The Denazification of Germany 1945-1950

by Perry Biddiscombe

In 1945, the word Germany was synonymous with chaos. The country had become a scene of unprecedented devastation, wrought mainly by a trio of calamities - aerial bombardment, ground fighting and scorched earth measures. The nation's cities and industries lay in ruins, its transportation system was paralyzed and its population was desperately war weary. Millions had become refugees, Germans fleeing the bomb-battered cities and advancing enemy forces, and foreign slave labourers and concentration camp inmates, liberated by the Allies. Amidst a humanitarian crisis of almost unimaginable proportions, the occupiers ordered the mass dismissal of millions of Nazi Party members from government offices threatening the operation of local waterworks, food provisioning systems, hospitals and police forces. Perry Biddiscombe's new book is the first history of denazification of Germany, which has provided the model - albeit flawed - for the De-Communization of Eastern Europe and the De-Baathification of Iraq. The author explores the ideological basis of denazification, German reactions to denazification and assesses how successful the programme was.

Genres: History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Dr. Alexander Perry Biddiscombe is an author, historian, and educator. He is a Professor of History at the University of Victoria.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an Ok introduction to the overall process, but it's unlikely to be the best one. The footnotes are really inadequate- direct quotations appear with no footnotes, and the footnotes that do appear are often group footnotes that don't clarify which portion of the preceding text they refer back to. The author has an axe to grind with Marcuse and Neumann, whose political ideology he blames for the failures of denazification. While there were surely problems with the initial design of the American denazification plan, that design itself was not to blame for the fact that it wasn't followed by the people enforcing the policy in practice. The evidence he presents shows the biggest problem was the general preference of many in the allied command for "former" Nazis over the existing German anti-fascist opposition, whether socialist or communist.

[Lior Tamam · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very interesting informative book about the various achievement and failures of the denazification of Germany. easily read although full of information. it is not a complete book about the issue (even though it claims to be ), but it definitely got me smarter about the issue and got me curious to read more about it.