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H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by H-German@h-net.msu.edu (February 2008) Peter Hoffmann. _Stauffenbergs Freund: Die tragische Geschichte des Widerstandskämpfers Joachim Kuhn_. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2007. 298 pp. Illustrations, maps, primary source appendix, notes, index. EUR 26.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-406-55810-8. Reviewed for H-German by Edward Snyder, Department of History, University of Minnesota Joachim Kuhn: A Tragic Hero Perhaps no scholar has published more prolifically on the history of the German Resistance than Peter Hoffmann.[1] With _Stauffenbergs Freund_, Hoffmann uses the life of Joachim Kuhn, an acquaintance of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the leader of the resistance, to provide another glimpse into the July 1944 military plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and overthrow the regime. Unlike Hoffmann's earlier publications, however, this work focuses just as much on the aftermath of the conspiracy and the devastating toll it took on Kuhn as on the actual events of the plot. In this respect, _Stauffenbergs Freund_ serves as an excellent study of the stress and psychological trauma placed on a returning soldier, his friends, and family. Heavily based on primary sources from Kuhn's newly released Soviet prison files, the book can be roughly divided into two major parts. The first section, consisting of several, shorter chapters, documents Kuhn's role in the actual plot. The second section, of four comparatively longer chapters, examines Kuhn's fate following his imprisonment by the Soviets in 1944. Kuhn first met Stauffenberg, a leader of the Generalstab des Heeres, when Kuhn approached him in 1942 "wegen der Schwierigkeit mit dem sogenannten Ariernachweis" (p. 16). According to Hoffmann, Kuhn had concerns about his own heritage, especially about an undocumented maternal grandfather. He also asserts that "Kuhns Auffassungen in politischen wie in allgemeinen Lebensfragen stimmten mit Stauffenbergs Einstellung überein" (p. 16). Developments on the Eastern Front had disillusioned both men; war crimes committed in the Soviet Union had dwarfed the regime's already significant excesses in occupied Poland. With reports flooding in about German treatment of residents of the occupied eastern territories, Kuhn considered the war "ungeheuerlich" (p. 18). Ultimately, Kuhn's writings reveal that Nazi racial policy in the East was a primary motivation for Stauffenberg to continue preparing his coup. As Hoffmann says, "Das Bemerkenswerteste ... ist also, dass Stauffenberg seine Kritik an Hitler an erster Stelle mit der 'Behandlung der Bevölkerung' und der 'Judenbehandlung' begründete und erst an zweiter Stelle mit der falschen militärischen Führung" (p. 21). While Hoffmann portrays Kuhn as a close associate of Stauffenberg and a highly trusted member of the conspiracy, his role was relatively minor; Kuhn's was to procure the explosives for the coup. His marginal involvement did not save him from almost immediate reprisals. One week after the failed plot, the regime ordered Kuhn's superiors to arrest him immediately and send him to Berlin for trial. Division Commander General Lieutenant Gustav Heisterman von Ziehlberg did not carry out the order, however, fearing the effect of the arrest of a valuable, popular officer on the rest of the division's morale. Instead, he allowed Kuhn to make his way to the front lines and pursue an honorable death. Kuhn was unable to exploit this ambivalent opportunity. While taking shelter in a house, he was spotted by a Pole who alerted the Russians. Kuhn was arrested and sent to the Soviet Union for interrogation. The Nazis labeled Kuhn a traitor and insisted that he approached the other side voluntarily to escape punishment. As Hoffmann shows, this charge followed Kuhn and his family throughout the rest of his life. Despite his involvement with the coup, the Soviets by no means considered Kuhn an ally in their fight against Nazism. They were well aware that the conspirators thought to end the war with the West in order to wage a joint battle against the Soviet Union. He was nevertheless a valuable prize because he was a unique source of information on the conspiracy and the regime. The Soviets sought information on a range of topics, including Kuhn's personal history, the conspirators' foreign policy objectives, and the location of Hitler's East Prussian headquarters. Even so, one must question the information Kuhn provided and hence the accuracy of much of what he wrote while in Soviet captivity. Discussing the foreign policy objectives of the conspirators, Kuhn wrote: "Suchen müssen wir eine schnellstmögliche Verständigung mit der UdSSR, da diese allein ein Interesse an einer Erhaltung und Zusammenarbeit mit einem lebensfähigen Deutschland habe. Den Anglo-Amerikanern wird der Kontinent immer ein lästiger Konkurrent bleiben" (p. 91). As Hoffman points out, this statement completely contradicts what is known about the Stauffenberg circle, and therefore is most likely an example of the results of "Zusammenarbeit" between Kuhn and his captors. Kuhn remained in Soviet custody until 1956. He began to suffer from schizophrenia, which grew steadily worse during his years of imprisonment in the Soviet Union. By the time of his release, Kuhn was delusional. Hoffmann's