Yes, but for justice they would have had to arrest half of Germany and find prison guards that do not sympathise with the prisoners, so 99% foreigners. It was just impossible without Germany collapsing. And they probably wanted to avoid another treaty of Versailles.
Honestly, after WW2 and the horrors of it and the Holocaust, I’m mildly surprised that Germany wasn’t intentionally “collapsed” in a permanent way. Not just its division into zones but permanently dissolved as a geopolitical entity, with the allies flooding their respective zones with people to settle, work, and live in the region, and encouraging the German people to travel to their countries to dilute/absorb/assimilate the people and culture to the point that the actual land effectively became something between a territory and a colony of each ally (or even an outright annexation), with no moves toward creation of East and West Germany, nor any consideration of reunification.
I guess time has a way of healing wounds, but given the impact of the war and the acts of the nazi regime, I would have expected the allies, post-war to do everything in their power to prevent a German state from ever existing again.
Admittedly, I’m not as familiar with that time period as I am with the war itself, and such ideas are always easier said than done…but that’s always seemed like a more realistic course of events, to me, than what actually happened.
That is what happened at the of WW1 which created conditions that were a straight line into WW2.
The reality it is far better to support a people back into democratic, peaceful self-governed society vs perpetuate the damage and trauma of a bestial dictatorship.
How do you measure that, there’s no crime in Germany that’s in anyway related to the horrors of WW2 (I’m assuming). Most remnants feel guilty or ousted by society if they mention being part of war crimes. Very few would have found support in different parts of the world encouraging supremacy or something shady.
The purpose of punishments and prison system if to avoid repeat behavior which mostly happened anyways. So does still punishing them have any real value except for feelings of revenge?
Well, if you don’t even try to punish wrong behaviour it’s a bit like agreeing with it. Hey son, you did nothing wrong in killing the neighbors. Keep it up, Kyle.
some of them also became Austrian (or stayed in Austria) and went into politics after a very short while… (which is the origin story of the Austrian populist right-wing party “FPÖ” - their first leader was the former Nazi Minister of Agriculture and an SS officer)
No need to hide your nazism if you’re in Austria (even today)
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Yes, but for justice they would have had to arrest half of Germany and find prison guards that do not sympathise with the prisoners, so 99% foreigners. It was just impossible without Germany collapsing. And they probably wanted to avoid another treaty of Versailles.
Honestly, after WW2 and the horrors of it and the Holocaust, I’m mildly surprised that Germany wasn’t intentionally “collapsed” in a permanent way. Not just its division into zones but permanently dissolved as a geopolitical entity, with the allies flooding their respective zones with people to settle, work, and live in the region, and encouraging the German people to travel to their countries to dilute/absorb/assimilate the people and culture to the point that the actual land effectively became something between a territory and a colony of each ally (or even an outright annexation), with no moves toward creation of East and West Germany, nor any consideration of reunification.
I guess time has a way of healing wounds, but given the impact of the war and the acts of the nazi regime, I would have expected the allies, post-war to do everything in their power to prevent a German state from ever existing again.
Admittedly, I’m not as familiar with that time period as I am with the war itself, and such ideas are always easier said than done…but that’s always seemed like a more realistic course of events, to me, than what actually happened.
That is what happened at the of WW1 which created conditions that were a straight line into WW2.
The reality it is far better to support a people back into democratic, peaceful self-governed society vs perpetuate the damage and trauma of a bestial dictatorship.
How do you measure that, there’s no crime in Germany that’s in anyway related to the horrors of WW2 (I’m assuming). Most remnants feel guilty or ousted by society if they mention being part of war crimes. Very few would have found support in different parts of the world encouraging supremacy or something shady.
The purpose of punishments and prison system if to avoid repeat behavior which mostly happened anyways. So does still punishing them have any real value except for feelings of revenge?
Well, if you don’t even try to punish wrong behaviour it’s a bit like agreeing with it. Hey son, you did nothing wrong in killing the neighbors. Keep it up, Kyle.
Most of the top Nazi officials escaped to Argentina, and the more talented scientists ended up working for the US government.
some of them also became Austrian (or stayed in Austria) and went into politics after a very short while… (which is the origin story of the Austrian populist right-wing party “FPÖ” - their first leader was the former Nazi Minister of Agriculture and an SS officer) No need to hide your nazism if you’re in Austria (even today)