Very soon after the program started, due to the emergence of the Cold War, the western powers and the United States in particular began to lose interest in the program, somewhat mirroring the Reverse Course in American-occupied Japan. Denazification was carried out in an increasingly lenient and lukewarm way until being officially abolished in 1951. The American government soon came to view the program as ineffective and counterproductive. Additionally, the program was highly unpopular in West Germany, where many Nazis maintained positions of power. Denazification was opposed by the new West German government of Konrad Adenauer, who declared that ending the process was necessary for West German rearmament.

  • yucandu@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    12 hours ago

    East Germany, in contrast, declared everyone that opposed the state to be a ‘nazi’ and had them imprisoned.

    Even before denazification was officially abandoned in West Germany, East German propaganda frequently portrayed itself as the only true anti-fascist state, and argued that the West German state was simply a continuation of the Nazi regime, employing the same officials that had administered the government during the Nazi dictatorship. From the 1950s, the reasoning for these accusations focused on the fact that many former functionaries of the Nazi regime were employed in positions in the West German government. However, East German propaganda also attempted to denounce as Nazis even politicians such as Kurt Schumacher, who had been imprisoned by the Nazi regime himself.[34] Such allegations appeared frequently in the official Socialist Unity Party of Germany newspaper, the Neues Deutschland. The East German uprising of 1953 in Berlin was officially blamed on Nazi agents provocateurs from West Berlin, who the Neues Deutschland alleged were then working in collaboration with the Western government with the ultimate aim of restoring Nazi rule throughout Germany. The Berlin Wall was officially called the Anti-Fascist Security Wall (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) by the East German government

    Yeah that’s right, I can quote wikipedia too.

    • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      11 hours ago

      You realize I’m not a tankie, right? I don’t care to defend the USSR or East Germany in any way.

      the West German state was simply a continuation of the Nazi regime, employing the same officials that had administered the government during the Nazi dictatorship […] many former functionaries of the Nazi regime were employed in positions in the West German government.

      Gotta hand it to them, though, sometimes they do call balls and strikes.

      East German uprising of 1953 in Berlin was officially blamed on Nazi agents provocateurs from West Berlin

      While I’m sure there absolutely was popular opposition to the increased work quotas, I can believe that this might have some truth to it, too. There’s absolutely shitloads of evidence that Western powers love to turn civil unrest into uprisings and attempted coups in socialist and anti-imperialist countries.

      • subversive_dev@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        10 hours ago

        Gotta hand it to them, though, sometimes they do call balls and strikes.

        What materialist analysis does to a MF