“I always thought of my grandfather as a left-wing unionist and now he has appeared in the NSDAP database,” Hanno Dannenfelt told DW. It was always said in the family that his grandfather had clean hands.
Now that the United States National Archives has published its collection of National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) membership cards, Dannenfelt is one of countless Germans curious to know if their relatives were members of the party that ruled Germany during the Nazi era from 1933 to 1945.
This is no easy task: the site is often inaccessible due to heavy traffic, and the user interface is difficult to navigate.
A German tool makes searching simple
german weekly newspaper Time has developed a tool that simplifies the search. Users simply enter a person’s name and perhaps year and place of birth – and results appear immediately. These records will certainly also be of interest to people from South America: many Nazis hid there after World War II. However, using the service requires a subscription.
What users find there may be painful. Often, this means suddenly looking at our families in a very different light. Memories of a beloved grandfather who was always full of fun and energy can now be contrasted sharply with evidence, presented in black and white, that the same grandfather was a member of the National Socialist Party.
After the war, few families spoke about the crimes of the Nazi era, let alone their roles in them. According to one study, more than two-thirds of Germans believe that their ancestors were not Nazis. About 36% believe that their relatives were among the victims, and more than 30% believe that their ancestors helped the Nazis’ victims – for example, by hiding Jews.
But this cannot possibly be true. Only about 1% of Germans actively protested. In 1945, one in five German adults was a member of the Nazi Party – which had a total of 8.5 million members – thus giving their support, at least on paper, to that unjust system.
‘These are good, respectable people’
After the war, the Germans preferred to put it out of their minds. Germany was in ruins, occupied by the Americans, British, French and Russians. Adolf Hitler killed himself to escape justice. Other major war criminals were tried and convicted at the Nuremberg trials. “There’s always been this perception: ‘Well, they’re the ones responsible.’ But this upsets the rest of society,” cultural studies scholar Aleida Asman told DW.
This changed when doctors, industrialists and civil servants also appeared in court and had to answer for their roles under the Nazis. “Then people said: ‘But now practically everyone is on trial. This can’t be right. These are good, honorable people,'” said Christian Staas, head of the history department. Time. “And Germans began to oppose such trials. Most saw themselves as victims of National Socialism, not as those who were guilty.”
He also claimed that he knew nothing about the mass murders of Jews. As part of “re-education” efforts, the Allies pressured all Germans to watch documentary films in theaters about liberated concentration camps; Its purpose was to combat the collective denial of an entire people.
Practically everyone got the ‘Persil Certificate’
At the same time, the process of so-called rejection began. Each German had to fill out pages of questionnaires providing personal information, details about his or her career, and information about NSDAP membership.
Naturally, everyone tried to present themselves as favorably as possible. Even a member of the Nazi paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel (SS) could express affiliation to his party if he could credibly demonstrate that he did not support the ideology. A common excuse was to claim that joining the party was necessary to continue one’s studies, and that otherwise people were anti-Nazis.
People jokingly referred to the disclaimer certificates as “Persil certificates” – named after the laundry detergent that “makes clothes extra white.”
“White is the color of purity and flawlessness, and of course, innocence,” Asman said. People washed away their guilt with “Persil’s idea”.
Assmann said that restoring Germany to a functioning state was important to the Western Allies – above all the United States. “His goal was to make a clean break and make a fresh start,” Asman said. “National Socialist society was to be transformed into a democratic society, but with the same people: how could this be achieved? By forgetting. People simply stopped talking about it.”
Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic, took a pragmatic approach to the matter. Justifying the inclusion of former Nazis in the new government, he said, “If you don’t have clean water, you don’t flush dirty water.”
a long awaited reckoning
After the war, the Germans were busy rebuilding their country devastated by bombing. Then came the economic miracle and new prosperity of the 1950s. It wasn’t until the next generation that people started asking uncomfortable questions of their parents.
In 1968, activist Beate Klarsfeld slapped Chancellor Kurt George Kissinger, shouting: “Nazi, Nazi.” Kissinger was once a high-ranking member of the NSDAP, always served Hitler loyally and even headed the Reich Broadcasting Department.
“Another important milestone in coming to terms with the past was the 1970s television series ‘Holocaust,'” Stass said. Everyone can follow the fate of the Jewish Weiss family on their screen. The American series sparked a lively debate in Germany about everyone’s guilt – after all, they had witnessed the deportation of the Jews.
Records gave rise to defensiveness
A tendency to downplay the past persists, often facilitated by the feeling that life must go on. The same is true in Hanno Dannenfelt’s family: his maternal grandfather – as was famous in the family – was a member of Napola, an elite boarding school where the Nazis sought to train the next generation of military and political leaders.
“But, as it relates to one’s own family, the desire to go deeper is really not as strong,” Dannenfelt said. “When you confront people with it, a rational rhetoric quickly emerges. In my grandfather’s case: ‘He was very young; his father sent him to Naples. But later on, he was a good husband, a good father, a good grandfather.'”
It’s too late to interview witnesses
Eighty-one years after the fall of the Nazi regime, it remains difficult to shed light on the motives of the forefathers who joined the NSDAP or even to answer the question: was anyone a staunch Nazi or just a follower?
Stas said that whether people joined the party early or late, this can provide some information. “If someone joined the party before 1933,” Stas said, referring to the year the Nazis came to power, “it can be concluded that this person was a true believer in the ideology.”
“For example, my great-grandfather was one of the first people to join the party in 1933,” Dannenfelt said. “And then there were those who did not join until 1942 or 1943. Unfortunately, today we can only speculate: perhaps there was peer pressure. Or, as was the case with my second great-grandfather – who was a cattle dealer and a large landowner – he may have had professional reasons for joining the party.”
No one was forced to attend the party or coerced into it without their knowledge – as many families have claimed.
Dannenfelt said it is unfortunate that the names of party members are only now being revealed. Dannenfelt said, “I am disappointed by all the conversations we had, which only broached this topic lightly.” “But we had nothing concrete to go on – nothing in black and white, like we suddenly have now with these membership cards. I mean, we’re talking about one of the biggest crimes against humanity.”
What has Germany learned from the Nazi era?
Germany is now regarded abroad as a world leader in confronting a country’s dark past. The streets are lined with 100,000 Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) commemorating the victims of National Socialism, a Holocaust memorial stands in the center of Berlin, and schools pay special attention to the Nazi era.
And yet, nationalism is on the rise again in Germany. The influence of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is increasing. Dannenfelt wonders whether Germans might again embrace Nazi-era propriety. “Some people may think, ‘I’ll join the AfD and make a career out of it,'” he said. “When you realize your family didn’t put up much of a fight back then, it makes you think how great the threat is even today.”
According to a woman interviewed TimeThe real question is no longer about the past, but about us: “How do we act when the political landscape changes – and whether we have the courage to take the necessary steps to protect our fundamental democratic values.”
This article was originally written in German.