Hannes Heer
| Hans Georg Heer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 16, 1941 Wissen, Rhine Province |
| Nationality | German |
| Other names | Hannes Heer |
| Occupation | historian |
| Known for | Wehrmachtsausstellung |
Hans Georg Heer (known as Hannes) (born 16 March 1941 in Wissen, Rhine Province) is a German historian, chiefly known for the "Wehrmachtsausstellung" (German Army Exhibition) in the 1990s. While highly controversial at that time, the exhibition is nowadays widely credited with opening the eyes of the German public to the war crimes of the Wehrmacht committed on the East Front during World War II. While having been suspended in 1999, the exhibit reopened in 2001 under the name "Crimes of the German Wehrmacht: Dimensions of a War of Annihilation 1941-1944".
As a student, he became a member of the left-wing Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund, where he was a leading member of the communist faction that supported the banned Communist Party of Germany. In the 1970s he was several times convicted of coercion, trespassing, vandalism and other criminal offenses. Being considered a political extremist according to the Radikalenerlass, he was banned from employment in the public service and could not work as a teacher. Heer is a dedicated antifascist
In 1993, he was employed by the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung and became known for the controversial "Wehrmachtsausstellung" (German Army Exhibition) focused on German war crimes and atrocities during World War II. The Polish historian Bogdan Musial pointed out in an article published in 1999 that a number of photos that allegedly portrayed "Wehrmacht war crimes" in reality were photos of Soviet war crimes committed by the Red Army, and also stated that around half of all photos used in the exhibition had nothing to do with war crimes. The Hungarian historian Krisztián Ungváry claimed that only ten percent of all the 800 photos of alleged war crimes were actually Wehrmacht crimes, the rest were Soviet war crimes or crimes committed by Hungarian, Finnish, Croatian, Ukrainian, Russian or Baltic forces, or by members of the SS or SD, none of whom were members of the Wehrmacht, or not crimes at all Military historian Rolf-Dieter Müller, Scientific Director of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office, stated that the exhibition was deliberately misleading.
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