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Wikipedia:Featured article review/Werner Mölders/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article review. Please do not modify it. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page or at Wikipedia talk:Featured article review. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was delisted by Casliber via FACBot (talk) 2:16, 2 December 2018 (UTC) [1].

Werner Mölders edit

Notified: K.e.coffman, MisterBee1966, Nigel Ish, LargelyRecyclable, Ian Rose, Cinderella157, Kierzek, Anotherclown, Bishonen, Assayer, Doug Weller, AustralianRupert, Creuzbourg, Sturmvogel 66, Iazyges, Parsecboy, Lineagegeek, TomStar81, Peacemaker67, Jayen466, Jake Wartenberg, WikiProject Military history, WikiProject European history, WikiProject Aviation, WikiProject Germany, WikiProject Biography

This article was promoted in 2009 and has not been under formal review since then. In 2017, a major content dispute (1c, stability) arose regarding the level of detail (4, length) and quality of sourcing (1c, well-researched, and possibly 1d, neutral). Some editors, particularly K.e.coffman, were concerned that the article relied too much on questionable far-right and fringe militaria sources. A dispute also arose as to whether the word "Luftwaffe" should be italicized (potentially 1a). Recently, the article was restored to the pre-2017 status quo by MisterBee1966, adding more than 20,000 bytes to the article (to give an idea of the magnitude of the content dispute). There is an ongoing ArbCom case including several of the editors involved in the content dispute, with Arbcom members expressing support for overall bans or topic bans for some of the editors.

This case was brought to my attention by Nigel Ish, who described the content dispute as "severe and irreconsilable" (sic), and supported the article's delisting. For these reasons, I think that the article should be scrutinized to see if it meets 2018 FA criteria, and if not, if it can be brought up to meet that criteria. Catrìona (talk) 02:25, 4 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I note that my name has been mentioned above, in that I originally raised concerns about the stability of the article owing to the ongoing removal and replacement of material. I will make no comments on the case owing to the ongoing Arbcom proceedings and the resultant litigious atmosphere where Arbcom have clearly interfered in a content dispute, which has resulted in a situation where further comment or editing on some topics is not safe.Nigel Ish (talk) 14:44, 4 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Review section edit

Comments I have some suggestions for where sources could be re-checked, or the article further improved:

