1. Occupation zones for Germany, Austria, & Berlin, May 1945
Map published by the U.S. Army in Frankfurt a.M. in 1945 to inform German citizens about the partition of Germany into four occupation zones.
SOURCE: Hans Ottomeyer and Hans-Joerg Czech, eds., _Deutsche Geschichte in Bildern und Zeugnissen_ (Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 2007), p. 290.

2. Two American soldiers examine a wagonload of corpses at Buchenwald in April 1945
Two American soldiers look at a wagonload of corpses in Buchenwald in April 1945.
[Bildersammlung: Kriege, Krisen & Konflikte. The Yorck Project: Das große dpa-Bildarchiv, S. 142
(vgl. dpa, S. 43) (c) 2005 The Yorck Project]

3. Starving prisoners at KZ Vaihingen, freed in April 1945
Liberated prisoners at the Concentration Camp of Vaihingen, April They have agreed to pose naked for the camera to document for the world the effects of the starvation diet provided in Nazi labor camps. SOURCE:

4. Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton view the bodies of camp inmates in Ohrdruf on April 12, 1945
Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and Goerge Patton view the bodies of concentration camp inmates in Ohrdruf, Germany, on 12 April From Michael Berenbaum, THE WORLD MUST KNOW: THE HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST AS TOLD IN THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM (Boston & New York, 1993), p. 9.

5. A German woman sobs as American soldiers force her to view corpses
A German woman sobs as she is compelled by American GIs to confront the corpses of victims of Nazi persecution at a local concentration camp in May From Stuermer, GERMAN CENTURY, p. 208.

6. The Potsdam Conference, July 1945: Clement Attlee, Harry Truman, and Stalin
The Postdam Conference (July 17-August 2) defined the framework for the Allied occupation of Germany. The summation of the protocols of the conference is known as the Potsdam Accord, although it was not an actual legal agreement. The central points were the so-called four D's: denazification, democratization, demilitarization, and dismantling of corporate entities. Present in the garden of the Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam are (from left): the new British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, U.S. President Harry Truman, and the Soviet state and party leader Joseph Stalin. Potsdam (August 2, 1945). Photographer unknown.
SOURCE:

7. THE POTSDAM ACCORD ANNOUNCED THESE OBJECTIVES:
“The complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany and the elimination or control of all German industry that could be used for military production.”
“To destroy the National Socialist Party…, to dissolve all Nazi institutions.”
“To prepare for the eventual reconstruction of German political life on a democratic basis.”
“War criminals… shall be arrested and brought to justice.”
“All members of the Nazi Party who have been more than nominal participants in its activities… shall be removed from public office and from positions of responsibility in important private undertakings.”
“German education shall be so controlled as completely to eliminate Nazi and militarist doctrines and to make possible the successful development of democratic ideas.”
“The German economy shall be decentralized for the purpose of eliminating the present excessive concentration of economic power as exemplified in particular by cartels, syndicates, trusts and other monopolistic arrangements.”
SOURCE:

8. “26 million dead are accusing! In Nuremberg there is a reckoning!”
"26 million dead are accusing! There is a reckoning in Nuremberg!"
Placard distributed in all four occupation zones in 1945/46 to advertise the proceedings of the International Military Tribunal. From

9. The historic city of Nuremberg in the summer of 1945
The destruction of Nuremberg at the end of the Second World War. SOURCE: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der BRD, ed., _Erlebnis Geschichte_, 4th edn (Bonn, 2003), p. 112.

10. Opening session of the Nuremberg Trial, November 20, 1945
The opening Nuremberg trial session of November 20, The defendants sit on the right, behind their defense attornies; the prosecutors sit facing each other at the long tables in the middle of the hall, with reporters at the rear of the hall and the public in the balcony. The judges and stenographers sit at the left.
[Bildersammlung: Kriege, Krisen & Konflikte. The Yorck Project: Das große dpa-Bildarchiv, S. 145
(vgl. dpa, S. 44) (c) 2005 The Yorck Project]

11. THE INDICTMENT AT NUREMBERG (drafted primarily by Justice Robert H
THE INDICTMENT AT NUREMBERG (drafted primarily by Justice Robert H. Jackson)
CRIMES AGAINST PEACE (based on the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928, whose signatories pledged “to renounce war”).
CRIMES OF WAR (as defined by the Hague Convention on the Rules of Land Warfare and the Geneva Convention of 1929).
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: participation in mass murder, the use of slave labor, or the suppression of religion (an unprecedented charge).
CONSPIRACY to commit one of the acts listed above (unprecedented under international law).
“Duress” was acknowledged as a legitimate defense, but NOT the mere receipt of orders from a superior.

