The Process and Significance of De-Nazification and 'Coming to Terms with the Past' in the 1950s

Question 1

What was used in the US zone in West Germany to judge if Germans were Nazis?

Answer 1

Frageboen - questionnaire

Question 2

How many questions were in the Fragebogen?

Answer 2

133

Question 3

If you wanted to work in the US zone what did you have to have?

Answer 3

A completed Fragebogen

Question 4

What were the limitations of the Fragebogen?

Answer 4

• You could lie on the questionnaire
• Hitler Youth became compulsory after 1839 meaning that many people may have been wrongfully classed as Nazis
• Too many questions
• Delayed rebuilding lives
• Haven’t got enough people to sort through the questionnaires
• Depleted the number of skilled workers in the US zone
• A black market developed where certificates of de-Nazification were availible

Question 5

In 1 lander, how many people were being investigated for possible Nazi sympathies?

Answer 5

2.5 million

Question 6

When did the US zone introduce a new method that dealt with the problem with too many Germans having to be vetted?

Answer 6

October 1946

Question 7

What new method was introduced to deal with the problem that too many Germans had to be vetted?

Answer 7

5 categories were decided upon with lesser offenders, who may have been members of the Nazi party but with little evidence they supported the regieme, being placed on prohbation for 2-3 years whilst they worked to rebuild Germany

Question 8

How many Germans were found to be in the more serious Nazi category?

Answer 8

90,000

Question 9

When were the Nuremburg Trials?

Answer 9

October 1946

Question 10

Who did the allies maintain a particular focus on during de-Nazification?

Answer 10

Soldiers

Question 11

Which prominent Nazi escaped from a prison camp ran by the allies?

Answer 11

Josef Mengeles - a Nazi doctor who carried experiments on people in Auschitz etc.

Question 12

When was the first Auschwitz trial held?

Answer 12

Poland 1947

Question 13

Which prominent Nazi was tried and exectued at the first Auschwitz trials?

Answer 13

Rudolf Hoss - the longest surving commander of the camp

Question 14

How many people were tried and executed at the first auscwitz trials?

Answer 14

6

Question 15

What was the aims of Adenauers policy of ‘Politics for the Past;?

Answer 15

Annulling many allied punishmnets for the millions of Germans who had been deemed to be Nazi sympathisers.

Question 16

When was an amnesty legislation passed and how many Germans did it benefit?

Answer 16

1951 - 800,000

Question 17

How many migrant workers were there from southern Europe in Germany?

Answer 17

8 million

Question 18

When was the KPD banned and why?

Answer 18

1956 - supporting the USSR’s actions in East Germany during the 1953 uprising there

Question 19

When and what was the Spiegel Affair?

Answer 19

1962 - journalists writing for Spiegel magazine had been arrested after criticising the FRGs armed forces

Question 20

When did the second amnesty law pass?

Answer 20

1954

Question 21

What did the second amnesty law do?

Answer 21

Annulled the British process of de-Nazification

Question 22

How many people were exonerated by the second amnesty law?

Answer 22

400,000

Question 23

When was the Neo Nazi Socialist Reich Party banned?

Answer 23

August 1852

Question 24

What % of Adenauers foreign office diplomats were former Nazis?

Answer 24

66%

Question 25

After the first Amnesty law how many Germans were returned to government administration?

Answer 25

150,000

Question 26

Who was Adenauers Minister of Refugees?

Answer 26

Hans Kruger who had participated in Hitler’s Munich Putsch of 1923

Question 27

When and how much did Adenauer pay to Israel?

Answer 27

10th September 1952 - DM 3 Billion