examination of Kuhn's return to Germany occupies the last two chapters of the book, and provides some of its most significant contributions. While Kuhn was free of his Soviet captors, he nevertheless had to continue his struggle for survival in West Germany. Lingering questions over how he ended up in Soviet custody led to debates regarding the amount of financial compensation he was entitled to from the German government, and a consultant for the Ministry of the Interior argued against giving Kuhn benefits based on reports that he voluntarily crossed enemy lines. An even greater problem for Kuhn and his family was his growing schizophrenia, which frequently left him unable to function in normal social settings. As Hoffman indicates, Kuhn's plight illustrates the problems faced by many returning soldiers. "Viele kamen seelisch verstört und geistig disorientiert zurück und fanden kaum je die psychische Betreuung, die sie gebraucht hätten" (p. 157). While Kuhn's devoted family supported him upon his return, his illness nevertheless placed an immense burden on those close to him. Throughout his narrative, Hoffmann displays a mastery of his archival material dealing with the life of Joachim Kuhn. Yet Hoffmann's use of primary source material frequently proves to be somewhat frustrating. Hoffmann is often so intent on discussing his sources that his narrative occasionally reads more like an annotated list of archival documents than the story of Joachim Kuhn. Furthermore, Hoffmann tends to quote extensively from the archival material. Quotations over a page in length are common. A more selective approach with complete transcriptions in an appendix could have made his argument much more effective. Although specialists may find Hoffmann's attention to detail interesting, non-specialists will most likely find it distracting. Hoffman might also have dealt more explicitly with the problem of the reliability of the documents in Kuhn's Soviet prisoner file. Although Hofmann indicates that some of Kuhn's statements regarding the 1944 plot and his supposed claim to have participated in the planning of the invasion of the USSR were obviously coerced, he does not comment on the reliability of using documents written by someone who suffered from schizophrenia. Aside from the source question, _Stauffenbergs Freund_ leaves the reader with several other questions regarding the life of Joachim Kuhn. Hoffmann leaves no doubt in the reader's mind that Kuhn was committed to Stauffenberg's cause and opposed to the Nazi regime. Yet, aside from a very brief discussion of Kuhn's heritage and a possible Jewish ancestor on his mother's side of the family, Hoffmann offers no explanation of what in Kuhn's experiences might have led him to his fundamental opposition to the Nazi regime. The discussion of Kuhn's adaptation to life in postwar Germany is also somewhat unsatisfying. Although one of the strengths of this book is Hoffmann's ability to demonstrate the inadequacy of mental health care for returning veterans through Kuhn's story, Hoffmann never discusses the importance of this problem in relationship to the larger question of demobilization in postwar Germany. Kuhn's story has the potential to point toward a larger examination of the experiences of returning prisoners of war from the Soviet Union during the 1950s, as well as how German society reacted to their return. By not taking his analysis further, Hoffmann does not engage these questions. Perhaps the largest question left by the work, however, is exactly how Hoffmann understands the broader, theoretical question of resistance. In his conclusion, Hoffmann contends that Kuhn was a true resistance hero, someone who not only participated in the ill-fated plot to kill Hitler, but also continued his resistance while in Soviet custody by providing his Soviet captors with names and information that might have shortened the war. However, he provides no information to demonstrate that Kuhn intended his cooperation with his captors to be an act of resistance, instead of an attempt at self-preservation. At the same time, Hoffmann also never specifically states what he means by the term "resistance." A brief theoretical discussion of resistance, along with an attempt to situate Kuhn in that discussion, and an alert as to how he alters historians' understanding of the concept would have been very helpful in understanding what Hoffmann thinks Kuhn's story contributes to the vast body of literature on the German resistance. In addition to the extended quotations and letters from Kuhn's file reproduced in the narrative, the book also contains a fifty-page appendix of longer documents and writings from Kuhn's files. These will be of particular interest to specialists on the German resistance. While Hoffmann provides a detailed narrative of Kuhn's harrowing experiences as a member of the resistance, along with several fascinating, and entertaining, anecdotes from Kuhn's personal life, the book ultimately leaves the reader unsatisfied. Nevertheless, this work, because of its emphasis on Kuhn's postwar plight, should be of interest to historians of the Third Reich and postwar Germany. Notes [1]. See also Peter Hoffmann, _The History of the German Resistance: 1933-1945_ (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996). Copyright (c) 2008 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.
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