12. The top-ranking defendants at Nuremberg: Göring, Hess, Ribbentrop, and Keitel
Ende Deutsches Reich, Nürnberg.
In Nürnberg wird vor dem Internationalen Militärgerichtshof gegen die Hauptangeklagten des Nationalsozialismus verhandelt: 1. Reihe von links: Hermann Göring, Rudolf Heß, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner und Alfred Rosenberg; 2. Reihe von links: Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl und Franz von Papen.
Nicht im Bild die ebenfalls Angeklagten: Martin Bormann (gegen den in Abwesenheit verhandelt wird), Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Hans Fritzsche, Walter Funk, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Konstantin von Neurath, Hjalmar Schacht, Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Albert Speer und Julius Streicher. Der Prozeß beginnt am 20. November 1945 und endet am 1. Oktober 1946 mit der Urteilsverkündung: Todesurteile gegen Göring (der sich durch Selbstmord der Hinrichtung in der Nacht vom 15./16. Oktober 1946 entzieht), von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyß-Inquart, Bormann (in Abwesenheit), lebenslänglich Zuchthaus für Heß, Funk, Raeder, 20 Jahre Gefängnis für Schirach, Speer, 15 Jahre von Neurath, 10 Jahre Dönitz, Freispruch für Schacht, von Papen und Fritzsche.
[Bildchronik: Das Dritte Reich, S. 8209]

13. VICTORS’ JUSTICE? Sentenced to death:
Göring, Ribbentrop, Gen. Keitel, Gen. Jodl, Alfred Rosenberg, Wilhelm Frick, Seyss-Inquart, Fritz Sauckel, Bormann [in absentia], Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, and Julius Streicher
Life imprisonment:
Walter Funk, Rudolf Hess, Admiral Raeder
Prison terms of 10 to 20 years:
Albert Speer, Baldur von Schirach, Konstantin von Neurath, Admiral Dönitz
Acquitted (over Soviet protest):
Franz von Papen, Hjalmar Schacht, Hans Fritzsche (Propaganda Ministry)

14. Carl Krauch stands during interrogation at the IG Farben trial conducted by the U.S. military in 1947/48
The USA conducted 12 follow-up trials in Nuremberg with a total of 185 defendants

15. The U. S. , British, & French occupations collected 6
The U.S., British, & French occupations collected 6.7 million of these questionnaires.
3.66 million Germans had denazification hearings:
25,000 were classed as “major offenders”
150,000 were “minor offenders”
1 million were “fellow travelers”
The Allies banned the first two groups from any government job.

16. “Black Becomes White: Or ‘Mechanical Denazification’” (Simplizissimus, Munich, 1946)
"Black Becomes White, or Automatic Denazification" (1946)
"Jump right in! What can happen to you,
You black sheep from the brown house!
You'll be painlessly rehabilitated.
You'll come out as snow-white lambs.
We know: you were never involved!
(The others are always the guilty ones.)
How quickly the bad turn into good --
Here you see it in black and white."
J. Menter
This caricature deals in an ironic, critical way with the problematic results of the denazification program. Under the supervision of an Allied officer of the occupation armies (above right, with a long list in his hand), the "denazifier" in Bavaria (the Bavarian pennant is seen at the left) turns "black sheep from the brown house" (the NSDAP headquarters) into innocent white lambs, who now wear the Christian cross around their necks and hold flowers. The inscription on the machine suggests that the patent for the "denazifier" belongs to Heinrich Schmitt, the Bavarian special minister for political liberation, who was responsible for carrying out the denazification program. Observed by a group of spectators (who apparently bear no political responsibility for the Nazi crimes), the innocent lambs pass in front of the Bavarian government and a representative of the church (middle of picture, in pulpit). The banner at the left reads: "There will be more joy over one sinner who repents than over ten righteous persons," an ironic reference to Luke 15:7. Caricature by Max Radler ( ) from Simplizissimus (1946).
SOURCE:

17. German Denazification Committee, Berlin, 1946: The British relied on German victims of persecution
Denazification Committee, Berlin, From FRAGEN AN DIE DEUTSCHE GESCHICHTE, #263.

18. “International Memorial Day for the Victims of Fascist Terror,” Berlin, September 12, 1949
"International Memorial Day for the Victims of Fascist Terror," Berlin, 12 September The emblem of the Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes featured the red triangle that had marked political prisoners, most of them members of the Communist Party, in the concentration camps of the Third Reich. Note how this political symbol overshadows the Star of David. From Dieter Vorsteher and Maike Steinkamp, eds, THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: PHOTOGRAPHS OF GERMAN HISTORY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE GERMAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM (Heidelberg: Wachter Verlag, 2004), p. 183.

