Book contents
- Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany
- Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 An Army of Academics
- 2 “A Miserable Paper Substitute for a Spontaneous Revolution”
- 3 “Land of the Fragebogen”
- 4 The “Little Man’s Nuremberg”
- 5 Writing Away Culpability
- Conclusion
- Appendix The Fragebogen Questions
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - An Army of Academics
Planning the Denazification of Germany
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2023
- Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany
- Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 An Army of Academics
- 2 “A Miserable Paper Substitute for a Spontaneous Revolution”
- 3 “Land of the Fragebogen”
- 4 The “Little Man’s Nuremberg”
- 5 Writing Away Culpability
- Conclusion
- Appendix The Fragebogen Questions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 1 traces the ideological and practical origins of the inter-Allied denazification campaign and the unorthodox questionnaire program that it proposed. It surveys the wartime planning landscape in 1943 and 1944 and introduces the individuals and institutions that created the Fragebogen. Hundreds of civilian experts, including college professors, police officers, lawyers, and Jewish refugees, were employed to build denazification policy and to overhaul military civil affairs programs. This army of academics brought with them innovative social scientific approaches and instruments, as well as new perspectives and concepts regarding ideological, sociological, and political transformation. This was the rich civilian-engaged environment that permitted the adoption of an experimental political questionnaire. However, the civilian planners were continuously challenged by an inherent contradiction in all strands of occupation policy: the pursuit of both punitive and restorative goals. The result was that a practical strategy for the occupation was never produced by the Allied powers, nor was there a shared consensus on political screening.
Keywords
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- Everyday Denazification in Postwar GermanyThe Fragebogen and Political Screening during the Allied Occupation, pp. 21 - 64Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023