!!!Entnazifizierung

Denazification: After the military capitulation of the German Reich in 
1945, Austria was faced with the problem of how to treat former 
National Socialists ( National Socialism). On May 8, 1945 the 
provisional government passed a law which made the NSDAP and all its 
organisations illegal (Prohibition Act). All persons who had been 
members of the NSDAP or of one of its defence forces (SS corps, SA 
Storm Troopers, NSKK National Socialist Motor Corps, NSFK National 
Socialist Aviator Corps etc.) between July 1, 1933 and April 
27, 1945 had to register with the authorities and were excluded 
from voting in the elections to the Nationalrat in 1945. In 1946 the 
Nationalrat passed the National Socialists Act, which classified the 
524,000 registered National Socialists into various groups: war 
criminals, incriminated and less incriminated (facilitators or 
"fellow-travellers").  Volksgerichte (People´s Courts) passed 43 
prison and death sentences for leading NS officials. The 480,000 less 
incriminated (1947) had to pay "atonement fines"; 170,000 persons were 
dismissed from the civil service and from private enterprises, 
although for many this was only a temporary measure. The Austrian 
People´s Party (OeVP) and the Austrian Social Democratic Party 
(SPOe) soon tried to persuade the Allied occupying powers ( Occupation 
of Austria 1945-1955) to ease provisions for the so-called 
"fellow-travellers". They argued that the less-incriminated had often 
turned to National Socialism because they had feared for their life or 
because they had been deluded by the Nazis. Furthermore, they 
criticised the removal of experts who were necessary for 
Austria´s economic recovery; the inevitable political 
re-integration of former National Socialists was another point of 
disagreement. In 1948 the Nationalrat finally passed a law of amnesty 
for the less-incriminated, who were thus allowed to participate in the 
1949 elections to the Nationalrat. At the same time the candidature of 
the  Verband der Unabhaengigen (VdU - "Independents´ 
Association") was legalised. This party vehemently opposed the laws 
enacted against the National Socialists and became a forum for 
nationalist elements. Many of those incriminated were pardoned by the 
Federal President in the following years; in 1957 a general amnesty 
was granted.

!Literature
D. Stiefel, Entnazifizierung in Oesterreich, 1981.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Entnazifizierung|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]