After Occupation: Why Didn't Germany Hold a Grudge?

Music (in order of appearance):
Alex Bird - March
Pink Zebra - Swingin Blues for Oscar
Kevin Macleod - Jazz Brunch
Alex Rufire - Anime Fight
Remstunes - Bebop Jazz Rocker
Kevin Macleod - Beauty Flow
Matthew Pablo - Blue Chase

[dibaterman]

So Jacks here talking about Nazi's then says the sponsor is his heritage. Not looking at the screen at the time makes it better. XD

[stargazer-elite]

Germany: we’re so sorry about the horrible things we did during the war
Italy: us too
Japan: war? What war I don’t remember any war…

[dariusgunter]

As a German I'd argue what killed the Nazi idiology in Germany was the generation after the war. The fact so many Nazis got away, the fact no one made excuses for Nazism on a large scale, the fact the blame was accepted early on, allowed the following generation to see, read and learn about the unfairness of the original nürenberg trials and they went to correct them.

[-MarcelDavis-]

As a German, I'd argue that change was also in part driven by the next generation, the "68er Bewegung". The people who lived during the Nazi era were all to happy to either sweep the atrocities under the rug, justify them as a necessary evil or openly contest that Germany was in the wrong altogether (people neither like being told, nor do they like to view themselves, as evil. No matter how heinous the crime, people will find a way to justify it to themselves if given the chance). However the next generation of Germans started asking questions and wouldnt take "it was just a war like any other" as an answer. They demanded complete denazification and antifacism and that we acknowledge our past. Another important bit was the economic miracle, as you said. Besides providing jobs, food and shelter for the people, the economic upturn was also a source of pride, which is more important than people might think.
The treaty of Versailles for example, wasn't actually all that special or harsh when compared to other treaties of it's time (in terms of reperations). What really riled up the people wasn't the reperations but the "Kriegsschuldparagraph", the article about who's to blame for the war. The people thought it was insulting that Germany alone was blamed for WW1 (it was very much a group effort). Neutering the military, which was quite possiblly the main source of pride in such a militaristic society as impirial Germany, didn't go down well either.

[ottovonbismarck]

7:27, I believe Hoover was a major humanitarian during WW1, responsible for supplying food to civilians, including in Germany and in the former Russian empire during their civil war. Regarding his efforts in Russia, he said something to the effect of “i don’t care if I’m feeding the Bolsheviks there are millions of people starving and someone needs to help them.”

That’s probably why his input was so significant.

[Elitist]

I think there's a German word that translates as 'labour of remembrance' describing things like the Berlin Holocaust memorial and stolpersteins ('stumbling stones' - brass plaques placed on the pavement outside the homes of holocaust victims). While the Germans of the 40s, 50s, and 60s wanted to forget, later generations started to ask uncomfortable questions of their elders about what happened. It's an ongoing process.
UPDATE: Reading some of the comments, I'm reminded of the line of Brecht's at the end of 'Cross of Iron':
"Don't rejoice in his defeat, you men.
For though the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
The bitch that bore him is in heat again."

[LoneBarren]

I think 2 extremely important factors you left out were the Marshall Plan and the subsequent Berlin Airlift. It signalled that there was a future for Germany in co-operation with the west. It showed that not only did they have a common enemy, but that their new allies were willing to go above and beyond to help them despite the war just 3 years earlier. That their commitment to assisting Germany was not just for show but was real

[Taquito_Rat]

1:55 that's so tragic. I'm sorry to hear that.

[adamporter]

"Come back. Stalin is not a man who solves his problems with purges." Brilliant 😂

[uleubner]

My father was German, born in the 1930s. His early memories include the occupation.

One thing to remember is that Germans knew that it was personally dangerous to defy or upset occupation forces. You don't tell the people with the guns the things that you really think, you tell them the things they want to hear. So there are certain biases that the descendants of Allied occupation forces heard from German civilians.

The Western allies also had the silent threat of pointing to the Russians. "If you don't behave yourselves, we can leave and let *them* have at you.

[christopherg]

The defeat was intentionally made unambiguous. The allies did _not_ want another "Stab in the back" myth.
They were actually pretty worried about someone managing to kill Hitler. Because that one might have surrendered early.

[AFGuidesHD]

"What stopped the Germans from coming back" lmao
but hey, watch this space, only time will tell.

[SeruraRenge]

On a side note, it's funny that people talk up Operation Paperclip at the war's end as though we welcomed the German scientists with open arms, but in reality it was a lot closer to, "Ok, you can either come work for us and be under our watch for the rest of your lives as you build technology for we can hand you over to the Soviets that you spent the last four years developing weapons to kill and see how they treat you."
It was really blackmail more than anything because they knew if they stayed anywhere near East Germany it was only a matter of time before they get shot.

[Idk-yffv]

The key to de-radicalisation does end up being economic growth. Unhappiness is why we want change so making people not starve is how you prevent drastic change. The Weimar Republic was somewhat fine during the roaring twenties and the Nauis knew that they had to act in 1933 because the economy was recovering and once it had they might not have had another shot at seizing power.

Note that I'm German so those are the examples I've been exposed to the most so I'm obviously biased and working with a small sample size but I still think it somewhat holds up

[eljanrimsa]

You didn't mention the Montanunion, the idea to combine the heavy industry in France, Germany and the Benelux. The economic cooperation between France and Germany was a controversial new approach in both countries, but it worked out really well, it brought together the former arch enemies, and was the first step to what is now the European Union.

[BruderSenf]

my gramps was quit pissed after his denazification (man was a veterinarian and to study he kinda had to join the nsdap), the denazification was like:

american officer: you a nazi?
gramps: no, not really i joined to study veteri...
american officer: good, 120$ (equivalent) pleas!

[terred]

One thing you did not mention was that there was a politocal post war consensus. Adenauer and many other important politicians, especially social democrats, were people who were caged, fled or straight up put into concentration camps during the nazi regime, so their positions were often quite intensly anti-nazi.
(To be fair, there were still Nazis even in Adenauer's close circle)

[tirididjdjwieidiw]

Napoleon didn’t split germany, he created the confederation of the rhine to administer some of the german states more effectively. The holy roman emperor who was emperor of austria as well, didn’t want napeleon to take the title, so he dissolved the holy roman empire

[surrelljr]

Some of my friends were/are German, very rarely does the subject come up. When it does, they are hesitant and I can tell and have been told it is a dark mark on their history, something that they are not proud of. They are still proud to be German, just not good for their national conscience. They’re great friends and I never hesitate to help them if they need it.

[nathanseper]

I'm glad to see you glossing over the romanticized parts of this era and are instead focusing on the backroom dealing that is just as important in shaping the world.