Right-wing extremism has seen a steep rise in the Federal Republic of Germany. The far-right AfD party with openly fascist elements has become the second most popular party according to recent polls. Meanwhile, the state is ramping up its repression against left-wing activists like Lina E., who has gotten over 5 years in prison for allegedly attacking Nazis. The capitalist crisis facilitates a dangerous period, which makes it necessary to look at why Nazism is still alive in Germany, and how the country, in its fight against communism, (deliberately) failed to denazify after World War II.
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Sources:
- Adenauers Germany and the Nazi Past The Politics of Amnesty and Integration - Norbert Frei (1996)
- Brown Book (3rd edition) - Albert Norden, (1965)
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Online:
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Adenauer targeted not only the Communist Party of Germany and its sympathizers, but also popular resistance to the remilitarization that he sought. While persecuting communists, Nazis were slowly but surely lead back to occupying key positions in the new German state.
Not only did denazification stop, but it was deemed as having gone too far. So one of the first things that the Adenauer administration did was to pass amnesty laws, reducing the sentences of around 800,000 people, or even setting them free, including thousands of SA, SS, and [NSDAP] members who had been convicted for assault or murder, and for actively taking part in the transportation of victims to concentration camps.
[…]
Regarding the [Fascists] who were reintegrated into the Federal Foreign Office, Adenauer said, quote,
You can’t build a foreign office, if you don’t have people at least initially in the senior positions who understand something about the history of the past.
