This article analyses the Europeanization of West German associations of Wehrmacht veterans in the 1950s. Using archival sources concerning the foundation of a European veterans’ umbrella organisation, the article argues that the veterans’ attempts at political reassertion in the post-war decades cannot be understood without accounting for their European dimension. Indeed, the veterans considered their European outreach to be a core pillar of their ‘politics of honour’, which manifested itself mainly in the agitation for the war criminals in Allied custody. Thus, aiming to establish themselves as effective and legitimate interest representatives, the veterans Europeanized. This process was consciously modelled after the ongoing process of integration while simultaneously exhibiting distinct characteristics stemming from the veterans themselves. The article tracks the veterans’ transnational interactions, their competitive dynamics in West German associational politics and the veterans’ associational interests to explain their specific form of an alternative Europeanization.

中文翻译：

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荣誉的欧洲化：国防军退伍军人和 20 世纪 50 年代的欧洲一体化


本文分析了 20 世纪 50 年代西德国防军退伍军人协会的欧洲化。文章利用有关欧洲退伍军人伞式组织基础的档案资料，认为如果不考虑退伍军人在欧洲的影响，就无法理解战后几十年退伍军人重新确立政治立场的尝试。事实上，退伍军人认为他们的欧洲事务是他们“荣誉政治”的核心支柱，这主要表现在对盟军羁押的战犯的煽动上。因此，为了使自己成为有效和合法的利益代表，退伍军人欧洲化了。这个过程是有意识地模仿正在进行的融合过程，同时表现出退伍军人本身的独特特征。文章追踪了退伍军人的跨国互动、他们在西德社团政治中的竞争动态以及退伍军人的社团利益，以解释他们另类欧洲化的具体形式。