De-Nazification

• De-Nazification was a key aim of the western Allies after WW2. Its main elements were:

  • making German people visit concentration camps - so no doubt in their minds of the evil nature of the Nazi regime
  • war tribunals to demonstrate the criminality of the Nazi regime
  • banning the Nazi Party
  • screening of former Nazis to ensure people didn't return to their former positions
• In the long term, some elements of de-Nazification were controversial and difficult to implement. After the war, there was a growing realisation among the western Allies that only many former Nazi party members had to skills and experience necessary to rebuild the country.
• By 1945, the truth about Nazi atrocities were beginning to emerge, as the Allied forced liberated camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. It had already been decided at the Yalta Conference (February 1945) that leading Nazi war criminals should be prosecuted at Nuremberg.
• As the Allies advanced into Germany and discovered concentration camps such as Dachau and Bergen-Belsen, they forced thousands of Germans to visit them to confront them with the evils of the regime. In some cases, Germans were required to participate in their cleansing by helping to dig mass graves and bury bodies.
• One of the main features of the de-Nazification process was the introduction of war tribunals to try former Nazis for their crimes. While the centrepiece of this was the Nuremberg trials of former leaders, each of the 4 occupying zones held their own trials.
• For the Western Powers, the main focus of the war tribunals were:

  • to punish those guilty of atrocities against their own nationals
  • to demonstrate to the world the abhorrent nature of the Nazi regime
• The practicalities of war tribunals and the sheer number of potential defendants led to problems. Often, the most serious and complex cases were delayed, and more minor figures faced persecution rather than their superiors.
• Trials were generally halted by March 1948 as the developing Cold War began to take precedence. However, the French continued their prosecutions into the 1950s. It wasn't until 1953, for example, that the perpetrators of the 1944 massacre of the inhabitants of the town of Oradour-Sur-Glane were brought to justice.
• The Allies agreed that the leading Nazis should be tried and punished. Consequently, an international military trial was established in the German town of Nuremberg. The court consisted of 4 judges, one from each Allied Power.
• The focus of the Nuremberg Trials was on the various war crimes carried out or supported by leading Nazis. The trial started on the 20th November 1945 and lasted until October the following year.
• As part of the Nuremberg Trials: 12 Nazis received death sentences and 7 were given prison terms ranging from 10yrs to life.
• Following trials at Nuremberg involved 177 former military and civilian officials focusing on one aspect of the Nazi regime. However, this was quite selective as the 177 was taken out of a pool of 5000 and therefore it could be argued the process was unfair. While some offenders were tried for their crimes, their colleagues who were equally involved escaped justice.
• There were further trials of individuals who had been closely connected to the Nazi regime, such as industrialists like Alfred Krupp.
• Each occupying power was responsible for organising their own trials. In total, 5000 people were prosecuted and 486 executed. The Americans, who had the most resources, held 489 trials of lower-level officials. Of 1672 defendants, 1416 were found guilty. The French, however, prosecuted the most Nazis: 2000.
• However, most directly involved in war crimes escaped punishment, such as Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele (responsible for organising the Holocaust) and Adolf Eichmann, by going into hiding or fleeing Germany.
• Even those who were prosecuted often escaped punishment by pleading they were only obeying orders. In the British zone, where the trials took place of some of the guards at the Bergen-Belsen camp, 15 out of the 45 defendants were acquitted, in part due to British lawyers.
• Most trials after Nuremberg were the result of the work of individuals, such as the famous Jewish Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who brought 16 individuals to trial, including Adolf Eichmann.
• In the British zone, as early as April 1945, a senior official in the Allied Control Commission reported that all civilians needed to be investigated. Although this was impractical, the Americans managed to sift through 1.6 million Fragebogen (questionnaires), resulting in over 350000 former Nazis losing their current posts.
• However, as skilled technocrats were necessary for redevelopment, many former Nazis didn't stay fired for long:

  • In Cologne there were serious problems with the water supply and 18/21 specialists employed by the city were under investigation for their Nazi past. Their skills were indispensable so their Nazi past was no longer a priority.
  • In Bonn, 102/112 doctors were former Nazis. Their medical skills were necessary so their Nazi past was ignored.
• The western Allies initially asked 16 million Germans to complete Fragebogen. These questionnaires consisted of 131 questions about their activities during Nazi rule - their answers resulted in them being included in 1 of 5 categories from Major Offenders to Exonerated. The exonerated were issued with a 'Persil Certificate'.
• The problem of the Fragebogen laid with the Germans who were forced to join the NSDAP, to continue their job etc (called Mitlaufer - fellow travellers), who had been guilty of at least some form of offence.
• The US authorities, using the Fragebogen, were eventually able to list 3.5 million Germans answerable to charges. In March 1946, the western Allies set up local German tribunals to undertake such cases. However, this was problematic as 90% of the legal profession had been a member of the NSDAP. In the British zone, final year legal students were permitted to participate in the trials as an attempt to shorten the backlog of cases.
• However, the Fragebogen system was flawed as the vast majority of Germans claimed to be anti-Nazis. Officials working for the Allies genuinely found it difficult to distinguish between Germans who had been active supporters and those who had not. The flaws in issuing Persil Certificates therefore gave the impression of injustice. They could also be purchased on the black market, further undermining the faith in the de-Nazification process.
• The de-nazification process proved to be too difficult for the Allies for them to implement effectively. The questionnaire system created enormous bureaucracy and collapsed under the weight of the backlog. By 1949, the Western Powers shifted their focus to rebuilding Germany.
• De-Nazification was largely abandoned in the 1950s. In Bavaria, more than half the teachers dismissed for their Nazi past had been reinstated. Amnesties were issued, war criminals were gradually released and many war crimes were never fully investigated.
• When the FRG's Diplomatic Corps was instituted in 1951, it's estimated over 40% of its personnel were members of the SS and 17% former Gestapo members.
• The Reinstatement Act of April 1951 restored the employment rights and pensions of former public servants who had been investigated by Allied prosecutors. The only exception was the former members of the Gestapo, which was declared an illegal organisation during the Nuremberg war trials. It's estimated over half of the government officials in the 1950s were former NSDAP members.