  • " He the first fighter pilot to amass 100 aerial victories in World War II" - given the over-claiming which was common (and unavoidable) in World War II, this isn't credible as it presents all of his claims as proven. He was the first to have claimed this, but it's almost certain that he wouldn't have actually destroyed all 100 aircraft he claimed. What do post-war assessments say?
  • There were fairly strict rules for confirming claims, requiring witnesses etc, and he had another ten unconfirmed claims. A quick Google Books search indicates that Spick (2011) [2] and Kaplan (2007) [3] also credit him with being the first to 100. I don't think this is particularly exceptional. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:33, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks, that helps. The wording here (and elsewhere in the article) could be improved though: it says that he "claimed" kills, which is different to them being "confirmed". From memory, discussions at WT:MILHIST and similar have generally concluded that we should focus on confirmed numbers, and present them as such (e.g., to minimise use of the term and concept "claimed"). Nick-D (talk) 11:23, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think one of the issues is that pilots would make a claim after returning, but confirmation in a pilot's logbook might not happen until later, perhaps from ground troops or a shot down wingman. I think it is ok to list them as claims in the narrative then clarify the total number of confirmed victories in the dedicated table. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:18, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Why did Mölders continue to focus on flying combat sorties after being appointed to what looks to have been a key command role in 1941? (at a time when the German invasion of the USSR was failing). How do historians interpret this?: it would seem that he effectively ignored his duties. From memory, some historians note that the Luftwaffe's poor performance in the second half of the war was partly due to the lackadaisical attitude of some of the combat commanders who were appointed to command and coordination roles: many preferred to fly combat sorties when they should have been doing staff work.
  • "He was a devoutly religious individual who demanded that all Allied aviators captured by those under his command be treated civilly, and often would invite captured pilots to dine with him" - did his units actually capture many airmen? (it seems hard to see how they would have). Also, did this courtesy extend to Soviet pilots?
  • "the British intelligence agency dropped flyers over Germany " - the British had several intelligence agencies by this time, so this should be made more specific
  • This is the same faked letter mentioned in the next two paragraphs, and I have combined them. Could you please read over it to see if it flows properly? Kges1901 (talk) 23:16, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • "As of 24 June 2005, it is the central attraction at the Navy Museum in Wilhelmshaven" - this should be updated
  • The para starting with "Evidence also demonstrates Mölders' propensity to value friendships over political expediency." needs to be re-worked. It goes into detail about Mölders assisting a Jewish family, but then concludes by stating that the MGFA regards the story as unlikely: this undercuts both the claim made in the first sentence, and the account which is the para's focus.
  • Regarding the Jewish/Mischlinge story, I personally think that it should be reduced to much shorter statement such as, "Mölders' brother claimed that he had helped a friend from school, who had some Jewish ancestry, but the MGFA ruled this assertion "highly speculative," and did not investigate further." Intermarried Jews were protected from deportation, as were German Mishlinge, some of whom even served in the Wehrmacht.[4] "Families with an Aryan husband and baptized children were part of the category classified as “privileged mixed marriages”: they received better rations and the Jewish wife did not have to wear the yellow Star of David."[5]—Mölders had nothing to do with that. Only towards the end of the war were they targeted for deportation, but then only to the less hellish camps such as Theresienstadt or to labor battalions, and the chances of survival were much better.[6] Catrìona (talk) 03:53, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thank you for that Catrìona: I agree. The mechanisms of the Holocaust for German Jews could be surprisingly bureaucratic, with Jews in certain circumstances having a degree of protection due to various regulations. The intermarriage regulations were among the most important. War veterans also had a degree of protection: both factors acted to save Victor Klemperer's life, for instance. Nick-D (talk) 07:31, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • The "Commemoration and reversal of honours" section would benefit from placing the removal of honours in the context of the much broader re-evaluation of Germany's wartime history which has taken place since the 1980s. Most modern Germans are not keen to honour heroes of the Nazi war effort, and the modern German military has also been at pains to distance itself from them. As such, Mölders and the people associated with the Condor Legion have not been singled out: this has formed part of a broad effort (from what I've seen in visits to Germany, only military personnel who have unequivocal links with the resistance and weren't involved in war crimes are officially honoured).
  • More broadly, the discussion of Mölders' attitudes towards the Nazi Government is difficult to follow, and uses weasel words at times. It seems that he wasn't enthusiastic about the Nazis and passively resisted the worst of the Government's actions, but didn't outright resist them (a very common approach among Germans, not least due to the brutal methods the regime used against those who explicitly opposed it). The article at times seems to be trying to inflate the extent of his resistance, despite noting that the MGFA takes a fairly dim view of the topic. It would be better to call a spade a spade.
  • The article needlessly includes the German language names for things such as medals which translate directly into English: this doesn't seem helpful for readers. Nick-D (talk) 02:22, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • G'day Nick, I've trimmed some of that. Feel free to trim some more as necessary. I think the ranks and unit names need to stay in German, as that is generally how they appear in sources. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:36, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    • By the way, in regards to concerns about intricate detail or similar, I'd suggest comparing this article to FAs on Allied fighter aces. These also go into detail on the men and their personality. Nick-D (talk) 08:32, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Which fighter ace bios? For WWII Allied FAs, I've only found Caesar Hull, Peter Jeffrey, and Dick Cresswell. There are also some WWI fighter ace FAs (Richard Williams, Thomas Baker, George Jones) and a WWII bomber pilot (William Brill). All of these, with the possible exception of Hull, have very little about their personal lives and focus on their careers and notability. The fighter pilot politicians (John McCain, Ian Smith) don't make a good comparison because their personality/personal life is more relevant to their politics than their military careers. Pat Pattle is a GA and says almost nothing about his personality, despite some details being sourcible to QS material relating to him. Johnnie Johnson, also a GA, has considerable information on his background but I would argue that's not comparable because it influenced his military career by not allowing him to join the RAF earlier.
I think it's important to distinguish between personal details of Allied fighter pilots, and those offered for Mölders. What the sources are trying to argue, and the article ends up insinuating, is that Mölders was ideologically opposed to the same regime that he was fighting for—a pattern in German WWII bios as many people want to be able to admire these people without connecting them to National Socialism or the crimes of the Nazi regime. Extraordinary claims deserve extraordinary proof and extra scrutiny. Catrìona (talk) 19:01, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • As an extra comment, I just read through the 'In propaganda' section, and it's a bit confusing: the narrative of how the leaflet was developed is unclear. It also carries the implication that Nazis couldn't be Catholics (or vice-versa?), which was far from the case. Nick-D (talk) 11:44, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sourcing
Given this has been raised as an issue, I thought I'd start a section to discuss the sourcing.

