From Crusade to Hazard

Bianka J. Adams

doi:10.5771/9780810875029

Summary

From Crusade to Hazard: The Denazification of Bremen Germany relates how the American and British combat forces and military government officers occupied, administered, and denazified Bremen and its environs from 1945 to 1947. The three distinct phases in administering Bremen had a profound impact on the denazification of the city. Denazification legislation was first determined by the Americans, then by the British, and then again by the Americans. Throughout, denazification teams tried to find a middle way between the American dictum of a radical purge of the whole population and the less ambitious British goal of only cleansing the administration.

This delicate balancing act led to an implementation of a purge that was unique to the Bremen enclave. While it succeeded in discovering and punishing many of the main functionaries of the Nazi regime, it also fell victim to its own ambition and collapsed underneath the weight of its administrative processes. As deadlines and waning governmental support forced a quick end to the program, the bloated denazification bureaucracy resorted to classifying most of the remaining cases as benign "followers," even when they hardly deserved that label. At a time when interest in de-politicizing old classes of administrators affiliated with dictatorial regimes is being increasingly fueled by contemporary world events, this book is a particularly valuable contribution.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2009
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8108-5992-0
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8108-7502-9
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 167
Product type: Book Titles

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. Introduction No access
4. Maps No access
1. Moscow 1943 No access
2. The Bremen Compromise No access
1. Operational Planning at SHAEF No access
2. American Denazification Policy No access
3. JCS 1067 No access
4. The British Zone: British Denazification Policy No access
1. School of Military Government, Charlottesville, Virginia No access
2. Infighting in Washington No access
3. Civil Affairs Staff Centre, Southlands House,Wimbledon Common No access
4. Final Preparations No access
5. First Experiences: Establishing Order in the U.S. Zone No access
6. The American Denazification Program No access
7. The British Zone No access
8. British Denazification Practices: Keeping It Simple No access
9. German Denazification Panels No access
1. 1945: The American Denazification No access
2. 1946: The British Denazification No access
3. 1947: The Americans Again No access
4. 1948: The Beginning of the End No access
1. Reopening the Schools No access
2. Lasting Problems: Textbooks for a Democratic Future No access
3. Training New Teachers No access
4. Long-Term Effects of U.S. Reeducation Efforts No access
Conclusion No access Pages 145 - 150
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations No access Pages 151 - 154
Bibliography No access Pages 155 - 162
Index No access Pages 163 - 166
About the Author No access Pages 167 - 167