When Germany surrendered and the war in Europe ended, the task of how to deal with Germany, hold Nazi officials accountable for their actions, root out Nazi ideals from German society, and decide how the allies would bring peace to the continent. The emergence of the cold war was almost immediate; the battle lines carved in Germany, especially in Berlin signaled a bitter rivalry that would last decades between the US and the USSR.
The Potsdam Agreement dealt with the occupation of Germany by the four Allied powers until a peace treaty could be established.
German occupation zones
After Germany’s surrender, Germany was divided into 4 zones of occupation. Unlike in Japan, Germany was stripped of its sovereignty. All territories gained by Germany from other countries were returned to those countries. The countries of France, Great Britain and the USSR each controlled a zone of occupation.
The capital of Berlin was located in the Soviet occupation zone. The city was also divided into 4 zones. Each controlled by an Allied nation. I will get more into this when we discuss the creation of the Berlin Wall but just to give you a timeline, Germany was not reunified until 1991 which was also the same time as the breakdown of the Soviet Union.
The Potsdam Conference created the Allied Control Council. This council would then issue directives that each Allied nation would carry out. The biggest issue with this was that each allied nation carried out those directives differently. The Soviet Union for example each allied nation carried out those directives differently. The Soviet Union for example considered all large landowning Germans to be Nazis and confiscated their land. They held elections but mandated that all political parties merge and become a communist party that would then be controlled by Moscow. The Soviets also disagreed with not having the Germans pay reparations. Their economy had been decimated by the war and they wanted Germany to pay. The Soviet Union seized German factories and production and refused to deliver food to the other zones. The Western allies had to then pay for the food for the German population through their own country’s tax dollars.
1/4th of Germany’s housing had been destroyed during the war. Infrastructure was destroyed and the economy was in ruins. High inflation plagued the country. We will talk about how the US helped West Germany and Western Europe rebuild after the end of WWII in a later podcast episode.
One of the biggest issues the Allies had to deal with was how to bring those responsible for Germany’s horrific actions during WWII to justice. Before the war in Europe ended, the Allies considered how to bring those responsible for this horrific war to justice. As far back as 1942, Allied governments, many of them in exile, began to call for the creation of an International court to try the Nazis for their war crimes committed in occupied countries. There was some resistance in holding these trials. Not because some felt the crimes weren’t worthy of prosecuting but because there had been failed attempts after WWI to hold individuals and countries responsible for horrific acts during the first world war. The Armenian genocide for example. It would not be until 1945 in the London Charter that the format for the trial would be outlined including where the trial would take place. Nuremberg was the site of Nazi rallies and the center of Nazi propaganda during WWII. It also hadn’t been damaged during the war. With the trials being held here, it would now symbolize the death of Nazi Germany and all that it stood for. The trial fittingly took place in the Palace of Justice which had been expanded to hold up to 1200 detainees.
The London charter set the parameters for the trial. An international military tribunal was created where each of the 4 major allies appointed a judge. Court proceedings were translated into English, French, Russian and German. Individuals and organizations were charged with war crimes, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Organizations like the secret police or gestapo were charged. The SS, which trace their roots back to the early 1920s when Germany was still the Weirmacht Republic. Over time, it grew into one of the most powerful units within the Nazi regime and was under the guidance of Heinrich Himmler. The SS was the organization whose units were in charge of the concentration camps and extermination centers. Members swore complete obedience to The Fuhrer. The SA which were the storm troopers or the Paramilitary of Nazi Germany. They were also sometimes referred to as The Brown Shirts. They helped Hitler rise to power. They often provided the security for Nazi rallies. The Reich cabinet was also brought up on charges. The cabinet was originally created by President Hindenburg of Germany as a way of controlling Hitler when Hindenburg proclaimed him Chancellor of Germany. Just 2 months after Hitler came to power, the Reich Cabinet passed the enabling act which allowed the cabinet to pass laws without the consent of President Hindenburg. It essentially made Hitler a dictator and the cabinet rarely met in full. The cabinet grew to include various government officials appointed by Hitler to run certain departments. By the end of the war, a number of cabinet members had committed suicide along with Hitler and couldn’t be tried for their crimes. People like Borman, Himmler & Goebbels. Of the 15 surviving members who were tried, only two were acquitted. 8 were sentenced to death and 6 were imprisoned.
The Nuremberg Trials set the stage for future trials to hold individuals accountable for crimes against humanity like in Rwanda. The trials were filmed and shown internationally. The Allies wanted to show the world that the Nazis were going to be held accountable for their actions. It was also a form of propaganda. The Allies were showing the world that this was going to be a fair trial. Defendants had legal representation, would have the opportunity to speak in defense of themselves and their actions and evidence would be shown to prove their guilt. The first trial was those of the major war criminals and began in November of 1945.