There are several issues that have been raised on the talk page and they form the justification for the article tagging. These seem to me to be of three types. The first issue is the claim that some of the sources are weak and/or dated, in particular Obermaier & Held (1996), but also Obermaier (1989, but apparently it is actually older). The second is an issue of a possibly questionable source, Prien (1997) with issues raised about the publisher. The third issue is the lack of use of the biography (what is the title?) by Kurt Bratz (2008) and a few articles on the reversal of honours, in other words a failure to use more recent scholarship, albeit most of it is in German and may not be accessible to many editors on en WP. Anything else? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:59, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • Braatz' work is Werner Mölders: Die Biographie. Moosburg: Neunundzwanzigsechs, 2008. 400 S. ISBN 978-3-9811615-3-3. Kges1901 (talk) 09:59, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks (I was searching on the wrong spelling of the surname), according to Worldcat, there are no copies of this book in Australian libraries, so I won't be able to help with this one. Perhaps the next step is to look at reviews of the book to see what is highlighted as being unique to this book? That might help to narrow down a request for a chapter or two on WP:RX. There are some reviews listed on the talk page, so I'll request them. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 04:52, 11 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Weak and/or dated sources edit

I think this depends on what is being sourced from them. If we are talking about exceptional claims about something like Mölders' alleged anti-Nazism, then these are probably not suitable, particularly if they are contradicted by recent scholarship. However, if they are being used for mundane matters of what type of aircraft Mölders shot down on a particular day, that is another matter, and I don't see a problem. The latter type of material is not likely to be updated by recent scholarship. On the other hand, if recent scholarship has uncovered information about Mölders that had not previously come to light, then recent scholarship should be preferred over older works on those matters. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:59, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Questionable source edit

This revolves around the fact that Prien is published by Schiffer, and a claim that Schiffer is questionable because they "have a poor reputation for checking the facts, lack meaningful editorial oversight, or have an apparent conflict of interest". It isn't clear to me that a case has been made that Schiffer meets this criteria. Sure, they publish "popular history", but what evidence is there that they have published factually incorrect material or have no meaningful editorial oversight, for example? Thoughts? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:59, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Schiffer has always struck me as a mixed bag. Some of the works they publish are very good (including some re-prints of excellent works initially published elsewhere), while others are very bad. My impression is that the firm doesn't exercise strong editorial oversight, though it's not at the bottom of the heap: there appear to be at least some editors and other publishing professionals involved, though I suspect that fact-checking is not rigorous (for instance, its books are professionally typeset, illustrated and printed which is uncommon for essentially self-published works). Where books have been initially published by a more rigorous publisher and/or the author has a good track record as a historian this doesn't matter. A useful check for works which don't meet these criteria is to see if reputable historians have referenced them. Nick-D (talk) 11:05, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, I was actually thinking of Stackpole! I'm less familiar with Schiffer. Nick-D (talk) 01:25, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I have a Schiffer book about one of the Muslim SS divisions. It is thoroughly footnoted, has a good bibliography, is professionally typeset and illustrated and has no typos or grammatical problems I can recall. It won an award from Rutger's University, and also covers not only the military aspects, but also the political and social basis of the division, as well as war crimes. But specifically regarding Prien, here are reviews of two of his volumes published in Air Power History [7]. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:11, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I should have added that Schiffer's website says they have a dedicated group of military history editors, and Prien is published by other publishing houses, Struve-Druck and Rogge Verlag. On the basis of that, the two reviews, and the lack of any evidence that Schiffer has "a poor reputation for checking the facts, lacks meaningful editorial oversight, or has an apparent conflict of interest", I consider that Prien isn't questionable and is a reliable source for the material it is being used for. This material only relates to the naming of JG 53, an accident he had, his receipt of the Iron Cross Second Class, and the formation of III./JG 53, none of which requires an exceptional source. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:00, 8 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Recent scholarship edit

