AHC: POW Rommel

I doubt that Rommel would recieve very damaging questions, or that his answers would be treated very sceptically. The public had already embraced the Rommel legend.
 
Actually most of the following Ministerpraesidenten (~Governors) continued to have a good relationship with Filbinger afterwards (especially Lothar Spaeth). The man was far from an outcast afterwards, not in the CDU in BW which is traditionally quite right-winged. I don't think this damaged Rommel in any way - he probably was just happy being in charge of Stuttgart. And he was very popular even outside of his party, I am sure he even could have become Chancellor.

Perhaps he learned from his father telling him he was happier as a frontline soldier leading men then he was as a Field Marshal as there was too much crushing responsibility on him. He became responsable in part his mind for his nations future and in 1942-44 Germany that wasn't a good position to be in.

Anway Manfred even in his old age dying of Parkinson's disease managed to effectively deal with the producers of the upcoming film on his father in Germany by calling it lies, leading to a panic on the part of the film makers as the Rommel name still has a fair bit of pull in Germany leading to discussions between him and the film makers and both sides had a happy meeting which perhaps could mean some tweaks to the film.

Der Berater Peter Steinbach von der Uni Mannheim ist "glücklich" über dieses Drehbuch: "Es ist historisch akzeptabel, dafür stehe ich ein." Der Film zeige mit seinen Mitteln, wie Rommel in eine schwierige Situation gestellt wurde, wie er "hin und her oszillierte" und der Situation "nicht genügte - während Hitler-Attentäter Staufenberg sich zum Handeln überwand". Er halte nichts davon, sagte Steinbach, nachträgliche Überlieferungen zu Rommels Rolle, etwa über die Absicht zur Tötung Hitlers, einzubauen. An ihrer Zuverlässigkeit müsse man zweifeln.

Dennoch gingen von der Alb auch Signale aus, dass man sich verständigt. Er und SWR-Abteilungsleiterin Christine Strobl kämen gerade von einem Gespräch mit der Familie, sagte Hofmann, "wir wurden warmherzig empfangen und von Manfred Rommel nach einer positiven und klugen Auseinandersetzung am Gartentor verabschiedet." Der Stuttgarter Alt-OB Manfred Rommel sagte auf Anfrage, er habe bei seinen Gesprächspartnern guten Willen gespürt und er selbst sei ja auch befangen. Die Sache sei insofern erledigt. "Jetzt hoffen wir einfach, dass der Film was wird."

http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten....mel.038bea5b-5106-4beb-86bc-a8e4f8fdf468.html

I think the biggest thing Manfred wanted the film makers to understand was that his father didn't simply spend a year playing hamlet 'to kill Hitler or not to kill Hitler' while he was also busy planning for the Allied attack on France. That his father had a plan it was called win fighting the Western Allies in France and then try to negotiate with the WAllies on his own or lose and negotate your surrender with the WAllies and hope that ends the war soon with WAllied forces getting as far into Germany as possible and preferably for Rommel in such a way that Germany is mainly ruled by the English and the U.S. and the Soviet's are mainly cut out, except for perhaps one chunk of Germany. Either way he viewed that as a better bet to save Germany then the July 20th plot.

I doubt that Rommel would recieve very damaging questions, or that his answers would be treated very sceptically. The public had already embraced the Rommel legend.

That is likely, especially given I think he lost about 20 years of his heath life during the war and probably wouldn't have lived into the era (the 70s) when such questions might be asked of him by the press.

The discussion over the past two weeks here got me to rewatch Five Graves to Cairo for the first time in several years and what stuck out in my mind was the actor playing Rommel needed to lose at least 25-30 pounds beforehand. I forgot how much they depicted him as a sex fiend barely holding himself back from ravaging the willing French maiden.

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