Malcolm Hilgartner

At one point, the bones of 4,300 German soldiers spent years sitting in a Czech factory that produced toilet bowls after a dispute with authorities who initially demanded that the Germans pay millions of dollars to bury them.

At one point, the bones of 4,300 German soldiers spent years sitting in a Czech factory that produced toilet bowls after a dispute with authorities who initially demanded that the Germans pay millions of dollars to bury them.

When I spoke about the controversies with David Livingston, a historian at California Lutheran University who has researched the work of the Volksbund, he said that the group's history may have something to do with how it behaves today.

When I spoke about the controversies with David Livingston, a historian at California Lutheran University who has researched the work of the Volksbund, he said that the group's history may have something to do with how it behaves today.

In West Germany, where the Volksbund was based, the task of purging former Nazis from their old positions stalled as the Cold War fight with the Soviets became Europe's main concern. That allowed many former Nazis to find work at Volksbund, searching for their dead compatriots. Those men died long ago, Livingston said, and the Volksbund was different today.

In West Germany, where the Volksbund was based, the task of purging former Nazis from their old positions stalled as the Cold War fight with the Soviets became Europe's main concern. That allowed many former Nazis to find work at Volksbund, searching for their dead compatriots. Those men died long ago, Livingston said, and the Volksbund was different today.

But the organizational culture is such that it's been set by the people who were the founders in the 1950s and 1960s, specifically military veterans of the Third Reich, he told me. Livingston told me about a personal tie to the search for the graves. In the early 2000s, he learned that his maternal grandfather was buried at the Volksbund cemetery in Kostomano.

But the organizational culture is such that it's been set by the people who were the founders in the 1950s and 1960s, specifically military veterans of the Third Reich, he told me. Livingston told me about a personal tie to the search for the graves. In the early 2000s, he learned that his maternal grandfather was buried at the Volksbund cemetery in Kostomano.

According to a family legend, the grandfather, a sergeant, was killed in a mutiny by his own men when he wouldn't abandon the Nazi cause, even after it was clear that the Germans had lost the war.

According to a family legend, the grandfather, a sergeant, was killed in a mutiny by his own men when he wouldn't abandon the Nazi cause, even after it was clear that the Germans had lost the war.

Livingston told me that he explained the situation to the Volksbund while researching a book about him and asked if it could give him all the documentation it had about how his grandfather's body was found so that he might corroborate the story. All of a sudden they started to get very evasive with me, he said. Long story short, they didn't respond.

Livingston told me that he explained the situation to the Volksbund while researching a book about him and asked if it could give him all the documentation it had about how his grandfather's body was found so that he might corroborate the story. All of a sudden they started to get very evasive with me, he said. Long story short, they didn't respond.

The Volksbund told me that the exchange had been extremely polite, but that their files are internal working documents that the Volksbund cannot pass on. Livingston said there were limits to the Volksbund's portrayal of the soldiers as casualties of the Nazi regime. The narrative that they promote, from my research, is what I would call a grand equivalency, that everybody was a victim.

The Volksbund told me that the exchange had been extremely polite, but that their files are internal working documents that the Volksbund cannot pass on. Livingston said there were limits to the Volksbund's portrayal of the soldiers as casualties of the Nazi regime. The narrative that they promote, from my research, is what I would call a grand equivalency, that everybody was a victim.

But you can't put a Jewish victim that was torn from their home and a German citizen who was subjected to bombing by the Allies in the same category, he said. I think right now it's really important to call this stuff out, because we're sliding toward this illiberal, if not authoritarian, populist view of the world.

But you can't put a Jewish victim that was torn from their home and a German citizen who was subjected to bombing by the Allies in the same category, he said. I think right now it's really important to call this stuff out, because we're sliding toward this illiberal, if not authoritarian, populist view of the world.

One summer afternoon on a long car ride to Vienna with Dirk Reitz, the managing director of the Volksbund's office in Dresden, I asked him what the rising tide of populism meant for his work. He took a second to answer. There was a debate over how the Volksbund should manage the interest of Germany's far-right party, AFD, which had contacted Volksbund about hosting joint events.

One summer afternoon on a long car ride to Vienna with Dirk Reitz, the managing director of the Volksbund's office in Dresden, I asked him what the rising tide of populism meant for his work. He took a second to answer. There was a debate over how the Volksbund should manage the interest of Germany's far-right party, AFD, which had contacted Volksbund about hosting joint events.

Reitz believed that as a non-partisan organization, the Volksbund should try to engage with all the political parties in Germany. But sometimes things didn't go as planned, he said. Not long before, he and a colleague had been invited by an AFD supporter to make a presentation at an upcoming gathering.

Reitz believed that as a non-partisan organization, the Volksbund should try to engage with all the political parties in Germany. But sometimes things didn't go as planned, he said. Not long before, he and a colleague had been invited by an AFD supporter to make a presentation at an upcoming gathering.