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Antifaschistischer Staat und postfaschistische Gesellschaft: die DDR, das MfS und die NS-Täter
Antifascist state and post-fascist society: GDR, MfS and Nazi perpetrators
[journal article]
Abstract "The article discusses results of recent research on practices of law enforcement by justice and the Ministry of State Security against East German suspects of Nazi crimes. These findings challenge the classical image of a relatively consistent and strong 'antifascist' prosecution policy. Although d... view more
"The article discusses results of recent research on practices of law enforcement by justice and the Ministry of State Security against East German suspects of Nazi crimes. These findings challenge the classical image of a relatively consistent and strong 'antifascist' prosecution policy. Although denazification and law enforcement in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and early GDR were harsh, almost all sentenced Nazi perpetrators were granted amnesty up to 1956 (with the exception of those who were executed or died in prison). In the following period systematic prosecution had to take second place behind campaigns against West Germany's poor performance in this field. During the seventies, Stasi investigators located in East Germany several hundred members of police battalions and other units involved in the Holocaust. But due to extremely strict standards of 'process maturity' for law suits (which should 'guarantee' long-term sentences) and hesitant investigations, only a few cases where brought to conviction. This look behind the scenes of secret East German investigation policy shows a post-fascist society where the 'ordinary men' who enforced the Nazi genocide could well find their place." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
crime fighting; judiciary; national state; coming to terms with the past; self-image; German Democratic Republic (GDR); criminal proceedings; document; GDR research; historical analysis; Federal Republic of Germany; Nazism; post-war period; archives; Ministry of State Security (GDR); New Federal States; campaign; denazification; war crime; offender; anti-facism; reintegration
Classification
General History
Method
qualitative empirical; empirical; historical
Document language
German
Publication Year
2010
Page/Pages
p. 79-94
Journal
Historical Social Research, 35 (2010) 3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.35.2010.3.79-94
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed