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Hitlers Hitler Hitlers Legacy Hitlers Legacy is the first comprehensive, historical look at the ex-Nazi legacy in Germany from 1945 until the present day in any language. The author, as he stresses the major controversies engendered by the reappearance of Nazis in key positions, also looks at many of the other problems the Germans faced in resolving their Nazi legacy. The occupation and war crimes trials fulfilled the allies need for a sense of justice while they fueled German resentment. Many important Nazis regained responsible positions relatively quickly. An even greater proportion, including those at the pinnacle of the Hitler hierarchy, eventually received generous pensions from the postwar German exchequer.
Perhaps the most striking episode of favoritism towards ex- Nazis was the Heyde-Sawade affair. Werner Heyde, a neurologist, had been a coordinator of the Nazi program to physically eliminate those whom they considered inadequate to be part of the new master race. In 1947, Heyde escaped from American custody. Using forged documents Heyde crafted a new identity.
German authorities in Schleswig-Holstein, even though they knew his real identity, granted Heyde under his alias Fritz Sawade, the right to earn tidy statutory fees as a medical evaluator for the social courts. The public disclosure of these facts resulted in a major scandal in 1959. Heyde, on 13 February, 1964, just five days before he was due to stand trial for his Nazi era actions, committed suicide. This is the first full treatment of this story. Two short biographies summarize the careers of important Nazi officials who reemerged to play major roles in the postwar West German republic.
Hans Globke was a faceless but effective bureaucrat in the Nazi interior ministry who helped draft the Nuremberg racial purity decrees in 1935 and wrote the official legal commentary on them. This did not prevent him from becoming the permanent secretary and chief administrative right hand man to the first postwar chancellor of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, whom Globke loyally served during his entire 14 year term in office. The other person profiled is Theodor Oberl nder, still alive today at age 93. During the Nazi era, he was one of the leading exponents of German expansion eastwards.
He espoused a divide and rule method, favoring certain nationalities, particularly Ukrainians, as opposed to other nationalities he particularly despised, notably Poles and Jews, both of whom he indicated should be eliminated. After 1945, Oberl nder became a spokesman for Germans deported from the forfeited eastern provinces and from Czech territories. In 1953, Adenauer appointed him cabinet minister to defend the interests of those exiles. His role in the chancellors governing system was to gain the loyalty of former eastern residents and ex- fascists. On 29 April, 1996, Cologne prosecutors revealed that they were again investigating allegations that Oberl nder participated in the massacres Nazi forces carried out when they seized the Polish/Ukrainian city of Lw w (Lviv) on 29 June, 1941, based on information from files kept by the former East German regime. It also includes the first brief, comprehensive summary of major West German war crimes trials held since 1945.
It also examines efforts of ex-Nazis to prevent the truth from emerging. They hoped to sanitize their own reputations and the historical record of the Nazi regime. It is the first comprehensive look at the ex- Nazi legacy in Germany in any language. a
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Research essay sample on Nazi Era War Crimes
