Denazification: Britain's Enemy Aliens, Nazi War Criminals and the Reconstruction of Post-war Europe

More than 10,000 Germans and Austrians fled Nazi persecution and served with British forces during the Second World War. At the end of the conflict, many returned to the land of their birth with the intelligence Corps and Military Government to begin the rebuilding process. The huge task they faced, which involved the removal of all adherents of Nazism and Nazi ideology from every facet of public life and employment , was termed Denazification. Some of these ex-refugees were involved with the hunt for Nazi war criminals; others interrogated prisoners of war or gathered evidence from the concentration camps and interviewed the survivors. Two of them even provided close protection for Winston Churchill and Clement Atlee. They were also instrument (in the West, at least) in re-educating the German and Austrian people about the values of democracy and a free society. This fascinating book, which is based on first-hand accounts from veterans, provides an important insight into how Germany and Austria were rebuilt after the end of the Nazi tyranny.