Werewolves were trying to save Nazism, and you should think through “what impact the organization of such a movement–under the noses of the invaders and occupiers–was likely to have had.”
If left free to organize, the Werewolves would have killed many more Allied soldiers, demonstrated the impotence of the occupiers, delayed for a long time, perhaps a generation, the denazification of the culture, and provoked internecine conflict within the Allied zones of Germany.
The brutal repression worked, the Werewolves were shattered within a couple of years, and, as even the tv generations know, Germany became a successful democatic country.
If the Allies had been operating under current standards and rules of engagement, the repression would not have been possible. Abu Ghraib was nothing compared to the vicious treatment of prisoners in occupied Germany, and innocent victims were commonplace, for which our military leaders did not apologize at all. Quite the contrary. Their view was that the Germany people had to understand, without any room for doubt, that we would not tolerate any effort to revive German militarism or Nazi doctrine. The quickest way for the Germans to end the occupation was to cooperate with the occupying armies, turn in anyone who was inclined to resist, and learn the rules of a democratic society.
I am not saying–since I don’t believe it–that if we had imposed a similarly brutal occupation on Iraq, we would have wiped out the terrorists in a couple of years. The situations are very different, not least of all because the terrorists in Iraq have material external support from Iran and Syria, and financial and ideological support from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. If the Werewolves in the Western zones had received Soviet support, it would have made our task enormously more difficult.
I am telling the story for several reasons. First, because it’s useful to know that there was considerable resistance to our most successful occupation, and to the task we set ourselves: extirpate totalitarianism and create democracy in Germany. And second, that those who judge our behavior in Iraq as something akin to Nazism (a phrase tossed around by intellectual luminaries in public life with gay abandon, especially luminaries from Massachusetts), know very little about Nazism, or about how tough it was to wipe it out.
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Kerub:I find so many differencies between post-WW2 Germany and post-Saddam Iraq.
I’m not saying that comparing counter-insurgency methods is not useful but I do not understand which teachings can we get from this specific comparison.
Very quickly: it is not a matter of de-baathification here. It is a geopolitical struggle against American interests in Iraq (carried on mainly by not-iraqi elements) and conflicts between iraqi factions.
(Of course ex-baath elements are involved but they do not have any furher to re-install or reich to re-establish)
There is no generation to save from dictatorial ideology, no nation to purge from minority extremist elements (may be there is a iraqi majority or a relative majority ready to accept pro-shia and pro-Iran governement).
The main difference is hence this one: the Germany was one, was divided but was doomed to re-unify. The Iraqi state was one and unified because colonial and cold war events but it risks to be doomed to be fractioned (writings on the wall and all that stuff…)
Just going a bit off topic I repeat something stated in one of my previous comments: my impression is that americant intervention just started this process of post-cold-war iraqi evolution and that the first result is an advantage for Iran and the “shia crescent” and a disadvantage for sunni regional block.
Was not this widely foreseenable?
ML:
What should have been foreseen–God knows I wrote it often enough–was that Iran and Syria and at least some powerful people in the Saudi Royal Family would do everything in their power to defeat our efforts in IRaq.
Thanks a very thoughtful post.
Jan 14, 2007 - 12:32 pm BigMike:Dear Dr.Ledeen,
Thank you for the reminder about the battle against the Werewolves…something I’m sure few Americans know about. I also heartily agree with your assessment of the state of history education in the U-S. Although I now teach English at a local community college, I spent a year teaching history in a Catholic high school and I assure you it was a struggle. The situation is a lot worse in the public schools: my beloved niece took an AP American History class last year and she never had to write an old fashioned term paper. Instead there were Powerpoint presentations and “projects” related to the various PC “History Months”.
On another note, I have a question for you. Was there any Italian equivalent to the Werewolves after the downfall of Mussolini or even in the post-war period? All the best…
BigMike
ML:
No there was no Italian equivalent. After all, the Italians removed Mussolini in 1943 and then joined the Allies. The Communists and others had units in the Resistance, but they were fighting Nazis and killing fascists and presumed fascist collaborators.
P.S. When can we expect your book on Naples?
Jan 14, 2007 - 8:11 pm Sina:Mike,
Why doesn’t President Bush use this new 21000 troops to partol Iranian and Syrian borders to cut off support for the terrorists and use Kurdish police to secure Baghdad?
ML:
there will be kurdish troops in baghdad. and for all i know, the arrival of the reinforcements might make it possible to do a better job securing the borders.
Jan 14, 2007 - 9:49 pm Nick Guariglia:Good analogy… I was wondering if there can be a counter-Iran movement in Iraq without disbanding Sadr’s movement as both a militia force and political bloc.
Jan 14, 2007 - 11:50 pm ajacksonian:The Arabs do remember a time of greatness in that region, led to victory… by a Kurd. Guy by the name of Saladin. Seems his people haven’t changed much from that era, and if he was good enough for Richard the Lionhearted, then those People have fair and fine honor. Well do the folks in the region remember that name… which is why they want no Kurdistan, because it would worry them, the People who brought forth Saladin.
