In Mid-March 1942, some 75 to 80 percent of all victims of the Holocaust were still alive, while 20 to 25 percent had perished. A mere 11 months later, in mid-February 1943, the percentages were exactly the reverse. How is it possible that over a short period of time so many people were murdered? Who was responsible for these terrible acts? There was a belief that Genocide was the responsibility of Heinrich Himmler's SS. The German Army was thought to have fought a "clean war" on the Eastern front. This view is incredibly escapist. The Allies unwittingly contributed to this interpretation when they asked Generals to talk or write about their war experiences. Since this was the beginning of the cold war, the focus was on strategies and combat experiences against the Soviet army and not on war crimes. This made it very easy for a soldier to plead ignorance. .
Historians also jumped on the bandwagon. Books such as Lost Victories by Erich von Manstein became a best seller. This book implies that if Hitler had not been so controlling and had not interfered with the war, the German Army could have won the war on the eastern front. This aim took attention away from the sins of the army and placed more of a focus on the potential ability of the army to fight. It was not until the nineteen seventies that this view began to change. The focus shifted from the high command to the regular soldiers. These were the soldiers that actually would have been the ones that dirtied their hands.
In the so-called "criminal orders" that were given at the beginning of "Operation Barbarossa" (the invasion of the USSR) by those attending the war campaigns, the Wehrmacht's victims were clearly defined. Commissars were to be shot, war prisoners were to be deprived of their protected status under international law and the civilian population, as suspected partisans, were made subject to the terror of the occupying forces.
