Transitions from Nazism to Socialism: Grassroots Responses to Punitive and Rehabilitative Measures in Brandenburg, 1945-1952
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Transitions from Nazism to Socialism: Grassroots Responses to Punitive and Rehabilitative Measures in Brandenburg, 1945-1952 Doctoral Thesis of Julie Nicole Deering-Kraft University College London PhD in History 1 Declaration I, Julie Nicole Deering-Kraft, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract This study examines transitions from Nazism to socialism in Brandenburg between 1945 and 1952. It explores the grassroots responses and their relative implications within the context of both punitive and rehabilitative measures implemented by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) and the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The present study is based on archival and oral history sources and addresses two main research questions: First, in what ways did people at the grassroots attempt to challenge the imposition of punitive measures, and did their responses have any effect on the manner in which these policies were implemented at a grassroots level? These punitive measures were designed to remove remnants of Nazism and included punitive Soviet practices, Soviet NKVD camps and denazification and sequestering. Second, to what extent did grassroots Brandenburgers participate in political organisations which were designed to integrate East Germans during the rehabilitative stage and what impact did these responses have on the post-war transition? This study focuses on the National Democratic Party and the Society for German-Soviet Friendship as well as examining wider factors which may have impeded and facilitated the processes of post-war transitions. Two main arguments are proposed. First, the imposition of wide-ranging punitive measures often posed an existential threat at a grassroots level, and therefore at times elicited grassroots actions, albeit severely restricted by practical and political constraints. In turn, these grassroots responses could occasionally have some local impact and somewhat affect the manner in which policies were implemented at a grassroots level in Brandenburg. Second, it is argued that the rehabilitative stage, despite some challenges, generally provided a favourable system for grassroots integration in which the needs of the policy makers and a significant proportion of grassroots individuals somewhat converged, eventually contributing to the partial stabilisation of the emerging East German socialist state. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the German History Society, the DAAD and to the UCL German Department for their generous financial support. I am also immensely grateful to the many helpful archivists I encountered during my archival research visits to Berlin and Brandenburg, particularly Frau Marina Aurich in Beeskow and Frau Anke Richter in Brandenburg/Havel, who went well beyond the call of duty in their generous assistance. I am also deeply grateful to the oral history interviewees, for their gracious hospitality and generously sharing their personal experiences and memories. I would also like to thank my supervisors, Prof. Mary Fulbrook and Dr Mark Hewitson, for their kind support and guidance. Most of all I would like to thank my husband Christian, my parents Dorit and Noel and my brother Chris who have stood by me and accompanied me during this journey. I dedicate this thesis to them, as well as to my grandmothers Irene and Eileen, who, each in their own way, made this study possible. 4 Contents List of Abbreviations.................................................................................................... 8 Chapter I: Introduction ............................................................................................... 11 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 11 1.2 Research questions and arguments .............................................................. 12 1.3 Historiographical contextualisation and theoretical considerations ............. 14 1.4 Geographic contextualisation ....................................................................... 19 1.5 Remarks on methodology and sources ......................................................... 24 1.6 Scope of study and overview of thesis ......................................................... 36 Part 1: Grassroots responses within the context of punitive measures in Brandenburg ............................................................................................................. 39 Chapter II: Grassroots responses to punitive Soviet measures in the immediate post- war period................................................................................................................... 40 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 40 2.2 The initial post-war chaos at a grassroots level ........................................... 42 2.3 ‘Watches, women, looting and lawlessness’: first encounters with the Red Army .................................................................................................................. 44 2.4 Punitive Soviet policies at a grassroots level: dismantling and displacement ............................................................................................................................ 53 2.5 Grassroots perceptions of the Soviets in the initial post-war period ............ 58 2.6 Sites of contested memory: official and unofficial commemoration of war dead .................................................................................................................... 65 2.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 77 Chapter III: Grassroots responses to NKVD activities in the post-war period .......... 79 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 79 3.2 Background of NKVD internment camps and operative prisons in post-war East Germany ..................................................................................................... 81 3.3 Experiences and memories of the impact of post-war NKVD operations in Brandenburg/Havel and Fürstenwalde ............................................................... 84 3.4 On the wrong side of the fence: local memories of NKVD imprisonment .. 87 3.5 Windows into the NKVD camp in Ketschendorf ........................................ 91 3.6 Written complaints to the authorities ........................................................... 96 3.7 The grassroots legacy of NKVD institutions from the late 1940s onwards .......................................................................................................................... 100 3.8 Post-unification grassroots initiatives for memorialisation of post-war NKVD institutions in Brandenburg/Havel and Fürstenwalde ......................... 110 3.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 113 5 Chapter IV: Grassroots responses to attempts to remove the physical, political, economic and social legacy of the Third Reich ....................................................... 116 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 116 4.2 Attempts to remove the physical reminders of Nazism ............................. 119 4.3 Early vetting attempts: the first and second periods of denazification from 1945-1946 ........................................................................................................ 126 4.4 The third period of denazification: the implementation and impact of Directive no. 24 at a grassroots level ............................................................... 128 4.5 The fourth period of denazification: the implementation of Order no. 201 at a grassroots level .............................................................................................. 137 4.6 The sequestering and expropriation of property belonging to former National Socialists ............................................................................................ 146 4.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 162 Part 2: Grassroots responses within the context of rehabilitative measures in Brandenburg ........................................................................................................... 164 Chapter V: Grassroots responses to the National Democratic Party (NDPD) ......... 165 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 165 5.2 The founding of the NDPD ........................................................................ 167 5.3 The ‘practical politics’ of the NDPD ......................................................... 170 5.4 Political conversion in the NDPD .............................................................. 174 5.5 The NDPD and the German-Soviet dynamic ............................................. 178 5.6 Growth of the NDPD in Brandenburg ....................................................... 182 5.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 189 Chapter VI: Grassroots responses to the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (DSF)