«Compulsion to democracy»: the administrative capacity in action within american zone of occupation in Germany (1945-1949)

The authors of this research strived to unveil in their article the main lines of “democratization” process in American occupation zone following the defeat of Nazi Germany and the extent to which the “administration capacity” was used for the realization of given policy. Throughout the research, it was determined, that the purpose of such capacity was significant due to the specifics of social fabric of Germany. Being under long-lasting Nazi dictatorship, the majority of Germans were incapable of instant transitioning into reality imposed by American models of culture, economics and politics. Realizing, that a simple lunch of such process is impossible, in the meantime seeking to deprive Germany of possibility to unwind a new world war, the American military government came to the right decision of necessity in conducting the “democratization” process by force, thus pushing Germans to move in the correct direction for Americans. The research builds on such central source as the directive JCS 1067 of the Supreme Commander of USA Forces (April 1945), that exposes main vectors of new policy of the democratization. As part of the reorganization of German political field, the procedure of denazification took place. The specifics of holding this resulted from the fact that nothing alike had ever been carried out before, therefore the precedents did not exist. As part of the earlier stages in realization of the policy mentioned above (Spring -Fall 1945), there were excesses, connected with false understanding that acknowledging the concept of “collective fault” from the German side would be that trigger initiating all of the following democratization mechanisms at the formation of new political and social landscape of Germany. In 1946 and 1947, Americans directed major efforts to blaming the key Nazi criminals and doing fundamental changes to the entire political system. Since 1948, the military administration had begun doing the state reconstructions, but not the social cleansing among Germans from Nazi's legacy. It is worth emphasizing, that a core focus on administrative regulation of democratization process was made on implementing implicit leverage. It is about licensing procedure, be it the political party foundation or publishing new press. The authors came to conclusion, that regardless of tough procedure of “democracy compulsion”, political and cultural reality in American occupation zone evolved rapidly and in general, the tasks given were resolved on formal grounds by summer 1948. By that moment, direct administration had not been used anymore, since American military government understood, that a fresh foundation for German state was established in American occupation zone and as a result, it was necessary to share the burden of German districts' leadership with Germans themselves, however in terms of the formation of independent West German State (1949).

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