Reciprocity of Individual and Collective Memory. Letters from a Soldier of the Wehrmacht of the Second World War

Abstract

The basis of the scientific investigation are 83 military letters and postcards, a diary, and Franz Buchwald’s memories of World War II. The classification of military letters and other sources constitutes the scientific significance of these documents. The survey questions the culturally and socially political acts as well as intertextual and trans-textual procedures. Understanding of literature as the subject of a culturally scientific survey is a priority, as well as its influence on the emergence of military letters. The clarification of the cultural memory of Franz Buchwald, a soldier of the Wehrmacht [high forces], serves as an indicator for the preservation of moral principles and values during the war, but also as one for the discords that arose in this context. A key issue is the importance of the educational conditions of growing up during the war. Relevant topics are education, the church, and the literary canon. Examples from the military letters sketch the establishment of the national language in terms of theology, and address the issue of nationality and identity.