DENAZIFICATION OF THE IDEOLOGY OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM IN OCCUPIED GERMANY 1945–1949

The policy of denazification pursued by the victors in occupied Germany, which is discussed in the article, is reflected in published sources, research, and memoirs. However, most of them concern practical measures aimed at eliminating the Nazi regime, primarily the identification and punishment of war criminals. It was much more difficult with the ideology of Nazism, which had penetrated deeply into German society. The problem was also the initial lack of understanding of its content and role in the formation of a totalitarian regime. The war had showed what a real threat to humanity the ideas and designs of German fascism, striving for world domination, posed. During the occupation period, the Allies had to rebuild the education system, upbringing, culture, social relations, and social life of the Germans. The ambiguity of approaches, which took place in the policy of all the occupation authorities in Germany, nevertheless showed us that the main tasks of denazification were indeed solved. However, the process of “overcoming the totalitarian pastˮ did not end there and had its continuation in the German history of the second half of the 20th century.