Just like the Greeks fear Macedonia and the great leader brought forth there even longer ago. Kid by the name of Alexander…
We do need to remember the Werewolves and those willing to die to the last for the Emperor of Japan on forgotten islands. Rare is the General willing to lay down his sword and declare the fight over and not take up a bitter struggle that had no honor to it. Well should we remember how rare a soul was the great General Lee, who saved a Nation and its Peoples in that doing.
America has forgotten the Philippines, and the determination that was necessary then… and the brutality there made werewolves seem docile in comparison.
I thank you, Mr. Ledeen, for helping to remind us all of what this Nation has faced before and time again.
Jan 15, 2007 - 12:55 pm BT:And now that you have reminded us of a past lesson, please do tell us:
As we go about saving Iraq from wahtever it is we are saving them from, should we favor the Sunnis or the Shia?
At the present time, we favor the Shia, though this throws Iraq to Iran (our next evildoer who must be invaded/liberated/disarmed/make to love Israel(!)/and so on). Or do we favor the Sunni, who are the dear brothers of our fine, fine ally Saudi Arabia (the real home of Al Qaeda and the disseminator of the Wahabi culture)? Or do we just sit in the middle and have them both shoot at us?
Obviously, the Germans were ready to be done with the Nazis at the end of WWII. The closer analogy to Iraq is Viet Nam — With a big dose of tribal and religious hatreds thrown on top. Most Iraqi’s see us an invader and occupier; this is as it was in Viet Nam. And just as in Viet Nam, America has no good options to apply short of continuing to kill the enemy, just as soon as we can figure out who that might be.
Honestly, we have stepped into a pile of S**t in Iraq, and I am certain that you know it.
Jan 15, 2007 - 4:37 pm M. Simon:Our most difficult problem in Iraq is replacing Insha’Allah with cause and effect.
No Word For Liberty
Jan 16, 2007 - 3:04 am a Duoist:One of the most disurbing aspects of the AmeriEuro political left’s support of theofascism in Iran is the fact that the political left completely ignores that it is itself the very first target for obliteration when fascism takes over a government. What is left of the ‘left’ in Iran?
A group-think which decries ‘Bushitler’ but cheers theofascism for its virulent anti-Americanism is suicidal. If Mr. or Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt were still alive today, they would be horrified to see the contemporary left’s self-destructive march in favor of Iran’s form of fascism.
Jan 16, 2007 - 5:32 am no2liberals:Thank you for this post, and the information on Mr. Biddiscombe’s book. Searching for info on the Werewolves has been a mostly fruitless search, and having the Lot and Box number to the information in the National Archives does me little good, being so far from Washington.
The analogy of the post WWII insurgency, and the one in post-Saddam Iraq, has not been lost on me, nor the vast differences in the material support provided the mufsidun in Iraq. I was of the belief that Iraq’s neighbors, on every side, had their own reasons for not wanting to see a representative democracy flourish, before Saddams murderous regime was toppled. Despite the difficulties, the Iraqi people still have an opportunity they have never had before, and ultimately it is up to them to end the insurgency and the sectarian violence. For the MNF’s part, not allowing Iraq to become a safe haven for the global hirabah, is a vital mission.
ML:
I don’t think it can be accomplished in Iraq alone. Sooner or later we will have to find a winning strategy for Iran and Syria.
Jan 16, 2007 - 8:02 am David P:Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, maybe it was a scenario which they thought about and decided to ignore in the interest of aggressive posturing. This whole charade of playing dumb when enlightened by evidence of multiple foreign influence in Iraq is meant to misdirect the American people and keep them guessing as to what our true goal is in the region. We set out to establish a new foothold, no longer welcomed on Saudi land the USA needed to set up shop somewhere, why not the country with the 2nd largest oil supply in the world that happens to have a weak dictator who could be easily dissolved. I believe that our government had predicted these scenario’s but chose to go forward anyway as they saw no other way to provoke a future confrontation with Iran, and to have a reasonable position to back it up from, sandwiching the Persian nation in between Afganistan and Iraq. The resettlement of Iraq is secondary to our goals in the region, which is to prevent or at least stall a middle eastern nuclear arms race already underway.
Jan 16, 2007 - 10:11 am Don Van Gorder:I was aware of the Werewolves because of tv. The History Channel
did a fine treatment of it.
One can find similarities between Iraq and Viet Nam/Germany both.
Our mistake in Viet Nam was replacing the French in what the Vietnamese perceived as a war of liberation. Yes there are constraints on theater of battle and tactics as in Viet Nam.
Yes Germany had its share of dedicated Nazis. There were enough
to cause problems, but never enough
to doubt the result. The German people were beaten in every way imagineable.
The difference is in the breadth, strength, and reason for resistence. National Socialism is
more political than religeous in nature, and was not as universally accepted as Islam is in the mideast.
If you haven’t seen it yet, ch 4 UK
has a great documentary on Islam.
The ramifications are disturbing,
but need to be confronted.
