Erich von Manstein was a key figure in the creation of the Myth of the clean Wehrmacht . His influence was second only to that of Halder . After the war his declared lifetime task was burnishing the memory of the Wehrmacht and " cleaning " it of war crimes . His military reputation as a capable army leader meant his memoirs were widely read , however , they followed the myth of the clean Wehrmacht faithfully . His memoirs do not discuss politics or offer a condemnation of Nazism . Manstein was involved in The Holocaust and he held the same antisemitic and racist views as Hitler . In his memoirs Manstein emphasised the supposedly good relations the German army had with Russian civilians . He wrote " Naturally , there was no question of our pillaging the area . That was something the German army did not tolerate " . From the outset the German army had treated the populace with savagery . Manstein became overall commander of the Crimea while he was in control of the 11th Army . During this time his troops co-operated with the '' Einsatzgruppen '' and the peninsula became '' Judenfrei '' - 90,000 to 100,000 Jews were killed
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Myth of the clean Wehrmacht