As Mark Felton reports, the postwar denazification agenda went more smoothly than expected. The Governor of the British sector, Bernard Montgomery, said the Germans looked as though they were waking from a nightmare, almost needing to be reassured that the darkness had gone. For example, he'd imposed a non-fraternisation law, having assumed there would be trouble in the bars and the dance-halls, when in fact there was almost none.
But the denazifying of minds was not as simple as ticking the required box, denying links to the Third Reich. Not only was there an instinctive nostalgia in the minds of those who identified the old regime with glory and kudos, whatever they claimed. But it would have been quite impractical to outlaw every veteran of the Hitler Youth (which had been compulsory for the relevant age-group), and there is no doubt that this large and industrious workforce was chiefly responsible for the German Economic Miracle of the 50's. At senior levels in particular, a blind eye was being turned to some quite prominent ex-Nazis, whose authority and skills were needed for the massive task of re-building the nation.
This is a good example of Felton's treatment of themes, with his concise script, never a word wasted, able to pack a lot of insight into its ten-minute ration. He even manages to fit-in a few clips of Allied newsreel, reminding us of what the cinema audiences were actually watching at the time.
But the denazifying of minds was not as simple as ticking the required box, denying links to the Third Reich. Not only was there an instinctive nostalgia in the minds of those who identified the old regime with glory and kudos, whatever they claimed. But it would have been quite impractical to outlaw every veteran of the Hitler Youth (which had been compulsory for the relevant age-group), and there is no doubt that this large and industrious workforce was chiefly responsible for the German Economic Miracle of the 50's. At senior levels in particular, a blind eye was being turned to some quite prominent ex-Nazis, whose authority and skills were needed for the massive task of re-building the nation.
This is a good example of Felton's treatment of themes, with his concise script, never a word wasted, able to pack a lot of insight into its ten-minute ration. He even manages to fit-in a few clips of Allied newsreel, reminding us of what the cinema audiences were actually watching at the time.