The Constitutional and Legal Response to Political Extremism and the Nature of Support for Democracy (1945-49)

Question 1

When had the government attempted to (unsuccessfully) pass emergency legislation? Why had they been unsuccessful?

Answer 1

• 3 times across the late 1950s and early 1960s
• The SPD and FDP would not support the introduction of these laws

Question 2

When were the Emergency Laws passed, and what were 2 reasons why?

Answer 2

• 1968
• It was a condition for the SPD to enter the Grand Coalition, and was seen as increasingly necessary as the cold war intensified in the 1960s

Question 3

What powers did the Emergency Laws give the government? List 3.

Answer 3

• Intercepting mail
• Tapping telephones
• House searches

Question 4

What were 2 differences between the Emergency Laws in the FRG, and emergency measures in previous eras in German history?

Answer 4

• Although it allowed the suspension of civil liberties, it was precise on the period of time and the circumstances in which they could be applied
• There were also restrictions on emergency legislation

Question 5

Give 3 examples of restrictions on emergency legislation.

Answer 5

• The Bundestag could not be dissolved
• The Bundestag would decide when the emergency was over
• It could not abolish checks and balances on the power of any branches of government

Question 6

How successful can the introduction of these emergency powers be said to have been?

Answer 6

• Very successful, as by the end of the 1970s, there was much less terrorist activity

Question 7

What was a measure taken by the government in the 1970s to further control extremism?

Answer 7

• In 1972 the Anti-Radical Decree was passed, which allowed for the political vetting of everyone applying for a state job (from teaching to the civil service)

Question 8

To what degree did the government manage to control the population as a result of these measures?

Answer 8

• By 1977 they had 6000 people under surveillance

Question 9

What were 2 reactions to the level of control the government had?

Answer 9

• It was criticised by the liberal press
• Fear of terrorism caused the public to support these measures

Question 10

What were the 4 key elements of the Allies’ de-Nazification policies?

Answer 10

• Making German people visit concentration camps so that they could see and were forced to accept the evil nature of the Nazi regime
• War tribunals to try leading Nazis for retribution, and to show the rest of the world the criminality of the Nazi regime
• The banning of the Nazi Party
• The screening of former Nazis to make sure they didn’t return to their former positions in sectors such as the civil service and the justice system

Question 11

What were the Nuremberg Trials? Why were they held in Nuremberg?

Answer 11

• War crime trials of leading Nazis who had neither committed suicide, nor escaped
• Nuremberg had been where Hitler would hold his annual, massive party rallies

Question 12

How long did the Nuremberg Trials last, and what was their outcome?

Answer 12

• November 1945 to October 1946
• Of the 22 defendants, 12 were sentenced to death, 3 to life imprisonment, 4 were given shorter prison sentences, and 3 were acquitted

Question 13

What were 6 limitations of the war tribunals?

Answer 13

• Some minor figures faced prosecution instead of their superiors
• When one aspect of the Nazi regime was focused on, such as the High Command, the Allies were selective when deciding who to try- this meant that some escaped justice while their colleagues didn’t
• Some responsible for war crimes left Germany, or went into hiding
• Some escaped punishment by claiming that they were only following orders (one-third of the guards in the Bergen-Belsen camp were acquitted as a result of doing this)
• The Allies could not agree if the tribunals were for the purpose of punishment or rehabilitation for the millions of minor participants in the Nazi regime
• Trials were mostly halted in 1948 as the cold war took precedence- however, it was often the most serious and complex cases that were delayed

Question 14

How many people had the Allies arrested by the end of 1946?

Answer 14

• 250,000

Question 15

What were 4 issues the Allies faced when trying to de-Nazify the rest of the country?

Answer 15

• They couldn’t tell who was a Nazi and who wasn’t, seeing as some people had to join the Nazi Party in order to keep their jobs
• There were too many problems with the scale of the process
• Many former Nazis were needed in Germany (for example in Bonn, 102 out of 112 doctors had been Nazis)
• The young had been indoctrinated

Question 16

What were 3 things the Allies tried to do to deal with the issue of how deeply the Nazis and their ideology had been a part of German life?

Answer 16

• The western Allies asked 16 million Germans to fill out questionnaires asking about their role under the Nazi regime, which put them into 5 categories from ‘Major Offenders’ to ‘Exonerated’
• In 1946 Nazi textbooks, films and any material teaching racial theory was banned
• Teachers and librarians were vetted

Question 17

What were 2 problems with the outcomes of the questionnaires given out by the western Allies?

Answer 17

• In 1946 the Allies had hoped to get local German tribunals to deal with the people answerable to charges, but 90% of the German legal profession had been part of the Nazi Party
• It created such enormous bureaucracy that it was impossible to do due to the weight of the backlog

Question 18

Between 1945 and 1949, how popular had de-Nazification been with the German public? What about in 1951?

Answer 18

• Between half and two-thirds of them agreed that it was necessary in the years 1945-49
• However, this dropped to a quarter of them in 1951

Question 19

List 4 reasons why Germans had a negative opinion about de-Nazification.

Answer 19

• Both sides had been responsible for war crimes (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fire bombing of Dresden)
• Many had supported the Nazis, so did not want this to be too closely examined
• The prosecution of ex-Nazis was inconsistent- the Allies even allowed ex-Nazis with useful skills to go to their country and start a new life there (the USA did not prosecute 1600 former Nazi scientists and doctors for this reason)
• Many believed in the ‘year zero’ policy

Question 20

What percentage of the population had a good opinion of Hitler in 1952? According to what source?

Answer 20

• According to anonymous opinion polls, 25% of respondents

Question 21

What 2 facts can be used to show support for the popularity of democracy in the FRG?

Answer 21

• High voter turnout; it was only lower than 84% in 1949
• There was a lack of support for extremist parties such as the DKP (German Communist Party), which never even achieved enough votes to win 1 seat in the Bundestag

Question 22

Why was voter turnout at its lowest in 1949?

Answer 22

• People were sceptical about democracy after seeing how weak it was in the Weimar Republic

Question 23

Give 2 examples of people supporting democracy.

Answer 23

• People demonstrated against changes that would restrict their civil liberties, such as the Emergency Law
• They marched against repressive regimes and their countries having relations with them, such as South Africa under apartheid, or the USSR

Question 24

What 2 things did surveys in the 1960s show about German attitudes towards the FRG and democracy?

Answer 24

• The majority of German thought of the FRG as being the best period of German history
• Most people believed democracy was the best type of government

Question 25

How popular was the FRG with workers? Give figures.

Answer 25

• Very popular, as seen by the lower number of strikes
• From 1965 to 1959, only 6 days were lost to strikes per a thousand workers

Question 26

What were 2 reasons why workers supported the FRG?

Answer 26

• In 1949, the German Federation of Trade Unions was created as an umbrella organisation, while helped co-ordinate the actions of trade unions and work with the government more effectively
• The 1951 Co-determination Law