Subject Political Culture as Heritage? Continuities and Changes in the Early Post-War Years

Abstract

At the outset of the occupation and political renewal of defeated Germany in 1945, the Allied authorities aimed at the ‘reconstruction of German political life on a democratic basis’ (see the Potsdam Agreement). Military government as well as those German politicians engaged in the rebuilding of new political parties and of efficient public services were not only concerned to erase the remains of NS institutions and to extinguish Nazi doctrines, but also thought it essential to develop and promote democratic attitudes and values in the population at large. The intention was ‘to provide conditions under which a more democratic life would grow and flourish’ (Gimbel 1960, p.83) by means of de-Nazification and re-education and by the establishment of a decentralized party system and local self-government.¹