Germany’s new Nazis prepared by the Anglo-Jewish Association Woburn House, – Prepared by the Anglo-Jewish Association at Woburn House, London. W.C.2. The official report of the British association that investigated the resurgence of Nazism in Germany after World War II – Nazi criminals who were responsible for the extermination of Jews returning to positions of leadership in German politics after the war. Published by Philosophical Library, London – New York, 1952.
A report prepared by a special British association that examined the ideology of the German population from the end of World War II, submitting its conclusions in 1951. The committee investigated how stable the democratic fabric of postwar Germany truly was, and whether the virus of the Third Reich still lingered in the hearts of the German people.
The committee found that West Germany’s democracy was built on ruins, and as such, it had failed to genuinely take root in the hearts of the German population. As a result, a natural resurgence began to emerge in neo-Nazi cells seeking to “return to the source.” A growing number of Germans felt that the German Federation was fragile.
A thorough examination by the committee led to the conclusion that by the late 1940s and early 1950s, no less than 317 nationalist-extremist organizations and parties were operating in Germany, all of which, without exception, demanded the restoration of the Third Reich. Throughout the report before us, the committee lists the names of these parties and organizations one after another, provides data on the Nazi views of their leaders, and demonstrates how they operate according to Nazi ideology. For example, in the offices of the D.S.P. (German Socialist Party), flags bearing swastikas were found. The “German Action” Party adopted a policy that all refugees must return to their homes within a unified Germany defined by its “historic” borders. Similarly, the “Steel Helmet” organization, originally established during the Weimar Republic and promoting a “nationalist German military revival, ” was resurrected. From this vacuum, in May 1951, the Socialist Reich Party was formed – an extreme right-wing party in Lower Saxony. The party received the majority of votes in the farmers’ elections. The committee examined the party’s composition and found that all its leaders were former Nazis, most of them members of the Nazi Party, and none denied or expressed shame about it. Many of them had even participated in the extermination of the Jews. For instance, figures such as Werner von Bargen, a representative of the German Foreign Ministry in occupied Belgium during the war and responsible for the implementation of anti-Jewish repression in Belgium, reappeared on the German political stage. So did Dr. Mohr, who executed the deportation of the Jews of Amsterdam to Mauthausen, and Dr. von Rintelen, who ordered the extermination of Jews deported from Romania—all of whom were active in far-right parties in Lower Saxony after the war. The committee compared the party’s constitution to Hitler’s 25-point program and found them identical in several points. The party demanded the release of all German generals convicted of war crimes and called for the restoration of the “honor” of the German soldier, exactly as the Nazi Party had done after World War I. The party’s emblem was almost identical to the Nazi symbol – a black eagle on a red background – and during its public rallies, explicit Nazi songs were sung.
The report concludes that the reorganization of the neo-Nazis and the return of Nazism to power in Germany, as well as the resurgence of antisemitism, constitute the greatest threat to postwar Germany. It emphasizes that Western leaders must treat this issue as a top priority, urging the immediate implementation of strict vetting procedures for any candidate who had been a former German officer, and it concludes that this effort is the very least that can be done in memory of the ten million victims of Hitler’s bloodthirsty madness.
X, 76 pp. Very good – good condition.
