DENAZIFICATION

The identification, arrest and trials of senior personnel suspected of war crimes was just one component of the Allied effort to de-Nazify Germany

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With the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945, the Second World War in Europe officially came to an end. However, the victorious Allied nations were well aware that an arduous task lay before them. Eradicating every vestige of a state-sponsored criminal enterprise like none other in history would, in fact, require extreme measures on an unprecedented scale.

Not only did the Allied leaders shoulder responsibility for disarming and repatriating thousands of German military personnel, including former prisoners of war, but also for tending to the needs of a destitute civilian population and reviving an economy that would provide stability and one day allow Germany to return to the family of nations. However, there was also the acute realisation that Nazism had to be exterminated.

Perhaps de-Nazifying Germany, even though the nation was in ruin and its military prostrate, posed the most significant challenge of all. One major reason for this assertion is that denazification meant the undoing of an ideology that many Germans had embraced for years. Some had grown up in the shadow of the swastika, experienced indoctrination in every aspect of their lives and pledged fealty to Adolf Hitler as children. They had sworn to live as Nazis for their entire lives.

In their tremendous obligation to rid the world of Nazi fervour, the Allies identified several standards that were to be achieved in the process. These included an outright ban of the Nazi Party and any public display of Nazi symbols; the identification and removal of Nazi Party members and functionaries from positions of power, influence or authority; the detailed questioning of German civilians as to their background and the requirement that all adult Germans complete an extensive written inquiry or questionnaire regarding potential involvement with the Nazi Party.