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Beyond War Crimes: Denazification, ‘Obnoxious’ Germans and US Policy in Franco's Spain after the Second World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2011

DAVID A. MESSENGER
DAVID A. MESSENGER*
Affiliation:
University of Wyoming, Dept. 3198, 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071–000; dmesseng@uwyo.edu
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Abstract

This work links the western Allies’ policy of denazification in occupied Germany to efforts to repatriate German intelligence agents and Nazi Party officials – so-called ‘obnoxious’ Germans – from the neutral states of Europe after the Second World War. Once on German soil, these individuals would be subject to internment and investigation as outlined in occupation policy. Using the situation in Franco's Spain as a case study, the article argues that new ideas of neutrality following the war and a strong commitment to the concept of denazification led to the creation of the repatriation policy, especially within the United States. Repatriation was also a way to measure the extent to which Franco's Spain accepted the Allied victory and the defeat of Nazism and fascism. The US perception was that the continued presence of individual Nazis meant the continued influence of Nazism itself. Spain responded half-heartedly, at best. Despite the fact that in terms of numbers repatriated the policy was a failure, the Spanish example demonstrates that the attempted repatriation of ‘obnoxious’ Germans from neutral Europe, although overlooked, was significant not only as part of the immediate post-war settlement but also in its bearing on US ideas about Nazism, security and perceived collaboration of neutral states like Spain.

Au-delà des crimes de guerre: la dénazification, les allemands ‘odieux’ et la politique américaine dans l'espagne de franco après la deuxième guerre mondiale

Cet article cherche à lier la politique alliée de dénazification de l'Allemagne occupée aux tentatives qui suivèrent la deuxième guerre mondiale de faire rapatrier des états neutres les agents secrets allemands et les officiels du parti Nazi – dénommés Allemands ‘odieux’. Une fois qu'ils étaient en Allemagne, ces individus seraient soumis aux procédés d'internement et d'examen stipulés par la politique d'occupation. L'Espagne de Franco sert d'étude de cas dans cet article, qui soutient que les nouvelles notions de neutralité suivant la guerre, ainsi que la poursuite déterminée d'un politique de dénazification, aboutirent à la création de cette politique de rapatriation, surtout aux Etats-Unis. La rapatriation donnait aussi moyen de mesurer, au sein de l'Espagne de Franco, le niveau d'acceptation de la défaite du Nazisme et du fascisme. Pour l'Amérique, la présence d'individus nazis signalait la persistance d'une influence nazie. L'Espagne réagit de façon peu satisfaisante. Le taux des rapatriations, on le voit à l'exemple de l'Espagne, démontre l'échec de cette politique qui, ciblant les Allemands odieux dans les pays neutres de l'Europe, représente un élément important de l'accord d'après-guerre. Par la même occasion, elle illumine les perceptions américaines du nazisme, de la sécurité, et de la collaboration des pays neutres.

Jenseits von kriegsverbrechen: entnazifizierung, ‘unausstehliche’ deutsche und die amerikanische politik gegenüber franco's spanien nach dem zweiten weltkrieg

Dieser Artikel verbindet die Analyse der alliierten Entnazifizierungspolitik im besetzen Deutschland mit der Darstellung von Versuchen, deutsche Geheimdienstagenten und Mitglieder der NSDAP – sogenannte ‘unausstehliche’ Deutsche – aus den neutralen Staaten nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zu repatriieren. Einmal auf deutschem Boden, durchliefen diese Personen Internierung und die durch die Besatzungspolitik vorgegebenen Untersuchungen. Indem dieser Artikel die Situation im Spanien Francos als Fallstudie verwendet, argumentiert dieser Aufsatz, das neue Konzepte von Neutralität nach dem Krieg und eine starke Betonung der Entnazifizierung besonders in den Vereinigten Staaten zur Formulierung der Repatriierungspolitik beitrugen. Die Frage der Repatriierung war außerdem geeignet, die Akzeptanz des Sieges der Alliierten und der Niederlage von Nationalsozialismus und Faschismus in Francos Spanien zu messen. In der Wahrnehmung der USA bedeutete die Anwesenheit ehemaliger Nationalsozialisten die weitere Bedeutung des Nationalsozialismus. Spanien reagierte nur halbherzig auf die amerikanischen Vorgaben. Obwohl man die Repatriierungspolitik schon aufgrund der geringen Zahlen als Fehlschlag einstufen muss, kann dieses Beispiel dennoch zeigen, wie die Repatriierung ehemaliger Nationalsozialisten aus dem neutralen Europa nicht nur ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Nachkriegsordnung wurde, sondern auch die amerikanische Wahrnehmung von Nationalsozialismus, Sicherheit und Kollaboration in scheinbar neutralen Staaten wie Spanien prägte.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 455 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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