Thisshouldnotserveasanexcusebutanincentivetoevaluatethosesour-
cescarefully,bearinginmindtheconditionsunderwhichtheywerewritten.⁵²
Publishedmemoirswereoftenpartofajustificationstrategyridingroughshod
overanyundesiredmentionoftheir author’sguiltandfaults.For Admiral
PaulWülfingvonDitten,whoservedasanavalinstructorinTurkeybetween
1933 and 1939 ,mostoftheGermanmemoirsrelatedtothewartimeperiod
were“trimmedforacertainimpression.Inbestcasethisresultsinacozyde-
scriptionofitstimeandhassomeworthforpeoplewithtimeandleisuredelving
intothetopic 100 yearslater.”⁵³
Someofthosetextsalsocontainreferencestothememoirsofotherofficers
involved,alsooverlanguagebarriers.Manyofthepostwarpublicationsusedin
thisstudymusthavebeenbasedondiaries,sinceitisimpossiblefortheauto-
biographicalmemorytorecalleverydetail.Intheintroductiontohismemoirs,
WülfingvonDittenpleadedfortheuseofdiariesandlettersinorder“tosubse-
quentlyfillexistinggaps.”⁵⁴Buthecountedonhisreadership,sinceinthecase
offalsememoriescausingmistakesinthetext,“otherpeoplewouldlateron
havetheopportunitytocommentonthem.”⁵⁵
Unfortunately,thediariesoftheofficersinvolvedinthetransferofmilitary
knowledgebetweenbothcountriesarenotavailableforcomparativeanalysis.⁵⁶
However,inmanycasesnoteverythingnotedinthosedailyrecordswasworthor
appropriate for publication.Omissionsarethereforehighlyprobable. Many
memoirswerewrittenandoftenpublisheddecadesaftertheeventstheycovered.
Thispublicationstrategymighthavealsobeeninfluencedbythefearofundesir-
ablejuridicalconsequences,asinthecaseofGeneralAliİhsanSabis.Undercer-
taincircumstances,itwasevenmoredangeroustowriteabouthistoricalevents
andpersons.GeneralHilmarRittervonMittelbergerwrotehismemoirscovering
hisserviceinTurkeybetween 1933 and 1939 ,whichincludedunfavorablecom-
parisonsofAdolfHitlerandEnverPaşaonlyafter 194 5.⁵⁷Aslivingpersons
andtherelativesofdeceasedcommanderswerenotalwaysathankfulreader-
IfollowthematerialselectionprocessasproposedbyPeterHaslinger,“Diskurs,Sprache,
ZeitundIdentität:EinPlädoyerfüreineerweiterteDiskursgeschichte,”ÖsterreichischeZeitschrift
fürGeschichtswissenschaft 16 (2006), 49 – 66.
PaulWülfingvonDitten,MeineLebenserinnerungen,vol.1,part1( 1880 – 1919),BA-MAN1 55 /
1,4.
BA-MAN1 55 /1,5.
BA-MAN1 55 /1,6.
ExceptinthecaseofHeinrichvonHoff,whoin1 916 /17regularlyrecordedhisthoughtsand
usedthosewardiariesforseveralpost-warpublications.
OnSabisandMittelbergerseethelastchapterofthisstudy.
Quodnonestinactis:TheSourcesandtheMemoirProblem 13