Articles should always be updated to include the most recent scholarship, and this article should be no exception. An issue for this review may be the accessibility of such sources, if they are in German. My German isn't great and is focussed on land warfare technical terminology rather than aviation stuff, but I can try. Assistance is likely to be needed from Assayer and others with German language skills, and access to the sources may be difficult as well for those whose library access is mainly English-speaking. I certainly can try to get access to the articles via WP:RX and can ask for help if I find I'm out of my depth with the German. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:59, 6 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

For a start, I've requested the article by Klaus Schmider, "German Military Tradition and the Expert Opinion on Werner Mölders: Opening a Dialogue among Scholars", which appears from the abstract to be quite critical of the work of the MGFA in providing the rationale for the de-naming of Jagdgeschwader (Fighter Wing) 74 Mölders. Here is the abstract.[8] Once I've secured a copy I'll start adding material from it. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 06:58, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Just an update: I've also requested Bernd Lemke, "Moral Micrology vs. Subsumption: A methodical perspective on the "Mölders Case"," in: Global War Studies, Vol. 7 (2010), Nr. 1, pp. 123-134 for balance. Once I've received these two I will seek to add to/modify the "Commemoration and reversal of honours" section, which appears to be the most critical section needing updated scholarship. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 04:45, 11 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for my belated reply, but I have been busy elsewhere, mostly RL. The aforementioned articles are a good place to start, because the case of Mölders has indeed received some attention and drawn some controversy by historians. I think I have provided the links earlier at Talk:Werner Mölders#Update on the literature: There was a discussion between Schmider and Heiner Möllers published on Portal Militärgeschichte, quite a good resource for recent scholarship in military history, btw. The links are (in random order) doi:10.15500/akm.26.06.2017, doi:10.15500/akm.28.11.2016, [9], doi:10.15500/akm.05.09.2016. Unfortunately I will not be able to get hold of a copy of the bio by Kurt Braatz. It is not held by many German libraries. There is a review by Heiner Moellers on H-Soz-Kult.[10] I have noticed that recent edit by MisterBee1966Diff, who now seems to make good use of that work. I think that this edit invariably demonstrates that the bio by Obermaier/Held is unreliable. I am a little surprised, though, that MisterBee let the fiction by Obermaier/Held stand as if it was real. --Assayer (talk) 13:44, 21 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I understand MisterBee1966 now has a copy of Braatz, and I look forward to the article being improved with that source. What fiction though, Assayer? Can you clarify? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 01:36, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I imagine he is referring to the first part of the paragraph qualified by this edit [11] Catrìona (talk) 02:23, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
That Molders intervened on behalf of the Frenchman that attacked him, or who shot him down? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:35, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I am letting it stand for now until I have fully read, and understood, the Braatz book and have an idea on how to best address the subject. According to Braatz, Mölders, in parts, approved the story that he was shot down by a French pilot as he did not want to give the German propaganda the opportunity to portray him and the Luftwaffe as a superior force where only he could be beaten by a German pilot. The entire relationship of Mölders, the German propaganda, Fritz von Forell (author of his wartime biography), and Göring has yet to be addressed as well. According to Braatz, Mölders was very much aware of what the propaganda tried to make of him and he wanted to retain some level of control over the information. In addition, Braatz states that after his death, there was quite a dispute over his inheritance, which was sizable. Noteworthy, Braatz states that Mölders widow was to receive a relatively large house, a gift from Hitler personally. She was given the option to choose among a few in Munich. She found out that these houses belonged to Jewish families and were to be seized from them. Apparently she had a good understanding of the situation and carefully rejected the gift. MisterBee1966 (talk) 17:19, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I did indeed, as Catriona hinted, refer to the first part of that paragraph sourced to Obermaier/Held. To my mind it does not make much sense to have a paragraph which first states: While in French captivity, Mölders asked to shake hands with the pilot who had shot him down, and learned that Pomier-Layrargues had been killed in action 30 minutes after their encounter, and then directly contradicts that a couple of sentences later by stating: Braatz investigation revealed, Mölders was not shot down by Pomier-Layrargues. You cannot have it both ways, so I would have expected that those anecdotes would have been put into perspective. If the story of the requested pardon is "very likely ficticious", why is it still narrated as fact? Braatz's investigation seems much more reliable to me. I would also imagine that he explictly dealt with the earlier literature like Obermaier/Held and their reliability.