Reichswehreid

The Reichswehreid and from August 1934 Führereid was the name for three different versions of the oath of allegiance of the German Forces, called Reichswehr from 1919 to 1935, and then Wehrmacht until 1945.

1919 -1933

The Original Reichswehreid came into effect on 14 August 1919, shortly after Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert had signed the Weimar Constitution for the German Empire (the so-called Weimar Republic). The Treaty of Versailles limited the Reichswehr to a total of 100,000 men.

Now "Volk and Fatherland" had been superseded by the person of Hitler himself, who would be Führer and supreme commander. In addition, the obedience was now to be unconditional.

The allegiance to Hitler, which millions of soldiers had to pledge, proved to be fateful as it choked opposition to him (July 20 Plot etc.).

In 1935, the Reichswehr was renamed Wehrmacht.

SS

For comparison, the "Eidformel der Schutzstaffel" (oath of the SS):

The SS, founded to protect Hitler, even mentioned his name twice, as well as the leaders he put in charge (Führerprinzip). The unshakable loyalty was made part of the SS' honour, as the motto "Unsere Ehre heißt Treue" (Our Honour is Loyalty) was coined.

Bundeswehr

Nowadays, recruits of the Bundeswehr pledge the "Gelöbnis" after three months of basic training

Professional soldiers and officers of the Bundeswehr have to swear an oath with the same wording, but beginning with "Ich schwöre, ...".

The website of the Bundeswehr points out that loyalty is not pledged to a person, but to the country, a novum in German military history. [http://www.bundeswehr.de/portal/a/bwde/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w39bQESUGYpvqRaGKGbn4IsSB9b31fj_zcVP0A_YLc0IhyR0dFALNCMzY!/delta/base64xml/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SVVFLzZfQV8yM0k!?yw_contentURL=/C1256EF4002AED30/N264HULR539MMISDE/content.jsp]

References

* [http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de33-45/vereidigung34.htm Gesetz über die Vereidigung der Beamten und der Soldaten der Wehrmacht]
* [http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/lebensstationen/ns_9.htm Wehrpflicht]
*
* [http://www.20-juli-44.de/pdf/1969_heinemann.pdf Gustav Heinemann: Eid und Entscheidung]