Hitler's Legacy: West Germany Confronts the Aftermath of the Third Reich

Hitler's Legacy is the first comprehensive look at the Nazi problem in Germany from 1945 until today. The work stresses the major personnel controversies that arose from the reappearance of Nazis in key positions and the payment of generous pensions to Third Reich officials by West German governments. The first comprehensive summary of Germany's own war-crime trials held since 1945, it also provides an overview of the allied postwar war crime trials at Nuremberg and elsewhere. Two case studies highlight the post-Nazi milieu of 1950s West Germany: Theodor Oberlaender and Hans Globke. Both men played significant roles in the Nazi regime and became more prominent in Adenauer's 1950s West German government.