--Assayer (talk) 20:59, 25 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I think someone has picked up the wrong end of the stick here. In one of the articles you yourself linked on the talk page [12], Schmider repeats that Mölders was shot down by Pomier-Layrargues and cites p.218 of Braatz for the fact (although he says that Braatz states an accidental shooting down by a German aircraft is possible), and he also goes on to explore recent scholarship on the requested pardon and concludes that Mölders did intervene with Goering on behalf of the Frenchman. This section needs a rewrite to reflect current scholarship, but questions about the reliability of Obermaier/Held on this issue are not as cut-and-dried as you claim. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:35, 26 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Schmider believes that Mölders was shot done by Pomier-Layrargues, although he does not name any sources for that. But as you yourself once put it, it is our job to compare and contrast what the sources say, even if they are contradictory. I do not believe, however, that it is our job to produce paragraphs which are contradictory in themselves. You cannot narrate as factual that Mölders was shot down near Compiègne at about 18:40 by Sous lieutenant René Pomier Layrargues and continue, investigation revealed, Mölders was not shot down by Pomier-Layrargues. If you got new information, the least you should do is attribute the different stories to their respective sources. What apparently neither Schmider, Braatz, Hagena, and even Mölders' Nazi biographer Fritz von Forell claim, however, is the story of the stolen Knight's Cross, the mistreatment by soldiers (seems to have been a punch by a civilian) and that a French soldier was concemnded to death but pardoned at the behest of Mölders (see Schmider for details regarding the French civilian sentenced to twelve, later reduced to six, years imprisonment). For me that demonstrates that Obermaier/Held are not reliable, but still their bio is being used for much information without contribution. My understanding of a thread on recent scholarship is that it also demonstrates where older sources are unreliable.--Assayer (talk) 11:55, 26 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I reworded the section. According to Braatz (see pages 36 and 179), Fritz von Forell was a relative of Mölders, married to his cousin since 1928. Braatz claims, Forell was never a member of the Wehrmacht propaganda nor any other German propaganda machine, he was an officer (Major) in the Heer. Braatz source for this statement is "Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt: Jagdgeschwader 74 'Mölders', Mölders Kaserne, Potsdam 2004, p. 5.". Subsequently I question if classifying him as "Nazi biographer" is a fair representation. As said before, I am still reading. Cheers MisterBee1966 (talk) 16:09, 26 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
To serve the Nazi propaganda effort, you do not need to be an official member of the "propaganda machine". de:Wolfgang Schmidt (Historiker) describes Forell, a party member since 1933, as an author who conformed with Nazism and cites Forell's memoir Wir vom verlorenen Haufen (1936) about his captivity in Russia as evidence. According to Schmidt, Forell's Mölders und seine Männer gloryfied war as intended and defined by the Nazis. In fact, in a new edition published in 1951 Forell himself claimed that due to the then prevailing conditions his 1941 book was "only fragmentary". Schmidt questions the authenticity of the newly incorporated quotes by Mölders, however, arguing that it was Forell's intention to construct a distance between Mölders and the NS regime that otherwise could not be shown from other sources. Forell also published about Mölders in the Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch (1963) and a new edition of his bio in the Druffel-Verlag, all of them well known for their extremist rightwing political outlook. (Wolfgang Schmidt, "Organisiertes Erinnerung und Vergessen in der Bundeswehr. Traditionspflege am Beispiel der „Causa Mölders“." In: Nina Leonhard u.a. (ed.), Organisation und Gedächtnis. Soziales Gedächtnis, Erinnern und Vergessen – Memory Studies, Wiesbaden 2016, pp. 183-223.) Anyway, I would strongly question the neutrality of an article which puts undue weight on sources like Obermaier/Held. by treating them at equal length as recent scholarship. Is there a specific reason why their (fan) fiction should be kept?--Assayer (talk) 17:26, 26 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
