https://forward.com/opinion/811597/germany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america ( https://forward.com/opinion/811597/germany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america/ ) /
******************************************************************* What we get wrong about how Germany has reckoned with its Nazi past ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Germany’s eagerness to whitewash the crimes of the WWII era, there are sobering lessons for a post-Trump America ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Copy to clipboard ( https://forward.com/opinion/811597/germany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america/ ) * Share on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://forward.com/opinion/811597/germany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america/ ) * Share on X ( https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=What+we+get+wrong+about+how+Germany+has+reckoned+with+its+Nazi+past&url=https%3A%2F%2Fforward.com%2Fopinion%2F811597%2Fgermany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america%2F ) * Share on Bluesky ( https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=What+we+get+wrong+about+how+Germany+has+reckoned+with+its+Nazi+past%20https%3A%2F%2Fforward.com%2Fopinion%2F811597%2Fgermany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america%2F ) * Share on Reddit ( https://reddit.com/submit?title=What+we+get+wrong+about+how+Germany+has+reckoned+with+its+Nazi+past&url=https%3A%2F%2Fforward.com%2Fopinion%2F811597%2Fgermany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america%2F ) * Share on Email ( ?&subject=Check%20out%20this%20article%20on%20The%20Forward&body=What%20we%20get%20wrong%20about%20how%20Germany%20has%20reckoned%20with%20its%20Nazi%20past%20https://forward.com/opinion/811597/germany-reckoning-with-nazi-past-lessons-for-trump-america/ ) * Print Article * Republish Article A 2018 Interior Ministry report exposed networks of ex-Nazi administrators who resumed their careers with the help of testimonials they wrote for one another. These testimonials were dubbed Persilscheine, or “Persil notes,” after a popular laundry detergent (above). Photo by Getty Images Terrence Petty ( https://forward.com/authors/terrence-petty/ ) March 14, 2026 On a recent Freakonomics episode ( https://freakonomics.com/podcast/werner-herzog-isnt-afraid/ ) about the German film director Werner Herzog, host Stephen Dubner voiced a familiar assertion about postwar Germany’s confrontation with the Nazi past — an assertion shared by many Americans but one that is, in fact, a partial myth. “It’s always impressed me,” Dubner said to Herzog, “the way that Germany, after the Second World War, assessed what had happened and in its schools and its institutions tried to come to grips with why and how, and to educate its successive generations.” What’s wrong with this statement? At its core, it recycles a narrative crafted by the United States and its anti-Soviet allies during the Cold War — one designed for geopolitical purposes and carried into the 21st century. FREE MORNING NEWSLETTER Sign up for Forwarding the News Get the Forward ’ s essential morning briefing bringing you trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis, curated by Senior Writer Benyamin Cohen. Email By submitting, you agree to our Terms ( https://forward.com/terms-and-conditions/ ) and Privacy Policy ( https://forward.com/privacy-policy/ ). Though it’s true that German schools have been admirably rigorous in teaching the history of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, and Germany has taken many other historic steps to make amends, German government agencies spent decades avoiding a full confrontation with their own past. Files documenting the depth of Nazi continuity within the postwar civil service were kept under lock and key well into the new century. In my book, Nazis at the Watercooler: War Criminals in Postwar German Government Agencies ( https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/potomac-books/9781640125698/nazis-at-the-watercooler/ ) , I reveal how West Germany hired seriously incriminated ex-Nazis for civil service positions and tell the story of a reckoning that took nearly six decades to begin — a chapter in Germany’s confrontation with its past that still receives too little recognition. For decades, ministries shielded their records from public view. The first major breakthrough came in 2005, when Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joschka_Fischer ) , appalled to discover that his ministry’s internal newsletter had been publishing glowing obituaries for diplomats implicated in Nazi crimes, established an independent team of historians to examine the Foreign Office archives. Their report, released five years later, documented not only the involvement of German diplomats in the machinery of the Third Reich but also the ease with which many resumed their careers in the West German state. Over the past two decades, virtually every major German government institution has followed the Foreign Office’s lead — commissioning historians to examine old files and arriving at similarly disturbing conclusions. There was foot-dragging along the way; the Chancellor’s Office, the nerve center of the German government, did not release the findings of its own self-examination until last year. These long delays raise a question that reaches beyond Germany. If a nation widely praised for its moral clarity took more than half a century to confront the actions of its institutions, what might that suggest about how the United States will one day confront the legacy of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement? Of all the West German government agencies in the first postwar decade, none — with the exception of the foreign intelligence service — was a more welcoming harbor for ex-Nazis with blood on their hands than the Bundeskriminalamt ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Criminal_Police_Office_(Germany) ) , or Federal Criminal Police Office, a German version of the FBI known by its initials, BKA. The depth of this infiltration was exposed by Dieter Schenk ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Schenk ) , a security specialist at the BKA who quit over the West German government’s cozy relationships with right-wing dictators. While at the BKA, Schenk heard hushed rumors about investigators with dark pasts. After resigning, he began to dig. He uncovered documents that exposed about two dozen of the BKA’s top employees who had served with Nazi units that committed war crimes and were never put on trial. Schenk published his findings in a 2001 bestseller titled Auf dem rechten Auge blind: Die braunen Wurzeln des BKA ( Turning a Blind Eye to the Right: The Brown Roots of the BKA ). Several years later, the BKA commissioned its own panel of historians, who reached conclusions similar to Schenk’s. Their findings were published in 2011. More inquiries followed. Even the super-secretive Federal Intelligence Service, the BND ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Intelligence_Service ) , opened up about former SS officers who landed jobs at the West German spy agency, some with the assistance of American intelligence, despite having served in Nazi units that committed war crimes. One of the most stunning revelations was that in the late 1950s and early 60s the BND had on its payroll one of the most sought-after war criminals — Walter Rauff ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Rauff ) , hiding out in Chile. Historians hired by the Justice Ministry found that in the late 1950s about half the senior employees had been card-carrying Nazis, including lawyers who attended meetings planning the Holocaust. A 2016 report documented how senior officials helped former Third Reich jurists paper over their pasts. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41102): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41102 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/118315050/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
