Democratization of Germany after the Nazi Rule
The History of the rise of the Nazi regime can be traced back to the 1920s when Hitler was released from prison and reestablished his NSDAP party. In 1932 Hitler and Hindenburg contested against each other in an election where Hindenburg won. Though the Nazi were defeated the election marked a great moral victory for them. The unrest caused by the Nazi supporter still persisted in the German streets causing great political instability in Germany. On January 1933 Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor in an attempt to quell the Nazi’s unrest.
Hindenburg died in August 1934 and Hitler ascended to power as his successor, marking the beginning of the Nazi rule. The Nazi government endeavored to unite the nation in support of their policies through extensive propaganda. Hitler established foreign policies that begun to put Germany into conflict with the Neighboring countries and ended up in the launching the Second World War in 1939. The war led to Germans defeat on May 1945 when German surrendered to the Ally countries that fought against it which included USA, UK, France and USSR (Turner, 1992).
The allies moved into Germany and occupied the country dividing it into four sectors occupied by each of the Ally country. The three sectors occupied by the western allies, USA, UK and France, became West Germany while the sector occupied by the USSR became East Germany. Similarly, the capital city of Germany, Berlin was also divided into four sectors each occupied by the four ally nations (Turner, 1992). The sectors occupied by the three western allies became West Berlin while the sector occupied by USSR became East Berlin. East and West Germany were reunited into one country and the two sides of the Berlin city were reunited into one in 1990.
After the fall of Hitler and the end of Nazi rule in 1945, the process of democratization and civilization of German society begun. The Nazi regime had deeply implanted certain cultures that needed to be purged in order for the society to move on from the Nazi dictatorship rule into democracy. One of the cultures that needed to be purged from among the German people is their perception towards the West (Jarausch, 2006).
One of the ideologies that made the Nazi rule to be supported by most Germans is its foreign policies. The Nazi government had strong foreign policies that rejected foreign treaties and agreement that most Germans viewed as comprise to the western values. Hitler rejected foreign policies on collective security and advocated bilateral agreement which gave him popularity among the Germans. For the process of democratization to begin the Germans had to change their perceptions towards the western countries such as USA, UK and France and start viewing them as partners rather than enemies. This created a favorable international environment and favorable partnerships for Germany which made it recover quickly from the effects of the war.
Another process that was crucial for the recovery of Germany from the Nazi regime was the demilitarization of the German society (Jarausch, 2006). The Nazi regime had used propaganda to install fear among Germans that they were under threats from foreign forces. The Nazi government compelled many Germans to join the military in order to protect their country from foreign adversely. Many Germans accepted this national duty willingly while others were forced to serve making Germany to be the country with the largest army troops in Europe at the time.
The German culture became highly militarized and the German citizens were always ready to support foreign aggression by their country. With the fall of the Nazi, the German society had to be demilitarized. The external forces formed by the allies prohibited wearing of uniform and any military activity among the German citizenry. Germans’ experiences during the world war also resulted in a popular distancing from militarism among them.
The third culture that needed to be removed is that of ethnicity and intolerance of other cultures (Jarausch, 2006). Cultures that were viewed as having contrary opinion to the Nazi ideologies were alienated and oppressed. The Jews were the greatest victims of the Nazi regime as this period saw a good number of them tortured and killed as they were viewed as not being one of the cultures of the Germans. Over six million Jews were killed around the world during this time.
Nazi also attempted to muscle and subordinate the Christian churches under their control as they viewed them as a threat to their rule. The churches were forced to accept direction from handpicked national bishops. For democracy to be restored in Germany the Germans needed to embrace nationalism and national identity. Every culture existing in Germany needed to be viewed as part of the German culture and the Germans needed to build on a national identity rather retreating into ethnic identities.
The Fourth change that needed to be made is the replacement of the Nazi Germany’s cooperative capitalism system with social market and planned economies. Germany had been worst affected by the great depression and the Nazi economic policies formed a major success in reviving the German economy. The Nazi economic policies offered a quick fix solution to the Germans who had lost faith in democracy and the free market system. This system gave a means for the government to control the society as it could control the markets. German needed to restore the free market system and create a planned and an open economy society.
References
Turner, H. (1992), Germany from Partition to Reunification, New Haven, YaleUniversity Press.
Jarausch, K. (2006), After Hitler, Re-civilizing Germans, 1945-1995, New York, OxfordUniversity Press
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