First came the work of outlining the charges or indictments. The major allies divided up the categories of charges and set to work. A new charge of crimes against humanity was used for the first time. It included crimes such as murder, extermination, deportation and enslavement. The term genocide was coined by a lawyer of polish & Jewish decent to describe the actions of the Nazis against the Jewish population of Europe. Representatives didn’t just consist of lawyers and judges, but also included social scientists, psychologists, translators, and even graphic designers who would be needed to create the necessary charts and graphs used during the proceedings.
Next came the task of organizing evidence. Harvard has an incredible resource of trial documents and evidence files if you’re interested in looking into this further. Thousands of Nazi Germany documents were used at the trial. The Nazis had destroyed as much as they could, but thousands of government documents remained as did photographs, film and eyewitness testimonies. This was the first time where film played a major role in a trial. Liberating armies took films of the camps as they liberated them. The graphic displays of the atrocities against the Jewish population of Europe provided evidence that no single document could do better. Lights were placed on the faces of defendants to see their reactions to the films. Thousands of individuals needed to be tracked down. The amount of those implicated were staggering. You have those who were giving the orders, those that carried them out. People had to drive the trains, they had to liquidate the ghettos. A questionnaire of about 80 questions was given to German citizens to probe their political affiliations. The Allies had to de -nazify Germany. The hope was that Nazi ideals would never again take hold in German society.
For those sentenced to death, the executions were carried out on October 16, 1946. The highest ranking Nazi official tried, Hermann Goering, committed suicide in his cell hours before the scheduled time of his execution. Goering was one the highest ranking Nazi officials and Hitler’s original selection to take over as his successor. In Hitler’s last will and testament he expelled Goering from the Nazi party and put Karl Donitz in as his successor instead. Goering committed suicide the night before his execution was to be carried out. He convinced a guard to get him a pill from his belongings. The pill was a cyanide capsule.
Some people were not brought to justice. Some high ranking officials were able to flee Germany by way of the ratlines. The ratlines were a series of escape routes mostly to South America. Nazi officials went to Spain, then on to Argentina. Another route took people to Rome and Genoa and finally South America. One such Nazi official who used these ratlines to escape Germany was the infamous Josef Mengele. Mengele also known as The Doctor of Death and performed all sorts of experiments on Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz II.
Most Nazis who were able to flee Germany settled in Argentina. US intelligence agencies even used these ratlines to maneuver scientists or other former Nazi officials from Germany to South America.
Operation Paperclip was the code name for the relocation of 1600 German scientists and technicians to the U.S. by Intelligence agencies so that they could work for the U.S. government. German technological advances, the ongoing war in the Pacific and the need to have military superiority after the war led to the search for the greatest minds of Nazi Europe, even if they had been guilty of war crimes. Many of these scientists became instrumental in the U.S. Space program.
Intelligence agencies created new backstories for many of these individuals. Werhner Von Braun, a weapons creator for the Nazis. Von Braun willingly surrendered to the Allies and in exchange for immunity, signed a one year contract with the US Army. His work helped to launch the first artificial earth satellite. He went on to work for NASA and his work was instrumental in a number of successful launches including the Apollo 8 moon orbit. became the head of NASA. The Cold War and the need to get ahead of the new enemy of the United States, superseded the need to bring those responsible to justice. The Soviets were also doing similar things with more force naturally. Stalin was no longer Uncle Joe… He was the Communist monster of the Soviet Union.
Klaus Barbie, The Butcher of Leon – was responsible for the deaths of 14,000 people. In 1947, he made a deal with American Intelligence officials. The US government helped him use the ratlines to flee to Bolivia after it got out that he was working for US intelligence. It takes decades, but he is tracked down to South America, brought back to France where he is put on trial, sentenced to life in prison and dies in the very same prison he once ran.
Displaced persons
When the war ended there were upwards of 6 million people who were considered displaced persons. Some were Holocaust survivors, political prisoners, forced laborers. Many of these individuals spent anywhere from 3 – 5 years in DP camps.
The International Refugee Organization was created in 1946 in order to handle the large number of displaced persons in the post WWII years. In 1948, the IRO became an agency of the United Nations. The IRO only worked within areas controlled by the Western Allies due to conflicts with Stalin. The United States funded 40% of the IRO’s budget which was in the 100s of millions. Over the course of 5 years, the IRO helped to rehabilitate 10 million people.
The Displaced Persons Act of 1946:
This act allowed for the resettlement of European refugees who had been displaced as a result of the war. There were strict limits. Any person who entered a refugee camp prior to 1945 was ineligible for a visa. All persons of Jewish ancestry who had been in Concentration camps were ineligible. President Truman renounced the bias of the act and stated he had signed it reluctantly. It wasn’t until 1950, that Truman was successful in persuading Congress to amend the act. Many of the displaced persons were sponsored by religious groups or individual families. They provided them with a place to stay and set up employment when possible. Almost 400,000 displaced persons had been given permanent residence in the US by this act.
