Perhaps the most controversial issue that faced the “Bonn Republic” throughout its existence was its relationship to the German past. Whereas the East German regime argued that Nazism's hatred of communism made the German Democratic Republic (GDR) fundamentally unresponsible for Germany's history before 1945, the Federal Republic enjoyed no such luxury. Though the myth of a Stunde Null enjoyed widespread popularity, acute West German observers from the beginning worried about the continued existence of institutions and prominence of individuals implicated in the crimes of Nazism. As Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democratic Union strove to establish the moral, as well as political, legitimacy of West Germany, many social scientists echoed the Social Democratic opposition in criticizing a “restoration” of preindustrial elites. The continued prominence of judges, lawyers, and civil servants, especially Hans Globke in the Chancellory, threatened the fundamental moral authority of the West German system. Similarly, the return to power of many Ruhr industrialists signaled to many the restoration of a capitalism that had brought Hitler to power.

The lack of deep structural reform in the Ruhr industrial basin proved fundamental to the restoration thesis. After all, in 1945, Ruhr industrialists were completely discredited. Not only socialists and Communists, but the Americans and British believed that the industrialists of the Ruhr had provided crucial support to Hitler. After Germany's defeat, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) emerged as the strongest political force in occupied Germany.