“Stunde Null”, translating to “Zero Hour”, was a pivotal time in German history. With the collapse of the Nazi regime, the german people faced “Niederlage” (defeat), something that didn’t take place before then. Unlike in the first World War, the german people were expected to “Bedingungslose Kapitulation” surrender unconditionally. Germans had lost their rights and Germany was carved up. Germany had lost its sovereignty, there was no German government, no representation of the german people and german territory was occupied by the allied forces. It was a time marred with great defeat and great shame. The term “Stunde Null” was a used to mark both an ending of World War Two and the start of a ‘new’, non-Nazi Germany.1 It was in part trying
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Due to the enormous loss of human life and wide scale migration. With between 5.55 and 6.96 million German soldiers and civilians dead, one million prisoners of war in Russia, and thousands left wounded, crippled, disfigured. It is estimated that up to 500,0007 civilians died as victims of the air raids. With a further 4,000 dying daily, in Berlin alone, in August 1945, because of the cholera and diphtheria epidemics. With this the population shrank and the demographics were significantly altered, 4.3 million lived in Berlin before the war, but only 2.8 million afterwards. One quarter of the population were over 60, One in 10 was under 30, and there were 16 women to every 10 men. This radical demographic change added credibility to the idea of a brand new Germany and end of old …show more content…
A radical departure from the ideas of the Nazi regime. It was the start of a ‘new’, non-Nazi Germany.1 It was trying to separate the current Germany from the guilt and shame of the former Nazi racial state.1 It was “an absolute break with the past and a radical new beginning”.2 This was helped in no small part by the occupation of Germany by the allied forces. The allied forces occupying Germany (the United Kingdom, France, the USA, and the Soviet Union) had agreed on four goals for Germany to ensure that it would never again be able to go to war. With Germany to be: denazifiziert (denazified), demilitarisiert (demilitarised), deindustrialisiert (deindustrialised), and demokratisiert (democratised). Although they had no clear concept for how this was to be achieved. The main cultural impact of this occupation was the so called ‘denazification’ process that each of the occupying powers put in place. The main plan to accomplish this was through ‘reeducation’, without the German people noticing of the shift.8 This was done, because for the most part (at least on the allies’ side) the new political culture was not supposed to be imposed on Germany, for fears of the Germans rejecting these ideas if they felt they were being reeducated,8 but the allies also wanted to make sure that there would not be another Nazi-like regime.8 This re-education, and push away from focus on “super-human values” to focus on
Due to the enormous loss of human life and wide scale migration. With between 5.55 and 6.96 million German soldiers and civilians dead, one million prisoners of war in Russia, and thousands left wounded, crippled, disfigured. It is estimated that up to 500,0007 civilians died as victims of the air raids. With a further 4,000 dying daily, in Berlin alone, in August 1945, because of the cholera and diphtheria epidemics. With this the population shrank and the demographics were significantly altered, 4.3 million lived in Berlin before the war, but only 2.8 million afterwards. One quarter of the population were over 60, One in 10 was under 30, and there were 16 women to every 10 men. This radical demographic change added credibility to the idea of a brand new Germany and end of old …show more content…
A radical departure from the ideas of the Nazi regime. It was the start of a ‘new’, non-Nazi Germany.1 It was trying to separate the current Germany from the guilt and shame of the former Nazi racial state.1 It was “an absolute break with the past and a radical new beginning”.2 This was helped in no small part by the occupation of Germany by the allied forces. The allied forces occupying Germany (the United Kingdom, France, the USA, and the Soviet Union) had agreed on four goals for Germany to ensure that it would never again be able to go to war. With Germany to be: denazifiziert (denazified), demilitarisiert (demilitarised), deindustrialisiert (deindustrialised), and demokratisiert (democratised). Although they had no clear concept for how this was to be achieved. The main cultural impact of this occupation was the so called ‘denazification’ process that each of the occupying powers put in place. The main plan to accomplish this was through ‘reeducation’, without the German people noticing of the shift.8 This was done, because for the most part (at least on the allies’ side) the new political culture was not supposed to be imposed on Germany, for fears of the Germans rejecting these ideas if they felt they were being reeducated,8 but the allies also wanted to make sure that there would not be another Nazi-like regime.8 This re-education, and push away from focus on “super-human values” to focus on