This week Dan talks to historian and UW-alumnus David Harrisville about his new book, The Virtuous Wehrmacht: Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944 (Cornell, 2021). David’s research examines the moral and religious worlds of rank-and-file German soldiers during World War II, raising profound questions about the ways humans justify their behavior and how religious commitment shapes action.

At the end of the conversation David mentions some recommended further readings on morality, war, and the Wehrmacht, hyperlinked here by author: Michael Walzer, Omer Bartov, Ben Shepherd, and Wolfram Wette. For digital maps made by David to accompany the book, see here.

David Harrisville is a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned an MA and PhD in Modern European History. David has been a postdoctoral fellow at UW-Madison and a visiting assistant professor at Furman University. He currently works for Legal Services Corporation.

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Credits: music by Micah Behr, audio engineering by Andy Johnson, graphic design by Madeline Ramsey.