| 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 controversial German historian, chiefly known "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.
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As a student, he became a member of the far-left 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 criminally convicted of coercion,[1] trespassing,[1] vandalism[1] and other criminal offenses.[1] 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.[2]
In 1993, he was employed by the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung and became known for the controversial "Wehrmachtsausstellung" (German Army Exhibition). Because the exhibition challenged the view of the "unblemished" Wehrmacht, which was at that time still predominant in the German public, it was subject of severe criticism for being politically motivated, lacking in scientific method and being deliberately misleading. The exhibition was suspended by the director of the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung in 1999, pending review of its content by a committee of historians. The committee reaffirmed the reliability of the exhibition in general, but noted that some of the exhibit's documentation had inaccuracies and that the arguments presented were too sweeping. It recommended the exhibition to be reopened after revision.[3] Because of disagreements with the head of the insitute Jan Philipp Reemtsma, Heer was not involved in the creation of the revised exhibitation.[4]