Denazification in Soviet-Occupied Germany: Brandenburg, 1945-1948

by Timothy R. Vogt

Overview

In his study of Brandenburg, Germany, Timothy Vogt directly challenges both the "antifascist" paradigm employed by East German historians and the "sovietization" interpretive model that has dominated western studies. He argues that Soviet denazification was neither an effective purge of society nor part of a methodical "sovietization" of the eastern zone. Instead, in a detailed study, denazification is pictured as a failure, which fell short of its goals and was eventually abandoned by the frustrated Soviet and German leadership.The case example of Brandenburg is an effective means of putting "flesh and blood" into the study and giving the reader insight into both broader developments and the human actors who propelled events. The result is an analysis that is based not simply on policymakers and their policies, but rather on how policy was continuously reformulated in response to developments on the local level.

The study encompasses significant aspects of contemporary European history: everyday life in Nazi Germany, Germany's postwar coming to terms with its Nazi past, the Cold War division of Germany, postwar Soviet policy, and the construction of a one-party communist system in Eastern Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674003408
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Series:	Harvard Historical Studies , #137
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.25(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The Origins of Soviet Denazification Policy

2. The Purge Begins

3. Expropriation, Land Reform, and the PGs

4. The Denazification Experiment

5. The Denazification Commissions and the Purge

6. The Demographics of Denazification

7. The Varieties of Guilt and Innocence

8. Responses to the Nazi Period and the PGs in the New Germany

Conclusion

Appendix: Data Sample

Notes

Sources

Index

What People are Saying About This

This book is based on important new sources, offers fresh insights into what happened in East Germany in the early postwar years, and will stimulate further debate and research concerning the evolution of East Germany and its society.

Volker Berghahn

This book is based on important new sources, offers fresh insights into what happened in East Germany in the early postwar years, and will stimulate further debate and research concerning the evolution of East Germany and its society.
— Volker Berghahn, author of Imperial Germany, 1871–1914

Editorial Reviews

This book is based on important new sources, offers fresh insights into what happened in East Germany in the early postwar years, and will stimulate further debate and research concerning the evolution of East Germany and its society.

Volker Berghahn