It can be found on Michelle Malkin’s blog. It is part of the Ins gone wild story.
Jan 16, 2007 - 12:48 pm Philip A.:DR. Ledeen, do you agree with me that we supporters of the war may have **under**estimated the de-Baathification task, precisely because we were comparing it to denazification?
In Germany, the population had generations of historical memory of an essentially free society. Anyone over the age of 24 had spent less than 1/2 their life under a Nazi regime…in other words, a non-Nazi polity was not only imaginable, but within easy memory.
In Iraq, more than 2 full generations were raised under (first) a savage socialist military dictatorship, then the Baath. By 2003, only old people could really remembert a quasi-normal society, while the vast bulk of the populace had been brainwashed and socialized by Baathism.
Of course there are Victor Frankelesque minds who have somehow held onto their equilibrium after all this (the Fadhil brothers at IraqtheModel are a great example), but I fear they are demogaphically overwhelmed by the brainwashed Baathi barbarians raised up by the regime since the 1960’s, or by the Shia conspirators who’ve built up their parallel government resistance networks.
For what it’s worth I think some stiff post-WWII style summary executions in the 1st month of the war would have had an inhibiting effect on both of the violence-prone factions, and a stimulating, encouraging effect on the pacific elements of society.
Was this not even considered–perhaps to set up local de-Baath committees to whom the US could deliver over captured saboteurs/terrorists/fedayeen, who would then be dealt with via summary people’s justice?
ML:
I don’t know what was considered and not considered, frankly. Bremer instituted a debaathification program early on, then changed his mind later. But I think the key question, then as now, is security. And there could never be decent security if Syria and Iran had a free run at us in Iraq.
Jan 16, 2007 - 11:04 pm David P:I think the key word here is ALLIES, which we have none of in the region, except maybe in future Kurdistan. The “werewolves” of Germany were surrounded on all sides, we had the Russians in the East supporting our proclamation of denazification with fierce resolve. In the case of Iraq, the Russians are almost working against us, supplying & arming Iran, a modern saboteur on the Eastern front. If we think that the democratization of Iraq is on the Horizon think again. Rivalries, Vendetta’s, reckonings that have been building for decades & have played out for centuries will be the dominant feature in a region that is no stranger to primitive rifts among local inhabitants.
Jan 17, 2007 - 8:58 am David P:As for your Intellectual buddies in Massachusetts. I too can’t understand why anything today would be compared to Nazi’s or Nazism. Our media is plagued with Nazi this or that comments, though nothing in our modern day can match or equate itself to the actions of the most unspeakable horrors ever known to humanity.
Jan 17, 2007 - 9:10 am Alireza:Why there is so much disappointment and the feeling of defeat in the US?
This is sooo dangerous! Bush has a short time now and this can even make it more dangerous because it can lead him to taking an irrational action.
I wonder why US is trying to behave like a professional boxer rather than being a politician.
What is wrong with regime change in Iran using Iranian people? if this happens, even Syrian regime will collapse.
Having a friend in the Middle east can help in every aspect. Otherwise, the world will go the the dark age again!!!
Jan 17, 2007 - 6:39 pm Eric:Dr Leeden,
Your portrayal of the Werwolves is misleading. Though they resisted Allied occupation, they were funded and supported by the Reich and inflicted most of their damage in late 44 and early 45, as the war still raged. You fail to mention that Werwolf activity disappeared within months of Berlin’s collapse. Though Biddiscombe details a few isolated events as late 1947 that could be connected to Werwolf stragglers, other historians like Anthony Beevor argue that the Werwolf group was insignificant following the war and that some of the acts attributed to them were actually accidents. This is not to say attacks didn’t happen, but the question is whether they resulted from a planned resistance or lone nazi ‘wolves.’
You may be correct that Allied policies crushed support for there Werwolves, but you provide no evidence to support it. The Nazis had a lot of hidden wealth and weapons, and the Alps provided an ideal location to launch an insurgency. Even the huge allied force would have had a difficult time preventing this in the early days after the war. Despite the plans of Nazi madmen like Goebbels, surviving Nazi supporters didn’t regroup in hidden Alpine retreats - in contrast to the Taliban in the Afgan-Pakistan border region. This suggests that there was no interest in a post-war insurgency once people learned der Fuehrer was dead - in contrast to Iraq where the insurgency has only grown since the toppling of Sadam’s statue. This part of your argument is weak. Maybe if you included evidence from other historians who agree with Biddiscombe that the Werwolves were more than just a footnote in the war, or provide evidence that post war Allied policy directly led to the demise of the Werwolf organization.
As for your other argument, I agree there is room for debate on whether we should be fighting a PC war against the insurgency in Iraq, but please do not try to compare the mindset of a recent Hitler Youth graduate in 1945 Germany to that of a young Arab on the streets of Bagdad in 2006. We should always be careful making comparisons, but research of Soviet occupied Afghanistan or French occupied Algeria would be more insightful than Allied occupied Germany.
Jan 18, 2007 - 8:36 am