According to Braatz, Mölders attempted to use Forell as an editorial means to counter the official Nazi propaganda machine, in particular Mölders seemed to have rejected how some of the other pilots (Wick, Trautloft) have explored popularity. Additionally, Braatz explains that the war, following the Battle of France, was almost exclusively fought by the Luftwaffe as well as by the Kriegsmarine (U-boats). In Braatz view, this posed a new challenge for the German propaganda. Apparently, it was easier to communicate the advance troops made on the battlefield. Subsequently the German propaganda started focusing on soldiers which excelled, in particular U-boat commanders and fighter pilots. Braatz indicates that Mölders was aware of this. On the one hand he did not want this media attention, on the other hand, he understood that he could not escape it. Caught in this dilemma, Mölders had (exclusively) authorized Forell to write a book about him (and his men), Braatz stated that including his men was a means to defocus from Mölders alone and also give credit for his success to others). Do you think this should be included, and if yes, how so? MisterBee1966 (talk) 18:02, 26 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting and far reaching thesis by Braatz. I notice that particulalrly this thesis was appreciated by moelders.info, the website maintained by former Bundeswehr general Michael Vollstedt. Is this Braatz's own interpretation/conclusion or does he back that up with further sources? But I doubt that the German propaganda faced a new challenge in 1940, because the aviator-hero was already an important image before the war. In terms of ideology, as Manfred Funke put it, the army was Prussian, the navy Imperial and the airforce Nazi. More propaganda movies dealt with the airforce than with the army or the navy, many of them by Karl Ritter like Legion Condor of 1939. Does Braatz discuss works on the cultural image of the aviation hero in Nazi Germany like those by Peter Fritzsche? Stefanie Schüler-Springorum's study Krieg und Fliegen (2010) about the Legion Condor might also be worth a look. As Wolfgang Schmidt sees it, by enlisting Forell Mölders himself had a major share in his own heroization. Schmidt knows the bio by Braatz, but merely cites the revenue that the very well selling book by Forell generated. And didn't Mölders commission the book as early as 1939? I'll leave it up for other opinions whether that information is covered by Wikipedia's criteria of "comprehensiveness". I would be interested in a discussion of Mölders' image and how it was created. As usual interpretations should be attributed to its respective sources and all notable views by reliable sources should be covered.--Assayer (talk) 13:51, 27 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, you pose many questions I am not yet prepared to answer, and I must reread parts of the book to address them. What I recall, unlike Hannes Trautloft (one of a few examples given) who wrote Fliegeranekdoten in 1939 following his return from Spain, Mölders refused to write, publish himself, or have someone else write about him. Braatz states, at the time, the German propaganda had enough heroes who willingly participated in this game without having to focus on Mölders. I am not exactly sure when Mölders first handed over material to Forell, but I recall that at the time did not authorize any publications. According to Braatz, Mölders continued to fall through the net of the German propaganda until he was awarded the Oak Leaves in late September 1940. Shortly after, in October the Luftwaffe propaganda magazine Der Adler published an article on Mölders. According to Braatz, this event triggered Mölders to change his attitude (pressured into is pobably less euphemistic) and subsequently had Forell proceed with the publication. Mölders did this to control the information presented. Braatz states that Der Adler distorted facts to the dislike of Mölders, one of which was the distortion of his former membership in the Bund Neudeutschland which in Der Adler sounded like a membership in the Hitler Youth (or some other scouting organization). You wrote "As Wolfgang Schmidt sees it, by enlisting Forell Mölders himself had a major share in his own heroization." Yes, I would agree to that statement. However, as said before, Braatz claims that Mölders intend was to control information and, contrary to other contemporary German publications, was free from ideological superiority theories. Braatz stresses the fact that Mölders had lost his father in a war with France and Britain, a fact which impacted him in his willingness to fulfill his military oath given before God. Braatz claims, due to Mölders upbringing, education and belief, Mölders was bound to his oath. Mölders was unable to see and understand that Hitler, to whom Mölders had pledged loyalty, abused him (and others), and that the regimes intentions were criminal in nature. MisterBee1966 (talk) 16:10, 27 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I should update that I have been unable to secure copies of the two Global War Studies articles I requested at WP:RX, but perhaps we could proceed with the Schmider article at Portal Militärgeschichte, which appears to be a summary of the state of play in 2016? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 04:22, 5 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Just adding this link again for MisterBee1966, this is the recent article by Schmider that nicely sums up the scholarly state of play on a number of controversial issues regarding Mölders. As it is in German, I thought it would be better if you gleaned material from it rather than me with my poor German. I consider it should be used as the basis for a rewrite of a couple of paragraphs that currently are contradictory or confusing, as noted by Assayer above. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 05:09, 8 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Other edit
  • If I may, the photo under the "Eastern front" subsection is a portrait of Mölders with the caption "Oberst Werner Mölders - 101 official victories in World War II". This seems hagiographic and, as it stands, out of place. -Indy beetle (talk) 21:44, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

