Overview

On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany was defeated. Over-publicized, the Nuremberg trials sounded a few months later as the promise to purge Germany of a devastating ideology. But this task will quickly become wishful thinking. Despite their initial intentions, the Allies already know that it will be impossible to deal with the millions of Germans who have gravity around the Nazi Party. The onset of the Cold War soon pushed denazification into the background. Anxious not to deprive Germany of its vital forces for its reconstruction, the Americans and their allies reduce the purification to a simple questionnaire. In the Soviet zone, the hunt for former Nazis is above all a means of repression against opponents of the new regime. In the 1960s, German youth rediscovered Nazi crimes and demanded accountability from their parents.