19. The Soviets convicted tens of thousands
The Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss, being turned over to the Polish authorities in 1945.
Western military tribunals in Germany convicted 5,000 war criminals and executed 486
The Soviets convicted tens of thousands
West German tribunals imprisoned 6,100
Over 50,000 Germans stood trial in occupied countries; in Poland alone, 631 were hanged
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Ho"ss, is turned over to the Polish authorities for judgment. From HEISS UND KALT, p. 105.
See the article on War Crimes Trials at

20. Konrad Adenauer (CDU) sworn in as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, September 1949
Inauguration of Konrad Adenauer as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949)
In the first election of the German Bundestag, on August 14, 1949, the CDU [Christian Democratic Union] emerged as the strongest faction, and, against strong opposition, Konrad Adenauer organized a middle-class coalition without the participation of the SPD [Social Democratic Party]. The Bundestag began its session on September 7; on September 15, it elected Adenauer as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany by one vote (his own). On September 20, 1949, President Theodor Heuss (right) swore in Adenauer on the constitution. Photographer unknown.
SOURCE:

21. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the U. S
When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the U.S. Government instructed Dwight D. Eisenhower as NATO commander to raise an army of 40 divisions to defend Western Europe. In August Adenauer volunteered to help.
The Korean War of 1950/51.
SOURCE: Richard Holmes, ed., _The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course of History_ (New York: Viking, 1988), p. 282.

22. “WARNING! THE EUROPEAN DEFENSE FORCE WILL REVIVE THE WEHRMACHT” (French Communist poster, 1952)
"Be alert! The European Defense Treaty will revive the Wehrmacht. Demand of your elected representatives that they reject the agreements between Bonn and Paris" (PCF, ). The terrifying German soldier with a hand grenade wears the insignia of the Waffen-SS. SOURCE:

23. “NATO: His Comrades, our Allies” (West Germany, 1955/56)
This placard celebrates the integration of the Bundeswehr into NATO and shows a West German soldier flanked and supported by the British, Italians, Americans, and French. SOURCE:

24. “Negotiating is better than saber-rattling” (trade union rally against rearmament, ca. 1955)
"Negotiating is better than rattling sabers." The flanking banners remind viewers that the First World War caused 10 million deaths, and the Second, 55 million. DGB rally against rearmament, ca From HEISS UND KALT, p. 297

25. ADENAUER’S POLICY TOWARD THE PAST: LET BYGONES BE BYGONES…
Dec. 1949: Amnesty Law for all sentenced to up to 1 year for economic crimes and 6 months for other crimes in ; 792,000 Germans benefit. In 1946 only 5% of West Germans polled termed the Nuremberg Trial unfair, but 30% did so in : New civil service law mandates the rehiring of 150,000 purged government employees. 1954: New Amnesty Law pardons most crimes committed during the “time of collapse.” In 1958 a meeting of West German state prosecutors resolves to intensify prosecutions.
See Norbert Frei, Adenauer’s Germany and the Nazi Past: The Politics of Amnesty and Integration (New York, 2002).

26. In the SPD Hessian state’s attorney tried 22 Auschwitz guards for murder. Six were sentenced to life in prison and another 11 to prison terms of years.
Participants in the Auschwitz Trial visit the camp on December 14, Dr. Franz Lucas (in the middle, with hat) was the only defendant to participate in this field trip.
Fritz-Bauer-Institut, Frankfurt/Main;
SOURCE:
In accord with German law, they were only charged with murder if acting on their own initiative, out of “personal” motives.

27. DER SPIEGEL asked on March 10, 1965, whether the statute of limitations should apply to war crimes…
The SPIEGEL cover of March 10, 1965 asked whether the statute of limitations should apply to war criminals, and the magazine published an interview with Karl Jaspers under the title, "There is no statute of limitations for genocide."
SOURCE:
Heil mir! Lese soviel von Verjährung und so - liegt gegen mich was vor, bittschön?
Karikatur der Satire-Zeitschrift "Simplicissimus", 1965, Heft 1.
Wigg Siegl
Simplicissimus Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H.
München, 2. Januar 1965
“Heil myself. Been reading lately about the statute of limitations. Are there any warrants out on me?”

28. Heinrich Lübke (CDU), President of the Federal Republic from 1959 to 1969, is 3rd from the left in this photo from 1942 of Armaments Minister Fritz Todt at Peenemünde
Heinrich Lu"bke (President of the Federal Republic, ), 3rd from the left, smiles as Armaments Minister Fritz Todt visits the rocket testing ground at Peenemu"nde, built with slave labor from the concentration camps. He was the deputy director of construction for the firm which built the site, and he also accepted substantial commissions for designing concentration camps for the SS. From HEISS UND KALT, p. 633.

29. “We need enlightenment
“We need enlightenment!” about the Nazi past of high officials (student protest, 1967/68)
"We need clarification!" (Aufklaerung was also the historic term for "enlightenment".) Student protesters demand aggressive investigation of the pasts of leading politicians in the FRG, 1967/68. From HEISS UND KALT, p. 634.

30. “Killers Wage War against the State,” Der Spiegel, 12 September 1977
“Killers Wage War against the State,” Der Spiegel, 12 September The Red Army Faction targeted the industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer as a former member of the SS and NSDAP.
“Killer-Krieg gegen den Staat,” Der Spiegel, 31. Jg., Nr. 38, from the Haus der Geschichte, Bonn, This is the picture sent by the RAF to the police to prove that their abductee, the business leader Hans Martin Schleyer, was still alive. They killed him shortly thereafter, because the authorities refused to liberate their imprisoned comrades.