The last individuals categorized as displaced persons left Germany in 1957.
Each of the Allied nations took responsibility for displaced persons in their own zone of occupation in Germany. They set up emergency centers to provide food, shelter, and medical care for the refugees and worked to classify them as quickly as possible and repatriate them to their country of origin if they were willing to return.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited displaced persons camp in Germany after the war. She wrote about her experience and the people she encountered there in her news column.
There is a feeling of desperation and sorrow in this camp which seems beyond expression. An old woman knelt on the ground, grasping my knees. I lifted her up, but could not speak. What could one say at the end of a life which had brought her such complete despair?
You can measure the extent of damage done to cities, you can restore water supplies, gas and electricity, and you can rebuild the buildings needed to establish a military government. But how to gauge what has happened to human beings—that is incalculable
These survivors often had already lost during the war years not only their homes and belongings but also much of what gave them their identity—their families, their physical appearance, their liberties, and their hopes and dreams. Displaced-persons camps were overcrowded and heavily guarded. Some were located in what had been Nazi concentration camps. Allied soldiers who managed DP camps were often bewildered or angered by the way Jewish survivors acted. Why did they sometimes fight for a loaf of bread or hoard food even when plenty was available? Why did some refuse to take showers or undergo de-lousing when other DPs did so without a fuss? The soldiers did not understand what was different about the Jewish DPs and how these survivors had been shaped by their experiences in Nazi camps. After hearing reports of poor camp conditions, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Allied military commander in Germany, agreed to create separate camps for Jewish DPs and to let Jewish relief agencies enter the camps so that they could work directly with survivors.
Creation of the state of Israel in 1948 – Truman shocked his advisors when he recognized the state of Israel. He was the first world leader to recognize the state of Israel only a mere 11 minutes after its creation.
This is an extensive topic, and I will discuss this more when we dive into the Presidency of Harry Truman and foreign affairs during his time in office. Just to give a brief overview: The area we know today as Israel, during the WWII years and earlier was known as Palestine. In 1917, the British government was given control over the region through the British Mandate which would last until 1948. It wasn't the only territory placed under British control; many of the regions were given independence, but not Palestine. Prior to this the region was controlled by the Ottoman Empire for 4 Centuries and collapsed after WWI. The population of Palestine in 1917 had a Jewish minority with Muslims and Christian groups being the larger groups within the region. Within the British Mandate was The Balfour Declaration which expressed support for a national home for the Jewish people within Palestine. From 1922 – 1947, large numbers of Jewish immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe, moved to Palestine. Significant protests erupted over British rule and immigration into the region. In 1947, the UN decided the fate of the region. The UN decided that there would be two separate states in the region, an Arab state and a Jewish state. Israel was established in 1948. Ensuing wars in the regions and the absorption of territories originally slated for the Arab state by Jordan and Egypt as well as by Israel has brought us to today where continued violence, war and death occupy the region and calls for the creation of a Palestinian state continue to this very moment. I understand this is a very condensed explanation and I’ve left out a significant amount of information but I did want to explain the background and why Truman’s recognition of Israel was so shocking and why it was so important.
When war finishes, the reconstruction of the continent begins. It was not a smooth transition to that. The amount of physical destruction is devastating. Bomb sites where neighborhoods used to be. Every major city, even in the countryside. Some cities, especially in Eastern Europe were leveled. Warsaw, Poland for example 90% of the city was destroyed. There is no rule of law in many of these places, weapons are readily available. You have millions of displaced persons. The biggest challenge that faced the newly created United Nations is what to do with all of these displaced persons. There are displaced Persons camps that are established throughout Europe. Some don’t want to go home, for many they did go home only to find other people living in their home and faced threats of violence for attempting to take their home back.
It is estimated that about 300,000 Germans were killed after liberation through violence. Ethnic cleansing continues to take place, even through 1947. Violence against Jewish people continued after the war. Properties belonging to Jews had been taken or given away. Communities didn’t want Jewish people to come back and attempt to reclaim their things. Violence was often the result. Kielce Pogram in 1946 in Poland saw the killings of over 40 Jewish refugees. Political wars and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia.
This is not the typical story that is told after WWII ends. We typically get right into things like the creation of The United Nations, The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.
The Nazis also seized the personal belongings of political dissidents, Jews and as they conquered major cities throughout Europe, they took precious works of art. Most of the pieces were cataloged. Hitler and the highest ranking Nazi officials were able to select some of the most famous pieces of art from around the world.
From 1945 to 1951, the Monuments Men and Women located and returned approximately 3,500,000 stolen works of art and cultural objects to the countries from which they had been taken. The receiving countries were then responsible for restoring each object to its rightful owner. The Monuments Men and Women also acted as custodians of at least 700,000 works of art and cultural objects belonging to German museums until such time as those museums were repaired or rebuilt. Despite their enormous success, hundreds of thousands of works of art and other cultural objects remain missing to this day.
