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4 - The “Little Man’s Nuremberg”

Germans and Denazification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2023

Mikkel Dack
Affiliation:
Rowan University, New Jersey
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Summary

In Chapter 4, the second vantage point of the book is introduced, that of the German citizen. It describes a record of how average men and women, from different backgrounds and living in different occupied territories, experienced the campaign to eradicate Nazism; how it impacted their daily lives and what they felt about it. Journal entries, private letters, newspapers, memoirs, and interviews chronicle much of the everyday denazification experience. An examination of on-the-ground activities reveals that the ideological cleanse was tethered to employment, and hence, political screening. If a shared denazification experience existed, it was the completion of Fragebögen. This chapter also shows that the consequences of denazification were more severe than what is often suggested. The form had the potential of permanently altering one’s material security, as well as professional and community status. Going through political screening was emotionally exhausting. This chapter includes a detailed case study of denazification experiences in Hersfeld (Hesse), a seemingly typical German district in the US occupation zone.

Type
Chapter
Information
Everyday Denazification in Postwar Germany
The Fragebogen and Political Screening during the Allied Occupation
, pp. 162 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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