FARC section edit

From reading this, it does not sound like there is consensus about content and sourcing. Furthermore the article is still tagged. Hence I have moved to the FARC section and invite people to state their opinion over the current status of the article and remaining issues. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 02:58, 25 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment Some of the sourcing criticisms aren't convincing, as reliability of sources depends very much on what they are being used to cite, per WP:CONTEXTMATTERS. Uncontroversial information doesn't require academic sources, just reliable ones focussed on the subject. However, the article really should rely heavily on Braatz (the most recent bio), not earlier biographies like Obermaier and Held, and the inadequate handling of the controversial aspects of Mölders' story let the article down in terms of recent scholarship and comprehensiveness respectively. It needs a concentrated effort to bring it up to Featured standard in those areas, and I'm not seeing the required level of effort being committed to it at the moment. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 03:52, 25 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delist Not all of my comments above have been addressed, and the article still fails to place Mölders in perspective and includes weasel words and over-emphasis of dubious claims (for instance, the para starting with "According to Viktor Mölders, his brother had saved Georg Küch, one of Werner Mölders' closest friends, who had been classified as a half-Jew by the Nuremberg Laws" is details a story which experts doubt is true. Nick-D (talk) 03:22, 17 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delist There has been quite some research on Mölders recently. As long as outdated, adulatory biographies like the one by Obermaier/Held, which is originally from 1982 (not 1996), are treated as if they were as reliable as archival reasearch by historians,[13] this article is neither accurate nor neutral and thus does not match the FA criteria. During the last months there have not been many efforts to improve the article.--Assayer (talk) 18:47, 21 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  • Closing note: This removal candidate has been delisted, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please leave the {{featured article review}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 02:16, 2 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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