The work of Dr. Frithjof Päuser deals with the long-standing legal and political debate surrounding the rehabilitation of deserters from the German Wehrmacht. It illustrates, among other things, the shift in jurisprudence regarding the desertion verdicts of the Wehrmacht courts. Until 1991, it was assumed that a conviction for desertion was lawful if the norms applicable during World War II were observed. In 1991, this legal interpretation changed, and a general presumption of injustice for these verdicts was established. Furthermore, the political development of the demand for a blanket rehabilitation of deserters is presented, tracing the movement from the extra-parliamentary deserter initiatives of the 1970s through legislative initiatives in the German Bundestag to the passing of the law to overturn National Socialist unjust verdicts.