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Denazifying the Reich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Elmer Plischke
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Extract

“What shall be done with Germany upon her defeat?” For many months prior to the surrender of the Wehrmacht this vital question evoked a host of conflicting proposals, official and unofficial, in both Military Government planning staffs and in higher policy-formation circles. Despite many differences, these proposals uniformly demanded immediate disarmament, demilitarization, and—denazification.

Early plans called for the occupation of Germany with the objective of insuring that she never again would threaten her neighbors and the rest of the world. The demilitarization and disarmament of the German armed forces was undertaken rapidly and resolutely by our occupation forces and those of our Allies as a preliminary step in securing this objective. But the more difficult task of denazification—that is, the permanent elimination of the institutions, leadership, and psychology in German life which produced and supported the Nazi regime—is still far from completed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1947 , pp. 153 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1947

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References

1 October 23, 1944.

2 The Drafting Committee prepared approximately 30 draft policy papers, only half of which were actually approved by the U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington and submitted to the European Advisory Commission by the American member. Ambassador John Winant. The Commission, however, only adopted 3 proposals, including the surrender instrument, the plans for the division of Germany (and Berlin) into Zones of Occupation, and the proposals for the establishment of the Quadripartite Control Council in Berlin.

3 This task was completed in April 1945 by the author, who at that time introduced the term “denazification.” Theretofore plans usually were designated by such titles as “Eradication of Nazism” in the SHAEF, Handbook for Military Government for Germany; as “Control, Disarmament, and Disbandment of Para-Military and Police Organizations” in SHAEF, Handbook Governing Policy and Procedure for the Military Occupation of Germany; or, in one of its more specialized aspects, as SHAEF directive on “Removal from Office of Nazis and German Militarists.”

4 “International Military Tribunal: Indictment No. 1,” Department of State, Trial of War Criminals, State Department publication 2420, p. 23 ff.Google Scholar

5 Art. 10, “Charter of the International Military Tribunal,” Ibid., p. 17.

6 Part A, para. 3 (111), 4. 5, and 6 respectively.

7 Control Council Law No. 2, “The Termination and Liquidation of the Nazi Organization,” Oct. 10, 1945.

8 Control Council Law No. I, “Repealing of Nazi Laws,” Sept. 20, 1945.

9 Control Council Law No. 11, “Repealing Certain Provisions of the German General Code.” Jan. 30, 1946.

10 Control Council Directive, “Removal From Office and From Positions of Responsibility of Nazis and of Persons Hostile to Allied Purposes,” Jan. 12, 1946.

11 Control Council Law No. 2, op. cit.

12 Control Council Directive, “Prohibition of the Wearing of Uniforms …,” Aug. 30, 1946.

13 Barry Bingham, Editor of Louisville Courier Journal, who has recently returned from Germany, in article on “Screening Out the Nazis is a Tedious Business,” Nov. 1946.

14 Effective April 8, 1946, entitled “Law for Liberation from National Socialism and Militarism.”

15 Bingham, op. cit.

16 Judy Barden, in NANA despatch, Indianapolis Star, Oct. 30, 1946, reports that only 1% of die denazification cases have been settled in Bavaria, and that at the present rate of progress it will take 72 years, or until A.D. 2018 to complete the program.

17 Bingham, op. cit.

18 New York Times, Dec. 25, 1946.Google Scholar

19 New York Times Magazine, Dec. 15, 1946, p. 12.Google Scholar